Below are a variety of ideas for memorializing a pet. The following ideas were contributed by volunteers of the Pet Loss Support Hotline, University of California at Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine and used with permission: The Human-Animal Bond and Grief, Lagoni, Butler, Hetts, 1994. W.B. Saunders Company, page 268.

• Take lots of photographs and, when you think you’ve taken enough, take some more. Use the photos to fill an album, place them in your pet’s favorite spots in the house, make a collage with them, fill a multi-picture frame with them, carry pictures in your wallet.
• Write a poem, story or song about or dedicated to your pet.
• Write down your special memories of your pet. Add stories or anecdotes from friends and family. Alternatively make a tape recording of the same thing.
• Chronicle your pet’s life with photos or by keeping a journal.
• Write a letter to your pet expressing feelings you may be struggling with.
• Videotape your pet doing anything and everything: eating, sleeping, playing, etc.
• Make something that reminds you of your pet (for example, a drawing, a clay sculpture, or a needlework project).
• Have a professional portrait, sketch, or sculpture done of your pet. This can be done after the pet’s death from a photograph. You can also have a photo of your pet transferred to a T-shirt, clock, button, or mug. (Check advertisements in magazines like Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy for sources.)
• Keep baby teeth, whiskers, fur (from shaved areas)
  and place them in a locket.
• Have fur spun to make yarn in order to knit/crochet something in memory of your pet. Pet needs to have medium-to-long hair.
• Keep pet tags. Place these on a key ring so you will always be carrying the memory of your special friend with you.
• Have a plaque made to honor your pet. Place it in a special place next to your pet’s ashes, on a tree near where your pet was buried, in the hospital where your pet was cared for, etc.
• Volunteer your time at a humane organization or help find homes for strays and unwanted pets.
• Plant a bush, shrub, tree, or flowers over or near the location where the pet’s body or ashes are buried.
• Place ashes in a potted houseplant.
• Collect pet’s collars, tags, bowls, blankets, etc. and place them in a special are in honor of your pet. You can also place ashes, sympathy cards, etc. with them.
• Send out announcements of your pet’s death to those who were close to you and your pet.
• Ask your vet to make a ClayPaws® print of your pet after he/she dies.

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