In September 2024, the term ‘pet funeral services with all-inclusive packages up to 10,000 yuan’ topped the Weibo trending list. Pet funeral services, as a tender guardianship at the end of a pet’s life, have gradually entered the public eye and attracted widespread attention. From picking up the pet’s body to the undertaker’s arrangement of the pet’s appearance, disinfection, and cleaning of the body, to a solemn farewell ceremony, and finally to cremation and burial of the body, this constitutes a complete pet funeral process.
The cost is calculated based on the pet’s weight, typically ranging from 600 to 1500 yuan. In addition to the funeral process, many pet funeral shops also offer value-added services with commemorative significance, such as burying the pet’s ashes in a potted plant to create a Tree of Life, customizing pet paw print boxes, hair pendants, etc. Besides cremation, body disposal methods can also include burial, tree burial, or space burial as a specimen. If the funeral process and value-added services are included in a package, the cost can reach up to 10,000 yuan. Many people question the services provided by pet funeral shops and the prices they charge, questioning whether it is worth spending thousands or tens of thousands of yuan on a pet’s funeral affairs. How many pet funeral shops are there around us? In recent years, people’s perception of pets has gradually shifted from emotional sustenance to family members, and their spending on pets has also been increasing, with the global and domestic pet market scale continuously expanding. The ‘2023-2024 China Pet Industry White Paper (Consumer Report)’ shows that, to date, China’s pet industry market size has reached 279.3 billion yuan, with the number of urban dogs and cats at 121.55 million. A strong emotional bond has prompted pet owners to invest more time and money in their pets, and after their pets pass away, people also hope to give them a dignified farewell ceremony. This has led to the steady development of the pet funeral industry in recent years. Data from Qichacha shows that there are currently 7,872 pet funeral-related enterprises in China, with 121 such enterprises in Guangzhou. Using map software and starting from Guangzhou’s Pearl River New City, a search reveals more than ten pet funeral shops offering pet end-of-life services within ten kilometers of Pearl River New City. Most pet funeral shops operate 24 hours a day, providing services that consider the owner’s feelings and needs, while also showing respect for the pet. Behind the services and farewells, for many pet owners, their pets are not just animals but also members of the family and a source of emotional sustenance. When these special family members pass away, pet owners often face profound emotional challenges, needing a way to express their grief and bid their pets a final farewell. This emotional investment has made pet funeral services increasingly accepted, allowing pets’ lives to be commemorated in a special form.They were bought when I was in middle school. The companionship time was about two months. Wan and her two little hamsters, ‘Milk Tea’ and ‘Black Sesame’. Although the companionship time was not long, they played the role of playmates in her life during middle school. The departure of pets is not only the loss of a living being for her, but also a break in an intimate relationship. Facing the departure of the little hamsters, Wan said she experienced indescribable sadness.
‘At first, I was confirming whether they were really dead. I was a bit stunned. I kept repeatedly confirming whether they were really not moving.’ Such emotional fluctuations are not an isolated case but a psychological journey commonly experienced by many pet owners. To help herself better deal with this emotion, Wan’s family chose pet funeral services. ‘At that time, it seemed to be the suggestion of mom and dad. They thought this seemed to be a relatively good way to say goodbye, and it was relatively ceremonial.’ The farewell conversation session was the most impressive part of the entire funeral service for Wan. ‘That session was relatively impressive to me because at my age, I might need an opportunity like this that is relatively ceremonial and an emotional communication with pets.’ This personalized service not only healed her psychological trauma at that time but also provided her with a space to express her inner feelings. For many people, pet funeral ceremonies provide an opportunity to express grief and help emotional healing. It not only gives pets due respect and dignity but also provides owners with a formal platform for farewell and helps them slowly accept the fact of loss. Wan also mentioned that her family and friends around her are relatively understanding and accepting of pet funeral services. ‘In fact, I think for people with pets, they must be highly receptive to this (pet funeral service). Those who don’t have pets may not understand it very well. But in fact, like my friends, they are all relatively understanding, and so are my family.’ In addition to the existing forms of pet funeral, more and more pet owners are beginning to explore other ways to permanently commemorate their pets. Miss Yuan spent three and a half years with her American Shorthair cat ‘Yuan Dazhi’. In her heart, ‘Yuan Dazhi’ is not only a cat but also an existence she regards as her ‘son’. ‘The kitten is a family member in my home. Just like how people die and how funerals are prepared, the same process applies to my kitten.’ Miss Yuan believes: ‘Carbon-based diamonds can be made by extracting from pet hair and can be worn on the body.’ She expects the pet funeral industry to be more professional, the service process to be more humane, and to provide more diverse choices to meet the needs of different pet owners.Is it true that pet morticians ‘invest little, earn a lot, and get a quick return’? In recent years, with the booming pet economy, the emerging profession of pet morticians has gradually come into public view. Labels such as ‘huge profits’, ‘gray area’, ‘monthly salary over ten thousand’, and ‘extremely popular’ have been attached to pet morticians on social media. Is this profession really as legendary—’invest little, earn a lot, and get a quick return’? As a novice pet mortician who has been in the industry for less than two months, Jun Tian says that ‘being on call 24/7’ and ‘irregular working hours’ are common patterns for pet morticians.
Unlike other industries, pet funeral services do not have a peak or off season; it mainly depends on the time of the pet’s passing. Sometimes there are no orders for two or three days, and sometimes they are so busy they have no time to eat. Sometimes there are no customers all day, but from seven or eight in the evening to the middle of the night, customers keep coming. Due to the special nature of the funeral industry, pet morticians must ensure they are available to answer calls 24 hours a day. During busy times, it is common to be woken up two or three times a night. On the early morning of October 15th, Jun Tian was awakened by a phone call in his sleep. He immediately drove to a destination 60 kilometers away to pick up a pet cat that had just fallen from the 27th floor. After returning to the store, cleaning and organizing the pet cat’s body, Jun Tian placed it on a small bed in the farewell room, next to the snacks the cat loved while alive, lit a small candle, and the customer couldn’t help but cry beside it. Jun Tian gently closed the door, leaving them with a little alone time. Since entering the industry, Jun Tian has become accustomed to such emergencies, often getting up in the middle of the night or working from day to night. Jun Tian knows well that being a pet mortician means always putting the customer’s needs first. Since pet funeral services are low-frequency, triggered demands, customers only search for related services on platforms like Meituan after their pet passes away. Often, pet owners call to inquire about pet final services on Meituan, but not all of them come to the site. ‘Either they are too far away, or they say they have no time. Some customers are simply too sad to see their beloved pet pass away,’ Jun Tian recalls, ‘Half a month ago, I took an order. The dog was still alive, but it was paralyzed in the lower limbs, very thin, and not eating. The owner entrusted us to contact the hospital to help the dog euthanize. The owner did not want to see the little golden retriever that had accompanied them for eight years pass away, so they did not come to the site. I accompanied the little golden retriever throughout the process and sent it to another happy planet.’ The pet photos hanging on the wall in the store are seen by many as ‘soul ferrymen’, ‘star planters’, but it overlooks that they are also ordinary people.After stepping out of the limelight as ‘pet funeral directors’, they too must worry about their livelihood. ‘The income in our industry is not as extravagant as it is hyped online,’ said Jun Tian. The pet funeral service prices in the store are calculated based on the weight of the pet, divided into 2.5kg, 2.5-5kg, 5-10kg, 10-20kg, 20-25kg and so on. The pricing starts at 399 yuan for under 2.5kg, 480 yuan for 2.
5-5kg, and increases by 100 yuan for each subsequent weight category, such as 580 yuan, 680 yuan, 780 yuan and so on. Jun Tian calculated that for large dogs like Alaskan Malamutes, which can weigh forty to sixty jin (about 20-30 kg), the revenue from cremation alone should be around seven to eight hundred yuan, but the profit is minimal. ‘Our cremation costs are high; for larger dogs, it might cost over 300 yuan in fuel,’ Jun Tian stated. ‘After deducting costs and employee expenses, there’s not much profit left.’ The real profit in the pet funeral industry comes from the customization of memorial products, which range from several hundred to several thousand yuan, such as pet hair accessories, pet urns, paw print frames, and memorial pendants. For instance, a standard urn costs around a hundred yuan, while higher-end materials like solid wood and jade, combined with personalized customization, can cost thousands of yuan. Additionally, more expensive memorial products include pet crystals, pet gems, plaster sculptures, and even specimens made from the pet’s ashes and crystals. The stacking of customized memorial derivatives on top of basic funeral services is the true source of profit in the pet funeral industry.For Jun Tian, the most challenging part of this profession is promoting memorial products to customers. It’s natural for pet owners to want to keep a memento after their beloved pet passes away. However, when ‘memento’ involves money, its meaning changes. Facing a customer who has just lost their pet and is extremely grieved, Jun Tian feels that discussing this topic is too cruel. When facing customers, Jun Tian often asks if the pet owners have an urgent need for memorial product customization; if they do, he recommends purchasing, if not, he lets it go. However, this approach often leads to worries about livelihood and salary. The A side of the pet funeral director’s profession is thus full of ups and downs, not as ‘low investment, high profit, quick return’ as people outside the industry might think. On the other hand, the B side of the pet funeral director’s profession is warm, meaningful, and very pure.
Grooming, arranging farewell ceremonies, and cremating the remains – these are what many people think constitute the entirety of a pet funeral director’s job. In reality, the infusion and outflow of emotions are far more significant aspects of their work. When the phone rings, it is often met with someone who has just lost their beloved pet, anxious, disoriented, and overwhelmed with grief. What the pet funeral director needs to do is to alleviate and bear the emotions of the owner who has lost their pet. The bond between pets and owners has long transcended species, forming a deep emotional connection. When a pet passes away, the owner often struggles to accept this reality, hoping to continue this bond through funeral ceremonies to commemorate the beautiful time spent together. The pet funeral parlor’s decor reads, ‘Every life deserves respect, and we hope that pets can leave with dignity and grace.’ To be able to accompany pets through their entire lives, from growth to old age, is the happiest thing for pets and the most gratifying for their owners. However, the life of a pet is short, and aging and death will always come – an inevitable process. Leaving after a solemn farewell is not a regret. When that day comes, please bid them farewell with the utmost tenderness and goodwill.