Memorialising pets is becoming big business in Dunedin, with up to 50 pets cremated in the city a week.
Heaven Sent Pet Cremations in Mosgiel has been operating since 1994, and conducts, on average, 25 cremations a week, a number that has been increasing year on year.
''We are certainly getting busier,'' co-owner Graham Spence, a former architect, said.
''Everyone is renting and on the move so they can't always bury their pet. Or, sometimes they have buried it and then want it exhumed so they can take it with them.''
Forty percent of Heaven Sent's cremations are dogs, 30% cats and the remaining animals are a mixture of rabbits, birds, alpacas, pet sheep - even a turtle.
Four years ago, Murray's Veterinary Practice in Mosgiel recognised a need to provide a ''cradle to grave'' service for their clients and started Open Plains Pet Cremations.
Open Plains conducted anything from ''three to 15'' cremations a week, practice manager Margie Murray said. Open Plains did not want to comment on its price structure, but Heaven Sent said it charged $200-$300 for a dog (depending on weight), and $100-$150 for a cat.
''It is a growing industry,'' Mrs Murray said.
''People are choosing to have their beloved pets cremated and then placed in an urn so they can always take them with them.''
Mrs Murray said simple wooden boxes were the most popular urns, followed by hollow, fibreglass rocks which could be engraved and placed in the garden.
As part of the ''cradle to grave'' pet care that Murray's offers, the vet service has designated a special ''family room'' for people to spend time with their pets who have died. It is quiet, non-clinical and has a discreet side door which bypasses the waiting room so people can slip out unnoticed after saying their goodbyes.
Heaven Sent also has a dedicated ''visiting room'' arranged exactly like a funeral parlour with comfortable seating, a viewing platform and dim lighting.
''Sometimes we do have to move people on because they just find it very difficult to say goodbye. A pet becomes part of the family,'' Mr Spence said.
Heaven Sent also had two funeral ministers on call if clients wished to organise a funeral ceremony, but this only happened ''rarely'', Mr Spence said.
More common were people who chose to keep their deceased pet at home for a night or two to allow them time to grieve.
Andrea and David Pile's 12-year-old German pointer Jazz died in May. The night before he died, the Piles had their children over and the family shared a meal in the lounge room, while Jazz lay on the couch, unable to walk.
The next day, his head cradled by the veterinary nurse and surrounded by family, he was gently put to sleep.
Mrs Pile said people did not always stay in the same home, and it would not be pleasant for others to find the bones of dogs that had been buried in a garden.
Heaven Sent returned Jazz to the Pile family in a small box wrapped in green paper, with his name and date of his death attached.
Mr Spence, from Heaven Sent, also gave the Piles a poem to remember Jazz - The Last Battle - the words of which Mrs Pile still found moving.
- by Eleanor Ainge Roy
