Six Mistakes People Make Arranging Pet Cremation

Not saying individual

The most common and the only truly irreversible one. If nobody explicitly asked which you wanted, the default at many practices is communal and no ashes come back. Say the word individual, and ask for it on the invoice.

Forgetting the fur and the paw print

Both must be requested before the cremation. Almost nobody offers unprompted and almost everybody wishes afterwards that they had asked. It takes one sentence on the first phone call.

Accepting the first quote in shock

Grief is precisely when people agree to numbers they would otherwise question. Individual cremation for a small dog runs R1,100–R2,000 in South Africa; a quote far above that band deserves a second phone call. Nobody legitimate will pressure you on this.

The other three

Not asking the total including collection and container. Assuming the vet will chase the ashes for you — frequently they sit at reception for days until you phone. And burying at a rented or soon-to-be-sold property, which South Africans regret more often than any other choice here.