Tips for Decorating Your Pet's Headstone

The experience of losing and having to bury a pet is nothing short of traumatic. After all, pets are a part of your family and many people feel the loss every bit as much as they do if they lose a person in their life. For this reason, many people opt to plan memorial services and funerals for their pets, to honor and share their pet's life and loss with the people around them. This is a critical step in the healing process.

When planning a pet memorial ceremony, there are many small details to consider, including aspects of the burial. Many people opt to use pet headstones at their pet's graveside for a more formal marking of the grave site. Pet headstones and pet grave markers are readily available and can be personalized to reflect specific characteristics of your pet's life and personality.

However, beyond what you carefully choose to have engraved on the headstone, there are many other things you can do to make the pet headstone more meaningful during the pet memorial ceremony. Similar to human grave markers, there are a number of creative things you can do to further personalize your pet's grave marker.

During the service, place some of your favorite framed pictures around the headstone as well as a smattering of your pet's favorite toys and trinkets. Drape your pet's favorite blanket over the headstone for the service or bring your pet's favorite kennel or bedding to place alongside the grave site. Many people choose to light an eternity candle for the service as a symbol of their pet's eternal life. If your pet enjoyed music, which many pets do, you can play their favorite music during the memorial ceremony. You can do as much - or as little - as you feel comfortable doing for your pet memorial service. The point is to convey as much of your pet's personality as possible through the service and decoration of the pet headstone.

Once the service is over, you can regularly place fresh flowers at your pet's grave. However, it is not a good idea to leave anything that can spoil or deteriorate in exterior conditions over time. Anything that you leave graveside should be as natural as possible, which is why flowers are the best and most common options for headstone decor. Each pet cemetery will have their rules for what you're able to leave graveside so be sure to check with them. They do all vary. Keep this in mind when deciding where you will permanently lay your pet to rest and weigh all of the pros and cons carefully. Some pet cemeteries have their own lanterns or candle looking lights that you can purchase and they will maintain for you.

Again, decorating or adorning a pet headstone is a matter of personal preference and style. You should do whatever makes you feel comfortable and honors your pet with dignity. The point of the service is to remember how much love and joy your pet brought into your life, therefore everything you do to prepare for it should reflect that same range of emotion.

Colleen Mihelich is a Pet Loss Expert and the founder of Peternity.com, a website dedicated to celebrating and honoring the love we share with our pets. Visit Peternity.com to post a free online pet memorial and to receive free pet loss support gifts.