Cremation Costs

[skyeboxer]

I do some freelance writing and one of the things I have been asked to write about is Pet Cremation.

I hope this doesn't overstep the bounds of the forum somehow but this would seem to be the ideal place to ask this question - have you used a pet cremation service and what sort of cost should people be prepared to pay to do the same?

If anybody would like to share their experiences with me, I would be using the information in the most general way but I think it may also be of use to other members who wish to do something similar for their pet.

I know this will be hard for you to remember and write about but the end article will be helpful to those who are in pain and I will be sure to point back to Chazhound and this thread for visitors who have lost their friends and are looking for more detailed advice.

Thank you to all who choose to participate and if this is somehow against TOS then please let me know and I will remove it.

 

[Locke]

My vet uses a cremation service if that is the root you choose to go. A private cremation and urn for a 60lb dog was over $250.

 

[AgilityPup]

For me to have Bella cremated it cost $185, that was a private cremation and I didn't get an urn with it.

 

[crazedACD]

I had a 90lb dog cremated through the emergency vet years ago...it wasn't cheap, $200+. The standard was a plain box and that was it. When my cat passed away at home I researched crematories and called...they came out to pick her up and drop her off (1 hour drive for them). Came back with a very nice box, engraved name plate, poem, picture frame. Was a much, much better service and it was under $100.

Now I have a friend who runs a crematory, and I know she wouldn't charge me much.

 

[Kilter]

We paid $450 for private cremation of a 70 lb dog, this was a private company though, not through a vet or shelter. That included them meeting us there at 12 am on a Sunday night as our old girl passed naturally and unexpectedly at home. The same company came to our house for the other old guy, helped phone around for a vet to come to the house as our regular vets were both out on calls for the day and they also brought the remains back to the house in that case to save me bringing five dayhome kids to their office.

The company name is Pet Heaven (Calgary, AB) and they don't store the pets but cremate them right away, which is important to us. We've heard horror stories about other places in town including being told 'just use two garbage bags and freeze him till Monday' or showing up to pick up a pet and putting them in the back of a pick up truck etc... where this place uses a basket or stretcher and a van (they used to not have any markings on the van, however got many phone calls to the police as people thought that they were removing human bodies).

I know not everywhere has this sort of company but it was important to us to have that option as well as a vet that would come to the house, that was difficult to find on a Saturday as many vets didn't seem to want to do it, one suggested he sedate our guy in the car but it wasn't the dog's fear of the vet but rather our preferance not to be doing that sort of thing in a clinic.

 

[Maliraptor]

Last dog I had cremated was $290. Private with the ashes returned in a wooden box with a brass nameplate.

 

[stardogs]

IIRC Maggie's cremation (private, returned in a wood box) was about $180 through the emergency vet's service.

 

[Southpaw]

For Molly, 65lb dog... the euthanasia and private cremation together ran about $200-$250. Not sure how much of that was just the cremation.

We didn't get an urn through them, we bought our own.

 

[Kilter]

Much more expensive here for private cremation, however we used a private company vs. the ones the vets use (HS) or going directly to the HS. $450 for a 70 lb dog but they did meet us there at midnight on a Sunday and do not store the remains, they cremate right away.

 

[skyeboxer]

I am not based in the US so I have been doing some reading on how things operate there. It looks like there are three levels of service and these are fairly new classifications in as much as there was previously some confusion between individual and private.

Individual Cremation – One Pet at a Time Cremation Process, Partitioned Cremation – (Formerly Referred to as "Private") and Communal.

In partitioned cremation there may be more than one dog at a time but they are seperate and tagged so that what gets returned to you is your own pet's remains.

You know for me, the remains of Skye were not important. I wanted only to bring her home with me alive and well. On the last trip to the vet, I stayed with her to the end but broken-hearted as I was, I did not feel any connection to the shell that she left behind. I have her collar here with me now, wrapped round the base of my computer and her photo behind me on the wall but I did not follow through with the cremation process so I have no experience of it.

Thank you all for sharing this with me. I know it will be of help and comfort to those who have to decide what to do for their own dogs when the time comes.