Alexandra Yaksch, BSc, AHT

Choosing a crematorium is one of the most important decisions your clinic or hospital can make. In fact, most veterinary facilities make this choice on behalf of the pet parent. Understanding what’s behind those doors is imperative to better understanding your industry, making the right choice, and garnishing a stronger bond with your clients. Below are the top 3 reasons why it’s important to know your crematorium.

1.     Making the choice for the pet parent: The crematorium reflects your clinic

Those of us in veterinary medicine have traditionally taken it upon ourselves to handle aftercare. In human medicine, it’s up to the families to decide. The advantage in deciding for yourself is that you get to observe, with your own eyes, how the company operates and what values they hold when it comes to your family member, be it a human or a cat! This decision is so important to families for their pets and as more and more people are bringing animals into their families, the more we see the aftercare industry grow.

The crematorium you choose to work with is a reflection of your clinic and your values. Pet parents trust us to make this choice for them. They are trusting that we are making the best decision for them. We are picking the business that is taking care of our patients. Would we make the same choice if it is our own pets? It’s an important question to ask because we would want the same thing for our own, and when this is transparent among our clients, bridges of trust are built, and lifelong relationships bloom.

2. Know the crematorium is operating properly and ethically

A must-do when it comes to knowing your crematorium is visiting their facilities. This is an absolute in veterinary medicine. If we don’t see the crematorium, how can we make this decision for our clients? There have been a few cases recently where pet parents were extremely upset and raised many concerns over the way the crematoriums handled their pets.

There have also been some upsetting investigations into crematoriums where one group found that the ashes they received did not belong to their pet. Listen to the Freakonomics podcast for more of the gripping story about The Troubled Cremation of Stevie the Cat.
Operational transparency is a key factor in choosing your crematorium.
The problem we face is that there is no regulation on crematoriums yet, and for the moment it is the vet teams that are responsible for making the decision for the pet parent. We must choose very carefully. We want to make sure our crematorium is a choice that reflects us, and we need to make sure they are operating properly.

3. Shared values

What are your values? Does the company you work with share those values? Buying is voting.

While there is no regulation in the pet cremation industry yet, what we can see is a trend of consolidation within the crematorium industry. Larger companies are buying out smaller companies, and this ends up driving up the price. We see this in Ontario, where some companies charge, for example, a flat rate of around $35 to the clinic. In the context of consolidation what this creates is a lack of competition in the market. Historically, in Ontario for example, there used to be an average price per pound. Now, it has moved up to price per animal, which is exponentially higher.

Furthermore, keeping small businesses alive and successful is needed because that’s often where innovation comes from. We need competition to keep prices sustainable.
Let’s look at some innovation from smaller companies like those who create the body bags we choose. Euthabag has created the first patented design of an after-care bag, which is in-line with the AVMA Aftercare Policy. At their average cost of $8 plus the small crematorium fee, it still comes up less expensive than their counterpart. That revenue goes into funding not only the business, but initiatives like educational talks, CE, environmental initiatives, design, supporting charities, partnerships with companies and other small businesses, supporting vet practices in elevating euthanasia appointments with practical and technical services, etc.

The bag itself is a symbol of dignity and respect which only serves to raise the standard our industry.  

Some body bags, very much inspired by the veterinary design of Euthabag, are sometimes given for free. The reality is the crematorium just picked the kind of bag they want to use and say it’s free, but it does infact come at cost, it’s just incuded in the service fee. And just because it’s free, this doesn’t mean it’s what you need and aligned with your clientele’s standards.

Buying is voting, and when you make a purchase on behalf of someone who is placing trust in you to choose the best, it should be the best.

In order to continue to elevate our practice we must remain accountable to ourselves, our values, and our clients. This is no small decision! We create the industry we want to see, so let’s continue to make the best choices possible!

Read more on our website about the AVMA Aftercare Policy Guidelines and let us help where we can to guide your decision.