If you’re reading this because your dog or cat has died, you’re probably moving through two realities at once. In one, you’re grieving someone who was part of your daily life—your routines, your quiet moments, the little ways your home felt like home. In the other, you’re being asked to make decisions: whether you want ashes back, what kind of container they’ll arrive in, and what you want their memorial to look like. The emotional part can feel timeless. The practical part can feel urgent.
Choosing pet urns is not “just shopping.” It’s deciding how you want to keep connection close, and what you want to see and touch when you’re ready to remember. For some families, a simple pet memorial urn box is the right answer—quiet, sturdy, and discreet. For others, a dog urn for ashes with a photo frame, or a figurine that looks like the way their pup used to curl up, feels more honest. Many cat people want something smaller and gentler, like a clean-lined cat urn for ashes that doesn’t dominate the room but still feels like a place of honor.
The good news is that you do not have to figure this out in one sitting. You can move step by step, starting with size, then material, then style, and finally where to buy. If you want to browse in a calm, organized way, Funeral.com’s pet cremation urns for ashes collection is grouped by type and size, including dedicated collections for pet urns for dogs and pet urns for ashes for cats.
Why These Questions Are Coming Up More Often
Cremation has become the most common choice for human families in the U.S., and that shift is shaping how many households think about memorials—at home, in nature, and in everyday life. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the U.S. cremation rate is projected to be 63.4% in 2025, compared to a projected burial rate of 31.6%. When more families are caring for ashes, questions like what to do with ashes, keeping ashes at home, and choosing between full-size urns, keepsake urns, and cremation jewelry naturally become more common.
The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) reports a U.S. cremation rate of 61.8% in 2024 and projects continued growth over the next several years. That overall trend doesn’t replace the personal grief of losing a pet, but it helps explain why so many modern memorial options exist—and why families now often create small, meaningful memorial spaces at home for both people and pets.
In other words, if you’re feeling unsure about what you “should” do, it may help to know that there is no single right way. There are only choices that fit your life, your home, and the bond you shared.
What Size Pet Urn Do I Need?
The most common question families ask—often with a little panic behind it—is what size pet urn do I need? The simplest guideline used for pet urns for ashes is to plan for about one cubic inch of urn capacity for each pound of your pet’s body weight. A 10-pound cat typically needs around 10 cubic inches. A 40-pound dog typically needs around 40 cubic inches. If you’re not sure of your pet’s exact weight, choosing slightly larger is usually safer and easier emotionally than realizing the urn is too small when it’s time to transfer the ashes.
If you want a calm, step-by-step approach (and examples of how families split ashes between one main urn and smaller keepsakes), Funeral.com’s Pet Urn Size Calculator is a practical tool to keep bookmarked. The companion guide, How Do I Choose the Right Size Urn for My Pet?, explains the sizing logic in plain language—without making you feel like you’re doing homework in the middle of grief.
When “Smaller” Is the Plan, Not a Mistake
Not every family wants one urn that holds everything. Sometimes you want a main urn at home, plus a couple of small pieces for siblings, adult children, or a partner who is grieving differently than you are. Sometimes you plan to scatter some ashes and keep the rest. Sometimes you want a tiny portion set aside for jewelry, and you want the rest protected in a safe container.
That’s where keepsake urns can be genuinely helpful, especially for families who want to share. Funeral.com’s pet keepsake cremation urns collection focuses on small designs that typically hold a modest portion, so multiple people can keep a tangible connection without needing multiple full-size urns. If you’re looking for very small vessels in general (for either pets or people), you may also find the broader keepsake urns collection useful for comparison.
And if your pet was tiny, or you prefer a compact design that takes up less space, Funeral.com’s small cremation urns for pet ashes collection is a simple starting point—especially for cats, toy breeds, and families intentionally keeping only a portion at home.
Material Choices That Match Your Home and Your Heart
Most families begin with style—what looks like “them”—and then discover material matters, too. Material affects durability, weight, sealing, and how an urn feels in your hands. It can also quietly influence how comfortable you feel with keeping ashes at home long-term.
Wood: Warm, Familiar, and Easy to Display
Wood urns are popular for pets because they feel domestic and gentle. A wood pet memorial urn box can blend into a shelf or bookcase without announcing itself. Many wood designs also support photo inlays or small engraved plates. If you’re picturing something that feels like a natural part of the home—especially for a dog who lived in every room with you—wood is often a steady choice.
Ceramic: Artistic, Soft-Looking, and Meaningful
Ceramic urns tend to feel more like art than “equipment.” Glazes can be simple and matte or richly colored, and the shape can be modern or traditional. Ceramic is a strong option for a shelf or mantel, especially if you want a memorial that looks intentional and beautiful, not clinical. Because ceramic can chip if dropped, it’s best for stable display areas rather than high-traffic floors or low shelves where kids and pets might bump it.
Metal: Durable, Secure, and Often Travel-Friendly
Metal urns are a favorite for families who want a confident seal and long-term durability. Threaded lids and tight closures help many people feel safer about accidental spills. Metal can also be a good choice if you expect to move, travel, or eventually place the urn in a cemetery niche. If your priority is “secure and lasting,” metal is hard to beat.
Biodegradable: For Burial, Water, and Nature-Based Memorials
If you’re planning a burial in a backyard (where local rules allow) or a nature-based ceremony, you may be drawn to a biodegradable pet urn. Some biodegradable urns are designed for earth burial, while others are designed to dissolve in water after floating briefly. Funeral.com’s Biodegradable & Eco-Friendly Urns for Ashes collection explains the basic categories through product descriptions, and the guide Eco-Friendly Urns and Biodegradable Options walks through what “break down” can look like in soil versus freshwater versus saltwater.
Families sometimes ask about water burial when they’re picturing a goodbye at the ocean, a lake cabin, or a meaningful shoreline. If you are exploring that for a person, Funeral.com’s guide Understanding What Happens During a Water Burial Ceremony explains the practical and ceremonial side. For pets, local regulations vary widely, so it’s wise to check with the crematory, a local authority, or a marina before planning a water-based ceremony.
Style: From Simple Boxes to Decorative Memorials
Once you feel steadier about size and material, style becomes more intuitive. This is the part where families often feel that quiet recognition: “Yes. This feels like them.”
If you prefer a clean look, a simple box-style urn can be the easiest to live with. It becomes a calm object you can place beside a framed photo, a collar, and a small candle. If you want something more expressive, photo-frame urns and photo-cube urns combine function and memory in one place, especially for families who want the memorial to feel visually personal from the start.
And if you want the memorial to reflect the pet’s personality in a visible way, figurine urns can be surprisingly comforting. Funeral.com’s pet figurine cremation urns collection includes breed- and pose-inspired designs that can feel like a gentle echo of how your dog or cat used to rest. Some families love this because it makes the memorial feel less abstract, especially in the first months when grief is still raw.
If you already know you want personalization, start with the engraved pet urn collection. Seeing engravable designs together can help you decide whether you want engraving directly on the urn, or whether you prefer a separate nameplate. When an urn’s surface doesn’t engrave well, Funeral.com’s Urn Accessories collection includes engravable plates and bases that let you personalize without compromising the design you love.
Where to Buy Pet Urns Online vs Local
When families ask where to buy pet urns, what they usually mean is: where can I buy something I can trust, without making this harder than it already is? The answer depends on timing, how particular you are about design, and whether you want to see options in person.
Buying locally can be the right move when you need something immediately or you want hands-on help. Veterinary clinics and pet crematories often offer a small selection of urns and keepsakes. The advantage is speed and simplicity: you can often select an urn while arranging services, and you may have staff available to answer questions about capacity or the return container. The limitation is selection. Many local providers have a narrow range of styles, and you may feel stuck choosing between “fine” and “not quite right.”
Working with a custom maker can be beautiful when you want something truly one-of-a-kind: handmade ceramics, carved wood, custom paint, or a design that includes a specific symbol or phrase that belongs to your story. The tradeoff is time and process. Custom work often requires proofing, a longer timeline, and less flexibility if you change your mind after it’s started.
Shopping online is often the best fit when you want more choice, clearer specifications, and the ability to compare calmly at home. A specialized retailer like Funeral.com is structured around the questions families actually have: capacity, materials, closure type, and whether the urn is intended for full ashes or a portion. If you’re comparing by pet type, start with pet urns for dogs or cat urn for ashes options. If you’re comparing by size bracket, browsing Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large collections can reduce decision fatigue fast.
Marketplaces can be tempting, especially when you’re trying to stay under budget or you’re looking for a specific aesthetic. But because listings and sellers vary widely, it helps to know what “quality” looks like in a pet urn listing. When families ask about best pet urns, they usually mean the urns that feel safe, well-made, and honestly described—not the ones with the flashiest photos.
- Clear capacity in cubic inches and a suggestion of what weight that typically fits.
- Material described plainly (not vague phrases that could mean anything).
- Closure details (threaded lid, secure bottom panel, screws, or other mechanism).
- Accurate photos from multiple angles, ideally including scale or dimensions.
- A clear personalization process, including what information is needed and whether a proof is provided.
And here are common red flags that can save you from disappointment:
- No capacity listed, or capacity that doesn’t match the size shown in photos.
- “Urn-like” décor that is not designed to securely hold ashes.
- Unclear return and replacement policies for damaged items.
- Engraving offered with no preview, no character limits, and no guidance on readability.
- Shipping timelines that don’t match your emotional reality, especially if you want the urn before a memorial moment.
Engraving, Photo Options, and Personalization That Feels Right
A personalized pet urn can be as simple as a name and a date, or as specific as a nickname that only your household used. In many cases, less text is more. Short engravings tend to read more clearly and feel more timeless. If you want something longer—a poem line, a private message—consider whether you want it visible, or whether you’d prefer to tuck that message into a memory box beside the urn.
Photo options can also change the entire feeling of the memorial. Photo-frame urns and photo cubes allow your pet’s face to be part of the space, which can be comforting when your brain is still catching up to the loss. If you want to keep the memorial visually calm, you can choose a simple urn and keep the photos nearby rather than attached.
If you are deciding whether you want personalization at all, Funeral.com’s guide Choosing the Right Urn for Pet Ashes is a gentle walkthrough of what personalization can look like—photos, engraving, symbolic details—without pushing you toward a specific style.
Pet Cremation Jewelry and Small Keepsakes
Some pet parents want a memorial that stays in one place. Others want something they can carry on hard days: a tiny, private reminder that the bond is still present. That’s where cremation jewelry comes in. A piece of jewelry is not meant to replace a full urn; it’s meant to hold a very small portion and turn it into something wearable.
If you’re considering cremation necklaces or other keepsakes, start with Funeral.com’s Pet Cremation Jewelry collection, which is designed around pet-specific symbolism and sizing. The broader cremation jewelry collection and cremation necklaces collection can also be useful if you prefer more understated styles. For practical filling, sealing, and everyday wear guidance, the Journal article Urn Necklaces and Ashes Pendants explains how these pieces work and what “secure” really means in day-to-day life.
Creating a Small At-Home Memorial Space
Even if you’re not ready to choose a permanent plan, you can create a small space that makes keeping ashes at home feel respectful and emotionally supportive. This does not have to be elaborate. Many families choose one surface—a shelf, a small table, a mantel corner—and keep the memorial contained and intentional: the urn, a photo, and one or two items that feel like the pet (a collar, a tag, a favorite toy, a paw print). The goal is not to “move on.” The goal is to create a place where love has somewhere to go.
If you want guidance on safety, household etiquette, and long-term planning, Funeral.com’s Keeping Ashes at Home guide is written for families in real homes, with real concerns—kids, visitors, moves, and the question of what happens years from now.
Budget, Timing, and the Quiet Overlap With Funeral Planning
Pet loss can also surface questions you weren’t expecting about funeral planning in general. When you’re suddenly thinking about urns and ashes for someone you love, it’s natural to wonder what you would want for yourself or a partner someday, and what those choices cost. If you’re navigating both pet decisions and broader family planning, Funeral.com’s guide how much does cremation cost can help you understand typical price bands and what affects them, without forcing you into sales conversations.
And if you’re also supporting a family member through a human loss while grieving your pet, you may find it helpful to browse Funeral.com’s broader cremation urns for ashes collection, along with small cremation urns and keepsake urns for families who plan to share ashes among relatives. The guide How to Choose a Cremation Urn That Fits Your Plans is especially helpful for understanding how display, burial, travel, and scattering change what “the right urn” means.
A Final Thought: Let “Right” Mean “Comfortable”
The best urn choice is rarely the most expensive or the most ornate. It’s the one that gives you a sense of steadiness when you see it. For some people, that means a modest wood pet memorial urn box. For others, it means an engraved pet urn with a name that makes the loss feel real in a gentle way. For others, it means splitting ashes into keepsake urns so multiple people can hold grief and love together. And for some, it means combining a main urn with pet cremation jewelry so connection can travel with you into ordinary life.
If you feel behind, you’re not. If you feel overwhelmed, you’re not failing. You’re trying to honor a relationship that mattered. Start with size. Choose a material that fits your home. Let style be personal. And when you’re ready to decide where to buy pet urns, choose a place that gives you clear information, thoughtful options, and the space to choose without pressure.
