ShawneeDispatch.com

Local families now have a trusted name to turn to when a beloved pet dies.

Amos Family Funeral Home, 10901 Johnson Drive, began offering pet cremation services Sept. 1. Mark Smith, funeral director, said the services are just one more way for Amos to serve the community.

“We’re very good at the human side of cremation, and we’re just going to take our expertise and use it for pets,” he said.

The funeral home has wanted to offer services for pets for some time, Smith said.

“A lot of funeral homes throughout the country are doing this, and they’re discovering there’s a really good market for it and it’s a great way to serve the community,” Smith said.

The business also discovered there weren’t many local options for pet owners who wanted to cremate their pets. And while there are some pet cemeteries in the metropolitan area, Smith said cremation was an important service because it isn’t legal for homeowners to bury pets in their backyard in most cities, including Shawnee.

Many pet owners opt to let their veterinarian take care of a pet’s remains, and Smith said the funeral home’s goal was to become a provider of crematory services for most of the local veterinarians.

Smith said the funeral home has been preparing for the new services for several months.

“We built a new crematory for humans, and once we had that up and running and we knew there weren’t any bugs to work out, we were able to start using our former crematory for pets,” Smith said.

Amos also converted offices just west of the main funeral home into an office dedicated to the pet cremation services. While the new office won’t offer memorial services for the pets, the space includes pet urns and other merchandise associated with the service, as well as a viewing room that allows people to spend time with their pet before cremation.

Costs for the service start at $125 and increase depending on the size of the pet and if the cremation is “private,” meaning the pet is cremated by itself, or “semi-private,” meaning the pet is cremated with other pets, though separate containers are used to ensure owners receive only their own pet’s remains.

For an additional cost, Amos also will remove the pet from the owner’s home or from the veterinarian’s office.

Amos has yet to have its first pet cremation.

There are no state regulations for pet cremation, but Smith said given the funeral home’s expertise with human cremation, the pets will receive a high level of care. He said the funeral home has taken steps to ensure the operation is transparent — pet owners can tour the facilities and can view the cremation of their pet in the case of private cremations.

“They can be as much a part of the process as they want,” Smith said.

More information about the services can be found at amosfamily.com/pets or by calling 631-7314.

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