Pet Plantation – Bill and Pamela Boyer, Offering a way to say goodbye

Our pets live for years, each day growing closer to us and loving unconditionally. When they die, we hurt and we mourn because they were not just animals, they were family members.

Pet Plantation Funeral Home and Crematory knows this and treats your deceased pets with respect.

“We opened up right around August 2003,” said Paul Boyer, who owns Pet Plantation Funeral Home & Crematory with his wife, Pamela. “I’ve been a funeral director for over 30 years for humans, and my wife was in the funeral industry for about 15 years. We decided it was time for a change, so we decided to do it and open one [a pet funeral home] up.”

Pet funeral homes and crematories only came about within the last two decades, so many may question why they exist at all. According to the Pet Plantation website, deceased pets left with veterinarians or cities may simply be taken to the landfill or rendering plant. Pet funeral homes offer a way for families to say goodbye and treat the body with respect.

“It’s very, very satisfying helping families with their pets,” Boyer said. “It’s completely different from helping with humans, but just as satisfying.”

Boyer said many of the items used by pet funeral homes are the exact same that one would find in a funeral home for humans but on a smaller scale.

“We’re just like a human funeral home but scaled down for pets. We can bury at a house or the pet cemetery in Macon. We do everything a human funeral home does but for pets,” he said.

Boyer said his funeral home has taken care of several different types of animals — fish, possums, birds, goats and snakes. The bulk of his business, however, is from dogs and cats.

“The largest dog was about 225 pounds. We stop there at 225 or 250 pounds,” Boyer said. “We can’t take very large animals such as a horse.”

The crematory itself is state-of-the-art, Boyer said. It is built by the same manufacturer as human crematories, but it is scaled down for pet use.

When a body is cremated, it is reduced to the elements that made it, and all that is left is the calcified skeleton remains of the animal. The cremains are the pulverized remains, not ash, as commonly thought.

Families can choose from three different types of cremations, Boyer said. Private cremations are the single animal with no other pets in the process, and the cremains are then returned to the family. Semi-private cremations involve several animals; however, each animal is placed in its own separate tray to ensure the families receive the cremains of their pet.

“The results are the same,” Boyer said. “You just get your pet returned — they never comingle.”

Many families may find it too painful to receive the cremains of their beloved pets, in which case they may opt for a group cremation. In this case, the body of the animal is humanely cremated and the remains spread by the funeral home.

“We treat them like our own pets. We treat pets with the care and respect they deserve,” Boyer said.

Most people do not want an entire funeral for their pets. Instead, the family can come to a visitation and spend a few moments saying goodbye.

“They say some prayers, or I can, and then the cremation takes place,” Boyer said. “It’s more of a viewing, and families can get the kids to come and see the pet before its cremated.”

According to Psychology Today, giving children the opportunity to say goodbye to their pets through a cremation is mentally and emotionally healthier than telling a child that the pet disappeared while he or she was at school.

Boyer said Pet Plantation has 65 to 70 different urns available at the funeral home for families to choose from. Special orders for urns are also available. For every pound of the animal, one cubic inch of urn space is needed, so several different sizes are available.

Families may also opt for caskets for burials.

After a cremation, the cremains can also be placed inside jewelry, or the paw print can be placed on a sterling silver charm.

“We take an ink paw print, and it’s really pretty and can be framed,” Boyer said.” We take that paw print to a charm company, and they can imprint the paw print on the charm. I don’t show them the print until they’re ready to leave because everybody gets really emotional when they see it. It is the actual paw print of their pet.”

The charm is actually very popular with truckers because they have been able to take their pet with them everywhere, and with a charm, a driver can take some of the cremains to keep in the truck and continue to take their pet with them.

“We appreciate the community for everything it has given us for these 14 years now, and we’ll continue to serve the community for as long as they need us,” Boyer said.

Pet Plantation Funeral Home & Crematory, located at 125 Osigian Blvd., Warner Robins, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but it can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergencies. Pets can be dropped off or the funeral home can pick up the animal from the veterinarian or customer’s home. The business can be reached at 478-971-4112 or www.petplantationhome.com.

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