> Remembering Your Pet
Here are a few ideas to help you remember your pet:
Buy a statue or a stuffed animal that reminds you of your pet.
Carry a portion of your pet’s ashes with you in a tiny container or locket.
Collect photos of your pet and create a scrapbook, photo album or memory box.
Decorate a candle and light it in memory of your cherished pet.
Donate unused food, toys or bedding to Luthers Central Pet Cremation and we will deliver to a local pet shelter.
Encourage grieving children to draw pictures or write stories inspired by their memories of their lost pet.
Frame a favorite picture of your pet and display it in a special place. Give a copy as a gift to another grieving family member.
Have a favorite picture of your pet imprinted on a watch, coffee mug, T-shirt or sweatshirt.
Have a funeral or memorial service for your pet. Involve the whole family in the planning. Make it as simple or as elaborate as you’d like and invite whomever you choose, as long as it meets your need to express and share your sorrow, pay tribute to your pet and support one another as you say goodbye.
Have a professional portrait of your pet painted or drawn by an artist from your favorite photograph.
If you buried your pet in a cemetery or in a yard, take a picture of the grave site and keep that in a special place you can visit instead.
If you have your pet’s ashes, scatter or bury them in your pet’s favorite outdoor place, or put them in a potted plant that you can take with you should you move.
If you like to write – write…it could be an article, a story, a poem, a song, a letter, an obituary or a eulogy for your pet. Keep what you write private or share it with family and friends.
Inscribe a plaque or nameplate with your pet’s name, years of birth and death, and anything else you choose to write in tribute. Put the plaque on a framed photograph or wooden memory box, hang it on the wall, attach it to a garden bench or other piece of furniture, or display it near your pet’s grave.
Keep your pet’s ashes in a box or an urn that you can display in a special place of honor in your home or office.
Plant a tree, bush, shrub, garden or flowerbed as a permanent growing memorial to your pet. Mark the site with a memorial plaque, marker or statue.
Purchase a book — perhaps a children’s book — on coping with the loss of a pet, and donate it to your local library or school. Ask the librarian to place a label inside the front cover inscribed “In memory of (your pet’s name).”
Save something that belonged to your pet (e.g., collar, tags, food and water dishes, bedding, toys, a clipping of fur/feathers, baby teeth).
Share anecdotes and favorite stories about your pet. Sometimes others need permission to talk about your deceased pet. Let them know you would rather keep the memory of your beloved pet alive than pretend that nothing has changed.
Write a farewell letter to your pet as a way of saying an in-depth, thorough good-bye. Say what you are feeling, what you will miss most, what you will always remember. Talk about the relationship you had.
Adapted from Pets Remembered Cremation Service