If you’ve ever looked at your dog sleeping at your feet or your cat curled up in the same sunny spot each afternoon and thought, “We’ve done life together,” it can feel strangely natural to wonder about the end of life, too. Some families picture a shared headstone. Others imagine a single place to visit—one marker that honors the whole household, including the pet who made home feel like home.
The honest answer is that can I be buried with my pet depends on what you mean by “buried,” what kind of cemetery you’re considering, and what your local rules allow. But the bigger truth is this: there are more realistic paths to a shared resting place than most people realize, especially when you plan early and think in terms of funeral planning rather than a last-minute request.
Why this question is showing up more often
Part of the reason families are asking about human–pet companion burial is that cremation has become the default choice for many households. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the U.S. cremation rate is projected to be 63.4% in 2025, and NFDA also reports a national median cost (2023) of $6,280 for a funeral with cremation and $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial. When cremation is the plan, the question shifts from “Can my pet be in my casket?” to “Can our ashes be together?”
That shift matters. The Cremation Association of North America tracks cremation trends, and notes that in 2024 the U.S. cremation rate was 61.8%. When more families choose cremation, more families end up making decisions about what to do with ashes—including the ashes of pets. The logistics become simpler, but the emotional longing stays the same: togetherness.
What “buried together” can actually mean
When people picture being buried with a pet, they often imagine a shared grave, one casket, or a pet placed in the same burial container. That’s rarely allowed in conventional cemeteries, largely because cemetery policies are built around state law, licensing rules, and long-standing standards about who can be interred in human burial spaces.
But “together” can mean several different things, and many of them are achievable. It can mean a human cemetery that allows a pet’s cremated remains to be placed in the same plot (or the same urn vault). It can mean a pet cemetery that accepts human cremated remains. It can mean two urns placed in the same niche. Or it can mean a shared memorial at home, where keeping ashes at home is part of the long-term plan until you’re both ready for a final placement.
If you want a helpful baseline for what is realistic in many parts of the U.S., Funeral.com’s guide Can Pet Ashes Be Buried with Humans? Laws, Cemetery Rules, and Realistic Options walks through how cemeteries typically approach the question, and why the answer is often “sometimes, with cremated remains, and only with permission.”
Option 1: Pet cemeteries that accept human cremated remains
In some places, the most straightforward path to a shared resting place is a pet cemetery—not for a human burial, but for human cremated remains. This is one of those details that surprises families: certain pet cemeteries can (and do) allow a pet parent’s ashes to be interred with a beloved animal.
A well-known example is Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in New York. In its public brochure, the cemetery notes that New York State officially sanctioned the practice of burying human cremated remains at pet cemeteries and that hundreds of humans rest there with their pets. You can read that directly in the cemetery’s brochure: Hartsdale Pet Cemetery brochure.
Local rules can change over time, and news coverage sometimes reflects those shifts. A News 12 report describes New York passing a law allowing cremated human remains to be buried with pets and highlights restrictions such as required approval and limits on fees and advertising. If you’re researching how laws and cemetery rules evolve, that context can help you ask better questions when you call a cemetery. See: News 12 coverage of New York law.
Practically speaking, this option usually involves cremation urns or a burial-ready urn placed in a plot within the pet cemetery. If your vision is “one marker, one place to visit,” a pet cemetery that allows human cremated remains can offer that, often with more flexibility around inscriptions and symbolism than a traditional human cemetery.
Option 2: Human cemeteries with pet sections or pet-friendly policies
The second path is the one many people hope for: a conventional cemetery where family members are buried that also allows a pet connection. Not every cemetery will say yes, and many will say no. But it’s not unheard of for a cemetery to allow a pet’s ashes in the same plot, especially when the pet is cremated and placed inside a sealed container.
Here’s the key: cemeteries are not only governed by law; they are governed by their own rules. Even if a state does not explicitly ban a pet’s cremated remains from being placed in a human plot, a cemetery may prohibit it. That’s why the best approach is simple and direct: ask for the rule in writing, and ask what, exactly, is permitted. Some cemeteries allow a pet’s urn to be placed in the same grave as the owner. Others allow it only in a niche. Others allow it only if the pet’s ashes are inside the owner’s urn (with no separate container). Others do not allow it at all.
If you are planning a cemetery burial but want to keep the option open for a pet, it helps to design your plans around cremation-ready choices: a cemetery plot that permits urn placement, a niche with enough space for two containers, or an urn vault that can accommodate what you want to do later.
Option 3: Shared cremation planning with a single memorial
For many families, the most realistic “together” option is not a single grave with two bodies. It’s cremation planning that supports a single memorial story. That might mean co-mingling ashes in one urn, placing two small containers into a larger urn vault, or creating a paired display at home that later becomes a paired burial or niche placement.
This is where choosing the right container matters. If you’re building a plan around a single primary urn, Funeral.com’s Cremation Urns for Ashes collection includes full-size options designed for long-term safekeeping. Families who want flexibility sometimes choose keepsake urns or small cremation urns so they can reserve a portion for sharing, travel, or future combining. If you want that kind of flexibility, browse Small Cremation Urns for Ashes and Keepsake Cremation Urns for Ashes.
If your mental picture is “our ashes in one vessel,” you may also want to look at Companion Cremation Urns for Ashes. Companion urns are often used for two people, but the same idea can support a human–pet memorial when you want extra capacity or a design that explicitly symbolizes togetherness.
Where pet aftercare choices affect everything
Before any shared memorial is possible, families need clarity about the pet’s aftercare choice: private, partitioned, or communal cremation, or burial in a pet cemetery. If your long-term goal is to have your pet’s ashes with you, you’ll typically want a private cremation (returned ashes) rather than communal cremation (ashes not returned).
For a plain-language explanation of pet cremation standards and definitions, you can reference the ICCFA’s PLPA resources, which include documents describing terms used in pet cremation practices. See: ICCFA PLPA documents. If you’re choosing a provider, another helpful consumer-facing resource is the IAOPCC “What You Can Expect” guidance, which describes ethical expectations for member providers. See: IAOPCC pet owner guide.
Once you have the ashes, you can choose a memorial container that fits your home and your long-term plan. Families often begin with a pet-specific urn—something that feels like their dog or cat, not like a generic container. Funeral.com’s Pet Cremation Urns for Ashes collection includes classic urns, photo urns, and designs that can be personalized. If a figurine style feels more emotionally “true,” Pet Figurine Cremation Urns for Ashes can serve as both memorial and decor. And if multiple family members want a portion of the ashes, Pet Keepsake Cremation Urns for Ashes can make sharing feel respectful rather than improvised.
What if you’re not ready to decide right now?
It is completely normal to feel drawn to the idea of togetherness, but not ready to lock in the details. Many families keep a pet’s ashes at home for years before deciding on a final placement—especially when the pet dies long before the human who hopes to be “together” later.
If this is your situation, start with safety and dignity. A stable, protected placement matters more than people realize, especially in households with children, guests, or other pets. Funeral.com’s guide Keeping Ashes at Home: How to Do It Safely, Respectfully, and Legally walks through practical considerations so your memorial feels comforting rather than stressful.
This is also where wearable memorials can play a gentle role. Some families keep the primary ashes in an urn, but place a symbolic portion in cremation jewelry. If you’ve ever thought about a discreet pendant you can touch when grief catches you off guard, you’re not alone. Funeral.com’s Cremation Jewelry 101 explains how it works, and the Cremation Jewelry collection includes options designed to hold a small amount. If your focus is specifically on cremation necklaces, you can browse Cremation Necklaces.
How to plan so your wishes are actually honored
Even the most beautiful shared-memorial idea can fail if no one knows what you wanted, or if the cemetery is asked too late. A compassionate version of funeral planning is not about obsessing over death. It’s about saving the people you love from confusion and conflict later.
Start by writing your wishes down in plain language. If your plan involves being cremated and having your ashes placed with a pet, be specific about what “with” means: same cemetery, same plot, same niche, or same urn. Then identify the one person responsible for carrying out those details, and make sure they have the documents they’ll need: cemetery contracts, proof of ownership, cremation certificates, and any required approvals.
If you’re choosing cremation for yourself, it also helps to understand the cost landscape early, because budget pressure is one of the quickest ways a family plan gets altered. If you want an overview of how much does cremation cost in the U.S. and how urns, keepsakes, and ceremony choices affect the total, see How Much Does Cremation Cost? Average Prices and Budget-Friendly Options.
When “together” is more about meaning than rules
Sometimes, the barrier is not law—it’s timing. Your pet may die decades before you do. The cemetery you love today may not exist later, or family members may move. In those situations, it can help to loosen the definition of “together” without losing the heart of what you’re trying to honor.
A shared marker in a garden can become a family’s primary place of remembrance while the urns remain safely stored. A water burial or scattering ceremony can include both human and pet remembrance in the wording, even if the ashes are not physically combined. If you’re considering a sea or lake farewell as part of your story, Funeral.com’s Understanding What Happens During a Water Burial Ceremony offers a clear picture of how those ceremonies typically work.
And sometimes, the simplest answer is the kindest one: keep the pet close now, plan for a practical final placement later, and allow your family to carry the bond forward in a way that fits the real world. Whether your path involves a pet cemetery, a human cemetery with a pet-friendly rule, or a shared memorial built around cremation urns for ashes, the goal is the same. You are trying to honor a love that was real.
If you’d like your next step to be more concrete, start with two phone calls: one to the cemetery you’re considering, and one to the pet aftercare provider you trust. Ask what is allowed, ask what paperwork is required, and ask how they recommend preserving ashes safely if your plan spans years. Clarity early is what turns “I hope this can happen” into “this is exactly how we’ll do it.”
