It is the pet family’s choice of which pet funeral home and crematory that cares for your cherished pet.

You simply tell your veterinarian that you are contacting us at Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory to care for your cherished pet. You may bring your pet directly to us at Cherished Pets Funeral Home, or if the veterinarian has a holding area, contact us and we will make arrangements with clinic staff to bring your pet into our care.

Then, go to our website and enroll your cherished pet and choose services and keepsakes. You will then pay for everything online. Once enrolled and services paid in full, we will be alerted and bring your pet into our care as soon as possible.

You will be electronically notified once your cherished pet is in our care.

Simply call us at 417-366-PETS (7387) or visit us at Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory and one of our pet aftercare specialists will be able to assist you in the enrollment and payment process.

We follow a VERY strict cremation process with high standards of excellence and care.

First, your cherished pet will be assigned a specific QR code with AngelPaw electronic tracking system with real time updates.

We focus on true PRIVATE CREMATIONS with only one pet in the cremation chamber at a time.

You may identify your pet prior to placement in the cremation chamber.

You may do a witness cremation in our comfortable visitation room and observe your pet being placed in the cremation chamber.

We have Certified Crematory Operators on staff who have undergone training and testing.

Cameras throughout facility for supervision of professional staff.

We encourage pet families to evaluate the cremation process and procedures of other pet aftercare facilities in the area to determine for yourself the facility to care for your cherished pet.

At the Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory facility, we have a merchandise room that you may visit and choose a personalized urn of choice from our large selection of available urns and jewelry. We also have a vast amount of professional funeral industry vendors that we can find that special urn or keepsake for you.

Credit from the package urn will be given towards this purchase.

At Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory, we invite anyone to tour our facility and meet with our professional pet specialists to answer any of your questions. We have regular operation business hours.

We also encourage you to visit and tour in person other pet aftercare facilities in the area to evaluate for yourself who you want to care for your cherished pet.

There are several choices when it comes to final end-of-life care of a pet’s body. These choices range from cremation (fire, aquamation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis) or burial. At Cherished Pets, we offer burial services at pet cemeteries or a family home, as well as flame cremation.

Flame Cremation

• Flame cremation uses heat to take care of the pet’s body. The bones remain after flame cremation. These are processed so that cremains may be placed in an urn of choice or cremation jewelry.
• Flame cremation uses natural gas. Retorts are designed to burn off emissions from the cremation process, so there is little if any environmental pollution. EPA regulates emission levels of retorts.
• With flame cremation, pet families may choose true individual cremation of their cherished pet. This is possible with the individual chamber in the retort so only their pet is present during the cremation process.
• Flame cremation takes a shorter amount of time compared to aquamation.
• Flame cremation is considered the most eco-friendly, cost-effective, and overall best way to care for a pet or human body as most all professionally licensed funeral directors who currently work in the industry.

Aquamation

• Aquamation is a process using heated water and chemicals to dissolve the pet’s body. Bones and sludge from the organs, skin, and body fluids remain in the chamber. Then the bones have to be dried prior to processing.
• Contrary to the message that aquamation is a gentler process of cremation, some professionals and religious leaders believe this process dishonors the dead by “flushing away pet remains.” In written testimony in April 2021, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference said the manner of discharge was disrespectful largely because wastewater does not honor the sacredness of the body.”
• The actual aquamation process may take longer than flame cremation. Research shows that it takes an average of 16-20 hours for a dog to be cremated by aquamation.
• Usually, with aquamation, several pets are cremated at the same time in the same machine, though in petitioned sections of the actual machine. There is debate among funeral professionals that this is not considered to be a private cremation and that pets are “bathed” in the same water and chemicals together.
• The sludge that is left may be discharged into the sewer system or used as fertilizer.
• Natural gas, like with flame cremation, is still used to heat the water with aquamation cremation.
• Aquamation is illegal in some states because there are anxieties about water usage during droughts and how to get rid of left-over alkaline solution. Although water cremation is often praised as the more eco-friendly option to traditional cremation, scientists are concerned with proper disposal practices. The high basic alkaline solution could be incredibly dangerous and potentially contaminate soil and groundwater.

Green Burial is a final disposition where the pet is buried directly into the ground, with or without an eco-friendly casket, generally 3 to 5 feet in depth with at least 2 feet of earth coverage, away from utility lines, above the water table, and several feet away from a fresh water well. There is concern about the medications that are used for euthanasia or other medical treatments contaminating the soil, groundwater, and other animals that may dig up the animal.

There are laws that regulate burials of animals on private property.

You will always speak to a real person when calling Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory 24/7. After business hours, you may have to leave a message with the live person, but a pet specialist will return your call.

Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory is open during regular business hours, and after hours to bring pets into care by appointment and additional costs. If the pet family wishes to wait until regular business hours, the pet may be placed on a blanket or towel and kept in a cool area.

No. We have a climate-controlled cooler in our facility.

We try our best to have pet’s remains ready for pick up within 24 hours at Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory, or returned back to the family home or veterinarian clinic within a few days depending upon distance and routes. Mailing of cremains is also available. Shipping time is dependent upon postal service.

When we ship cremains, we are required to follow US Postal Service shipping requirements for mailing of cremains. It will be necessary for a person to sign for receiving the remains at the address indicated to us on the enrollment document.

Yes. We are part of two international professional pet aftercare associations:

IAOPCC (International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories) – Represents the gold standard in both business and ethics in the aftercare industry. Being an IAOPCC Member assures our clients that we are a reputable provider offering the finest in aftercare for their pet.

ICCFA – PLPA – The Pet Loss Professionals Alliance is dedicated to the respectful and dignified treatment of those pets entrusted to us based on standards to willfully meet our customers’ expectations.

We are currently working towards accreditation with IAOPCC.

There is not a state or federal government regulation department that oversees the operations, policies, or procedures of a pet funeral home or crematory. A pet funeral home or crematory only has to have proper zoning for facility, business license, and meet EPA regulations for the actual retort.

Therefore, those who are not professional licensed funeral and aftercare specialists may conduct business operating a pet aftercare facility.

This is concerning because any person may operate a pet crematory without having any professional organization oversite, professional licenses to operate as such, or any educational and specialized training to care for pets after they have passed, unlike for humans that are regulated by the MO Division of Professional Registration – Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors and Federal Trade Commission with specific requirements.

No. These are not required to operate a pet funeral home and crematory, unlike a human funeral home and crematory that is inspected annually by State of MO officials who regulate such facilities. The Federal Trade Commission also regulates human funeral homes.

However, at Cherished Pets Funeral Home and Crematory, we use similar standards, regulations, and procedures as we have done with Walnut Lawn Funeral Home that we own.

We have professional staff that are certified crematory operators, certified pet funeral directors, certified pet bereavement specialists, and licensed funeral directors and preneed agents.