For more and more Americans, Rover is a part of the family. He sleeps with us, eats with us, hangs out with us, listens to our troubles, and is always there. When he dies, we grieve and we want his remains to be treated with respect and dignity.

What are my options for final arrangements?

You have basically two options: burial and cremation, the same as those for humans. Unlike with Grandpa, you could bury Rover in the back yard or sneak his remains into the nearest forest, but the latter is illegal. For the purposes of this article, we will assume you have chosen cremation.

How do I find out who does cremation and how much does it cost?

You can check the yellow pages of your phone book or go online, but your best bet is your own vet. She has been through this many times and can recommend a reputable pet crematorium.

Once at the crematorium you will find you have several options. It is best if you know a little about them in advance so that you are not pressured into the most expensive. A few crematoriums have a special service where you are allowed to be present and can even push the button to get the fires started. This starts around $500 and most people are not comfortable with this option. The next is the certified private cremation. This means that your pet is the only one being cremated at that time and you will be given his ashes. This costs from $165 to $350 dollars. The third option is to have Rover cremated along with other pets, but with each pet in a separate slot thus allowing recovery of individual ashes. Costs range from $90 to $250. The last option is a group cremation where the pets are all together. No ashes can be recovered.

Tell me about pet urns

Once you have Rover's ashes or cremains as they are known in the industry, you can take some time in choosing an urn. Some urns are mass produced but there are several craftspeople that make urns which are comparable in price. Urns can be made of stained glass, ceramic, wood, bronze, or stone. If you already have a favorite crafts person, you might commission an urn. The following list will give you an idea of the range and price of urns.

• stained glass with engraved photo, name, and dates $63-$120 depending on size of animal.
• ceramic from $75 to $110.
• wood with pet's picture etched in black granite or white marble $55 to $125
• hardwood with figurine of your cat's breed $123
• welded metal memorial sculpture with small urn $122 to $127

As can be seen, prices for hand crafted urns are very reasonable and display much imagination and range. Once you have your urn, you can keep the cremains in it, and have a beautiful object through which you honor and remember Rover.