8 Ways to Honor Your Pet’s Life Through Their Ashes

Pets are part of the family, and getting them cremated after they pass is more common than people think. After cremation, there are a lot of creative ideas for memorializing animal ashes. There is nothing wrong with keeping pet ashes at home; it’s the most common way to remember your pet. There are also various unique and beautiful pet urns available to put your pet's ashes in, either to display or until you’ve found the best way to honor their lives.

And for when that day comes, we’ve put together a list of ways you can honor your pet’s life through their ashes.

1. Keep Their Ashes

A wonderful option for what to do with your pet’s ashes is to put them in a pet cremation urn that can be displayed in your home so you’ll always remember them. The size and material of the urn will be based on the species and size of your pet—most pet urns are smaller in size, but you also get large dog urns.

The general rule is that you need one cubic inch of space for every pound your pet weighed. For example, if your cat weighed 10 pounds, you would need a 10 cubic inch urn. There is also the option to personalize the cremation urn with your pet’s name or meaningful words.

2. Bury Their Ashes

If you’re not planning on relocating anytime soon, you can create a small backyard memorial and bury your pet’s ashes. You can bury the pet urn in your garden and place a memorial stone or even a tree on top of it. This is a great way to keep your pet close to your family.

3. Scatter Their Ashes

Scattering ashes is a time-honored tradition and has become a wonderful way to honor your pet’s life. One of the things to do with a dog’s ashes is to scatter them at your pooch's favorite spot and return them to nature, allowing them to be in their favorite place forever.

4. Add Their Ashes to Pottery

Creating a decorative pot with pet ashes is a lovely memorial idea. The pottery artist will infuse the ashes into the clay and create a beautiful piece of pottery. You can keep the pottery in your home, and every time you see it, you will remember your beloved pet.

5. Use Some of Their Ashes to Make a Christmas Ornament

Creating a Christmas decoration is an adorable cat ashes keepsake because cats are generally the ones who are excited by their new climbing toy when you put up the Christmas tree. A quick search on Pinterest will show you just how many cute decoration ideas there are, like infusing the ashes into the glass or resin of the ornament itself.

This way, you can keep most of your pet’s ashes in a cremation urn, but when you put up your Christmas tree, you can hang the beautiful ornament and remember your furry friend.

6. Turn Them Into an Hourglass

This is another great keepsake idea where you use a small portion of your pet’s ashes for a symbolic item and keep the rest in an urn. Adding the ashes to an hourglass makes for a beautiful decoration on your display shelf, or if the hourglass is small enough, your pet can still be a part of game night with the family.

7. Add Them to Cremation Jewelry

A lovely way to keep your pet’s ashes close to you every day is to have a beautiful piece of cremation jewelry made with their ashes. Pet cremation jewelry has a pendant with an interior compartment for the ashes. A pinch of ashes can be added to the jewelry while the rest are kept safely in an urn. You can also have your beloved pet’s ashes made into a diamond by specialized artists who can simulate the process of diamond making.

8. Turn the Ashes Into a Portrait

You can have your pet’s ashes used as the medium for a portrait painting of your cat or dog (or horse, bird, or bunny). The artist will mix the ashes into the paint and create a beautiful work of art for you to hang in your home and remember your pet for many years to come.

In Summary

There are so many wonderful ways to honor your pet’s life through their ashes. But after the cremation, there is no rush when deciding what to do with those ashes. Keeping them in a pet cremation urn is a great way to keep them safe and keep them close to you until you’ve found the best option for you and your family.