Pet Cremation Services Options – Burials And Columbarium
The ongoing relationship between Americans and their pets has shown no signs of abating. Over the past few decades, the pet business has continued to grow. Children and adults are forging bonds with animals of all types. While cats and dogs continue to remain the most common, exotic pets also have their fans. Yet, along with the responsibility of food, medical care and exercise comes the need to see them off in a fitting manner. This often means pet cremation services. In Charlotte, NC this is often the best means available to take care of the physical body of the deceased pet. It may also be the most affordable one, depending upon how much you decide to spend on pet cremation costs in Charlotte, NC.
Options Associated with Pet Cremation Services
When it comes to finding the right pet cremation services in Charlotte, NC, people are willing to take their time. Some often think ahead, knowing that the life of most pets is quite finite. While pet owners want to keep the cremains close at hand – often placing them on their mantel pieces or shelves – selecting urns that are expensive but all in keeping with the budget they have made for the pet cremation costs in Charlotte, NC, others want to see their favored companion animals remain in a secure and safe location. For them, the perfect answer could be a columbarium.
What Is a Columbarium?
The word columbarium is directly related to the Latin word for dove. Columba was dove while a columbarium was a place where the doves chose to roost. It was perceived as a place of peace. As early as Ancient Rome, people had begun to place small and large urns in places they called columbaria. These were human cremains but since then, pet cemeteries and some Charlotte, NC pet cremation services providers have created columbarium specifically for pet urns.
Pet columbaria can be found in a few human cemeteries across the country. However, they are mainly located in pet cemeteries or memorial gardens. The bereaved pet owners can arrange to have their pet urns placed in them as part of the overall pet cremation costs. In Charlotte, NC, this is one choice of those who prefer to have a singular place to come visit. Columbaria are also often the place where individuals hold quick pet cremation services in Charlotte, NC before internment and a larger memorial service elsewhere.
What Does a Columbarium Look Like?
Whatever your choice of pet cremation services in Charlotte, NC, the type of columbarium your pet will reside in can vary from city-to-city. In fact, some may not even be found in the city but are confined, by legislation or city by-laws to the countryside. This may be the right environment for your pet’s cremains. He or she might have loved living in the country with fresh air and a sense of openness embraced by natural surroundings. It is one reason why some do not mind paying the associated pet cremation costs in Charlotte, NC.
In such an environment, your pet’s cremains will reside in an urn that sits in a niche on one of two possible structures. A columbarium is sometimes a wall with niches. It can also be an actual crypt-like building. It may be incorporated into a mausoleum or similar edifice. It depends upon the climate and the facility. It may also rely upon the availability of land as well as legislative requirements. In either case, while the type of structure will have little influence on any pet cremation services in Charlotte, NC, it will have a major influence on the type of container you may choose to use.
Columbaria and Urns
If you decide to place your deceased pet’s cremains in a columbarium, you will require a specific type of urn. You will need to check with the provider of the pet cremation services in Charlotte, NC. They may have specifications for the urn. They might also insist on certain materials or restrict ornamentation or engravings. In general, you will find that urns destined to be placed in a columbarium need to be:
- Durable
- Weather resistant
- Water proof
- Able to withstand changes in the environment – e.g. freezing and thawing
In general, this means the best types of urns are those made from metal. They are more expensive than other types of urns – particularly those that are considered best for scattering pet cremation services in Charlotte, NC. This needs to be factored into your Charlotte, NC pet cremation costs. What metal will serve best is debatable. In general, copper, brass or other similar metals are best at withstanding the external environments and environmental changes.
Yet, this does not mean the urn has to be plain – which certainly keeps Charlotte, NC pet cremation costs down. It can be a simple metal container – placing it among the lower end of Charlotte, NC pet cremation costs. Yet, it can also be beautifully engraved and a high-end product. A photo or engraving of the pet may be incorporated into the urn’s surface. This will clearly identify the urn and make it a unique tribute to the life and times of your companion animal.
Charlotte, NC Pet Cremation Services
If you are considering placing the cremains of your pet in an urn in a columbarium, be sure you do your research first. It is important, if you want to honor your pet that you make sure the vessel they remain in is the right one for the vault or wall of a columbarium. Be sure to also include the overall price of using a columbarium within your budget for the entire Charlotte, NC pet cremation services. By doing so, you will make sure your pet receives the tribute he or she deserves without worrying about not being able to afford it when the time actually arrive
