Farwell to Your Pet

Do you want Rex or Muffy to have an open-casket viewing and a graveside service, including burial in a cemetery exclusively for Pets?  Then you are among the growing number of people who want to give their beloved animal a memorable goodbye.  It's all part of a pet care industry that has grown from 23 billion to 43 billion in the last 10 years, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.  A typical pet funeral, which includes the gravesite, costs about $500.00.  While pet burials are big business, cremation is also an option. If you prefer to bury Rex at sea, that's available, too.  Also popular memorials from engraved garden stones to memory boxes holding ashes or a bit of fur, according to the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories.  And to help owners cope with loss, pet bereavement counselors and support groups are available.