The base cremation price includes a complimentary fur/feather clipping for use in mementos, ink prints of the front paws/feet, private cremation, safe and dignified processing and handling of the ashes, and a silver tin urn with your pet's name. The ashes are sealed in plastic, to protect them from moisture and spillage, before being placed a velvet pouch inside the urn. A scattering or burial vessel can be provided instead if you wish.
If for any reason you do not wish us to take a fur clipping or ink prints, please let us know.
As part of the base cremation price, we include a simple silver tin urn with a plaque engraved with your pet's name. The ashes are placed in a sealed inside a velvet pouch which is placed in the tin urn. We also offer a scattering tin or burial box option, if you prefer.
Once we receive your pet in to our care, they will be kept at a very low temperature until cremation occurs, to prevent any natural decomposition occurring. During the cremation, the gas furnace reaches an extremely high temperature, which results in a combustion process. Our bodies are made up of a very large quantity of fluid, and the result of this process is that this fluid is evaporated, solid matter combusts and only ash remains. As bones do not always break down to a complete powder form on their own, the ashes are processed to reduce them to a fine powder. This is done for several reasons - the ashes are made more suitable for scattering, able to be placed inside a suitable urn or other receptacle, as well as being less upsetting if viewed.
Yes, you can, provided we have availability in our schedule. This requires booking a service time and the additional cost ranges from $150 to $600 depending on the size of your furbaby, whether you wish to be present just for the beginning of the service, or throughout the entire service. An additional fee applies if you want to take your baby home on the same day or the following morning if the service is in the evening.
You are more than welcome to come and meet us in person. Unlike most cremation facilities, we do not operate primarily through vet clinics, and are happy to meet with our clients for your comfort and peace of mind.
There are a few options for transporting your pet to our facilities. You can drop them off in person by appointment, or we can arrange collection from you or a vet clinic for a fee relative to the overall distance.
After-hours drop offs or collections, are available, but do incur a fee.
Your pet will need to be kept as cold as possible until collection or drop off is made. You can wrap your pet in a towel, blanket, or something similar, place them in a box or plastic bag, and put them in the refrigerator, freezer or somewhere as cold as possible. We will make every effort to assist you in the most prompt arrangements possible to minimise the need for this. If you are only able to chill your pet, this is okay for up to 24 hours. If necessary, we can help you to arrange temporary storage for your pet until transport can be organised.
Within Metropolitan areas, yes, we can assist in arranging collection direct from your vet clinic. We just need you to let the vet clinic know that you give us authority to pick your pet up, so that they will release them to us. The collection fee from Melbourne areas is subject to distance. For Regional Victoria, collection arrangements may be a little more complicated to arrange, or may incur additional charges due to distance, but we are happy to discuss this with you prior to finalising any arrangements and will do our very best to help you and also minimise any costs. We may need to meet you part way to arrange handover for long distances.
All pets are cremated privately (only your pet in the chamber) unless you specifically request otherwise. Some clients do have very close pets who pass away within a short time and prefer to have them cremated together, others prefer to still have separate cremations performed. If you would like your pets cremated together, please let us know. There is no need to let us know to cremate your pets separately, as this is our set practice. We do not offer communal/group cremation services.
Unlike the human cremation industry, sadly pet cremation is not regulated. This has, unfortunately, led to some very poor practices on the part of some businesses, past and present. At FurEver After, we ourselves are pet parentsand animal lovers. We were inspired to start our business specifically to provide a high quality, compassionate and ethical service to pet owners, especially of small animals. We offer our personal guarantee that we provide not just a definite private cremation, but the return of YOUR pet's complete ashes. We also guarantee that your pet is handle with the utmost care and respect at all times. Many other companies only provide "individual" services, where several pets are spaced out within the same chamber. Unfortunately this does not guarantee that there is no cross over of ashes in the process. For this reason, we have chosen to provide private cremation services unless specifically requested by a client with more than one pet.
For those unfamiliar with the process it can be quite a shock to see how small the quantity of ashes are that remain after the cremation process takes place. Below is a link to a calculator that provides an indication of the quantity of ash from cremation based on a pet's weight.
Yes. You are welcome to supply an urn yourself and there is no extra fee to do so. However, if you wish us to assist with placing your pets ashes in the urn before they are returned to you, it will need to be sent to us prior to collection or brought to us upon collection of your pet's ashes so we can do this. If you do not see the style of urn you would like among our standard selection, we will do our best to assist you in locating the right urn for your pet, either from a bespoke supplier or from additional suppliers we use for special request orders. We do not guarantee that we will be able to immediately find the style you are after, but we will do our very best to help you find it and at an affordable price.
Yes, if you would later like to transfer your pet's ashes in to a different urn, or urn jewellery, we are happy to assist you. To do this, we will need you to make an appointment and bring the urn and your pet's ashes brought to our facility. There is no fee for this service, even if you are not a previous customer.
Yes, we do provide a scattering service for families not wishing to have ashes returned, but wanting to ensure their pet is cared for with dignity and love. Your pet is still cremated privately - not in a communal cremation - and ashes are scattered in a small ceremony our staff conducts periodically.
We can arrange to scatter at a location of your choosing for a fee, subject to distance.
Memento items, including fur clippings and ink prints, may still be purchased with this service.
As we are a small family business, we ask clients to allow 7-10 working days for their pet's ashes to be ready to go home for standard services.
If you have requested special custom mementos, please allow 3-4 weeks for everything to be ready. Depending on the items ordered, we can arrange for your pet's ashes to come home to you while you wait for the custom items to be finished.
We do make every endeavour to have your pet back home with you as quickly as possible.
Examples of events that may prolong the process are: awaiting delivery of a special order or out of stock urn/jewellery, waiting for a custom item to be ready, date of collection from vet clinic, transportation to and from a rural location, etc. We aim to maintain communication throughout the entire process so that you have peace of mind knowing that we are taking the best care possible of your pet. You may also contact us for an update at any time.
We understand that your pet is part of your family. For first-time owners, the distress and grief of losing a pet can be surprising for some. Having been on this journey ourselves many times over the years, we understand just how much your pet means to you and how upsetting it is to lose them. We acknowledge that everyone grieves in their own way and are very respectful of this. It is for this reason that we allow clients to meet us personally, as we know that the loss of a beloved pet is a very difficult time, and this personal service provides some small level of comfort many of those who use our services.
We understand that everyone has different views and preferences when a loved one - human or pet - passes away and we respect that not everyone will choose cremation. For those who do choose to have their pet cremated, there are several primary reasons for this. With the increase in density of residential property, some pet owners do not have a yard or garden where they can bury their pet, for others there are council regulations about the burial of pets in residential yards to be considered. Some individuals have a personal preference of cremation to burial for personal reasons. Another reason for many, including our own personal reason for choosing cremation, is knowing that our beloved pet is safe with us after their passing, even if we move to a new property. If you are unsure if you would like to have your pet cremated, you are welcome to speak with us further before making a final decision. We are not here to pressure you in to using our services, but to help you be comfortable with what you decide by answering any further questions or concerns you may have.
Yes, we can assist you with mementos of your pet even if you do not choose to use our cremation service. We are working on developing a range of memento products, but in the meantime we can assist you in finding what you are looking for.
Yes we do sell urns separately. If you do not see what you are looking for in our standard range, we do have a number of additional suppliers from whom we can source other styles or custom designs. We can also assist you with the transfer of your pet's ashes to the new urn.