Choosing an Urn for Your Pet in South Africa

What is usually included

Most South African crematoriums include a basic wooden box, tin or scatter tube in the cremation price. It is perfectly dignified and many families never change it. You are not obliged to buy anything further, and a crematorium that pushes hard on upgrades at that moment is one to be wary of.

What is available

Wooden boxes with engraved name plates from around R300–R900. Ceramic and stone urns R600–R2,500. Photo-frame urns that hold both ashes and a picture, roughly R500–R1,500. Scatter tubes for families who plan to scatter, from about R200. Memorial jewellery holding a small portion of ash from around R400 upwards.

You can decide later

There is no deadline. Ashes keep indefinitely in whatever container they arrive in, and you can transfer them to something else in a month or in five years. Decisions made in the first raw fortnight are frequently not the ones you would make later, and this is one you can simply postpone.

Splitting between family members

If several people want a portion — a child who has left home, a co-owner after a separation — ask the crematorium whether they can divide the ashes and supply more than one container. Most will, usually for a small extra charge, and it is far easier done at the crematorium than at your kitchen table.