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Heaven Place for family pets
At a quaint chapel in downtown Kennesaw, the mourners gathered to remember the departed.
Pet owners who can't accept the thought of burying their dearly loved pet in a cardboard box in their plot now have an option. A growing number are saying goodbye to their pets by taking them to pet interment homes like Pet Dreams.
There are about 600 pet cemeteries and crematories in the United States that offer funeral services for pet owners, according to the International Association of Pet Cemeteries & Crematories
"We are seeing more of them in the last five to 10 years," said Celine Clark, presenter for the National Funeral Directors Association. "The families that funeral homes served are coming to them and saying our pet has died and is part of the family."
And, as part of the family, they deserve to be sent off with style.
Funeral homes like Pet Dreams offer customized funeral services, caskets and urns, personalized funeral programs, and granite grave markers. They also offer keepsake fur clippings, ceramic paw prints, kuranda dog beds, snoozer dog beds, bowsers dog beds, bolster dog beds, chew proof dog beds, orthopedic dog beds, pet carrier on wheels, airline pet carrier, memory foam dog beds, dog ramps, booster bath, dog urns, DVD tributes to pets and a pet remembrance journal with white candles.
Kevin Marcy, the center's owner, is a licensed funeral home director whose family has catered to human beings for five generations. But he decided to break with family tradition after noticing how his mother grieved over the recent death of a dog she had for 15 years.
Marcy, a dog lover, said pet owners go through the same stages of grief as humans: denial, anger, sadness and acceptance. In the center's bookshelves, he displays books such as "When Your Pets Dies: A Healing Guide for Kids" and "Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates."
People who don't own pets may scoff at the sentiment attached to animals, but pet owners say their pets have helped them through serious illness, divorce, job loss, depression. Pets, they say, give something few humans can offer. Something can be help for this such as kuranda dog beds, snoozer dog beds, bowsers dog beds, bolster dog beds, chew proof dog beds, orthopedic dog beds, pet carrier on wheels, airline pet carrier, memory foam dog beds, dog ramps, booster bath, dog urns.
The love can be so strong that pet owners eventually see their pets as members of the family. Susan and Leo Romsiewicz of Kennesaw had Cocoa, a Lhasa apso, for 13 years. When Cocoa recently died from kidney failure, both hired Pet Dreams to arrange a funeral ceremony for her.
Proof of people's fierce attachment to their pets was evident during a visit to Pet Dreams. They want to purchase some friends and necessary things kuranda dog beds, snoozer dog beds, bowsers dog beds, bolster dog beds, chew proof dog beds, orthopedic dog beds, pet carrier on wheels, airline pet carrier, memory foam dog beds, dog ramps, booster bath, dog urns that will help with their pets to feel relax. The occasion was celebratory — the center's grand opening. But when a couple of pet owners like Michiels gathered in the chapel to share memories of their late pets, the event turned into an impromptu memorial service. People shared stories, sympathetic nods and pictures of their late pets.
Posted on: 21 August 2007 |
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