Cremation 101
When I was in school, every subject seemed relatively straightforward – for the first chapter or two of the book! But, without fail, things always escalated quickly from there.
I clearly remember saying to my chemistry teacher at Worthington High School that everything in chemistry seemed to be about reactions of some type. He agreed, and I thought I had mastered the class. It turns out, there is more to chemistry than labeling everything a reaction.
The same is true with cremation.
To many people, cremation is cremation is, well, cremation. But that’s not exactly true. We get calls from people who are confused about the different types of cremation — so, in the interest of education, I want to share a bit about the different types of cremation available in general and the options at Forever Friends, specifically.
In pet care, there are generally two types of cremation: private and communal.
Private cremation is designed for families who want to receive their pet’s cremated remains back from the crematory, most commonly in an urn. This means that only one pet is in the cremation chamber at a time, significantly reducing commingling of cremated remains among pets.
Communal cremation is designed for families who do not want to receive their pet’s cremated remains back from the crematory. Communal cremations are performed by placing multiple pets in one cremation chamber, up to the weight limit of the cremator. This is an option with many crematories because some families prefer not to receive their pet’s remains back and it provides a lower cost option for those who cannot or will not pay for private cremation.
It’s important to note that while communal pet cremations are legal, Forever Friends does not offer this service.
Why doesn’t Forever Friends offer communal cremation?
As pet lovers ourselves, we made the business decision to invest in a large cremator capable of serving our vet and pet owner clients in a timely manner while providing cremation in separate cremation chambers. This upfront investment, while significant, allows us to save energy by minimizing the amount of time we have to operate the cremator and allows us to honor each pet with the full dignity and respect they deserve. This is one of our founding principles and is very important to us.
In essence, we have decoupled the decision of whether to receive the cremated remains back from whether the pet receives private or communal cremation. Said differently, without regard to whether the family receives the remains back from Forever Friends, all pets in our care are cremated via private cremation.
How does Forever Friends serve families who cannot or will not pay for private cremation?
We offer two variations of private cremation designed to meet the preference and budget of families: Premium Private Cremation and Private Cremation.
Premium Private Cremation is designed for families who wish to receive their pet’s remains back. This option comes with a host of items (see pricing for more information), including an eco-friendly urn with engraving, clay paw print, lock of fur, and other items.
Private Cremation is designed for families who prefer not to receive their pet’s remains back from us. In this case, we will respectfully scatter the cremated remains on behalf of the family.
Since Private Cremation does not come with an urn or delivery of cremated remains back to the family, it allows us to lower our price which, in turn, allows us to serve a broader range of individuals – including those who cannot or will not pay for Premium Private Cremation.
We believe the decision whether to select Premium Private Cremation or Private Cremation is a personal one and up to each individual person or family. However, for the reasons I shared above, we do not provide communal cremation.
As always, we are available 24x7x365 when you need us and to answer any questions you have.