Keeping a Pet's Ashes at Home: Urns and Ideas

Updated November 4, 2026

Keeping a pet's ashes at home is common, and there's no general rule against it. Most families keep them in an urn on a shelf, mantel or bedside table, often with a photo, the collar and a candle nearby. Choose an urn sized to your pet (sellers use about one cubic inch per pound), and place it somewhere steady, away from curious kids and pets.

Many people find the ashes coming home is its own moment. Some families hold a small gathering that day, choose the spot together, and say a few words. Others simply set the box down and come back to it when they're ready. Both are fine.

What comes back from the crematory

What you receive depends on the provider and the package. Typically it's a sealed plastic bag inside a simple box, tin or basic urn. Cornell University's veterinary college, as one example, returns individual remains "in a sealed plastic bag" inside a white paperboard box, offers a wooden urn for an extra charge, and includes a certificate.

You don't need to move the ashes into a new urn right away, or ever. Many families keep the original box inside a nicer container, or place it on the shelf as is.

Choosing an urn

How a pet is stored long-term matters to many owners. In a 2020 survey of 2,043 U.S. dog and cat owners, 31.6% said they were very concerned about the type of container their pet would be stored in permanently. A few things to weigh:

Ohio State's veterinary medical center mentions "special urns" and jewelry among the memorial items families choose, alongside things you can make yourself.

How to size an urn

Urn sellers use a common rule of thumb: about one cubic inch of capacity per pound of your pet's weight. One retailer's guide suggests adding a buffer of 10 to 20%. So:

• A 10-pound cat: about 10 to 15 cubic inches
• A 40-pound dog: about 40 to 50 cubic inches
• A 90-pound dog: about 90 to 110 cubic inches

The same guide suggests asking your vet for your pet's most recent recorded weight. If your pet lost a lot of weight at the end, sizing from their usual adult weight is the safer choice. When in doubt, size up. You can always tuck the bag inside with a little room to spare; you can't make a small urn bigger.

Where to keep the urn

Common spots:

• A living room shelf or mantel, often with a photo and the collar
• A bedside table
• A small dedicated shelf with a candle, a paw print and a few favorite things
• Near your pet's favorite spot, like the window they watched from
• A home altar, if your family has one

The writer of a February 2026 newsletter for the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple describes placing his dog's ashes in the family's Obutsudan, the home altar, "for a time," and adds: "Not because she needed protection, but because I did." There's no right length of time to keep ashes in a particular place.

Practical tips:

• Choose a stable surface at a height small children and other pets can't reach.
• Keep it out of direct sun if the urn has a photo, which can fade.
• Expect the spot to change. Holiday decorations, a move, a new baby: the urn may need a new home sometimes. That's normal. See holidays and anniversaries after pet loss.
• Note where the ashes are if you have many urns or keepsakes, so nothing gets misplaced over the years.

Making a memorial spot

A small memorial space can be simple:

• The urn
• A framed photo
• The collar, tags or harness
• A paw print, which Ohio State suggests for a memory box or frame
• A candle (battery candles are safer for daily use)
• Something living, like a small plant

Dividing the ashes

Families often want more than one person to keep a portion, or want to scatter some and keep some. You can:

• Ask the crematory to divide the remains into several containers.
• Do it at home over a tray, with a funnel and a small spoon, on a calm day away from fans or open windows.
• Keep the main portion in one urn and small amounts in keepsakes or jewelry.

If you plan to scatter part, see scattering a pet's ashes. To plant some with a tree, see pet memorial trees.

Faith and keeping ashes

Some traditions have teachings about human ashes. The Catholic Church's 2016 instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo, for example, says the ashes of the faithful should not be kept in a home, scattered, or divided into keepsakes. It concerns the faithful departed, meaning people, and doesn't mention animals. If you want guidance for your pet, ask your priest, pastor, rabbi or teacher. Our faith guides cover Catholic prayers for a pet and a Buddhist pet memorial.

Later decisions

Ashes give you time. You may keep them for years and later decide to bury them, scatter them, or plant them with a tree. Some families plan to have their pet's ashes buried with them one day. Bideawee's pet memorial parks in New York let owners with perpetual care have their own ashes buried with their pet, and Funeralwise reports that some states allow pet ashes to be buried with human remains. Ask the cemetery directly, since rules vary.

On Bridgeside, if you choose "cremated and kept at home" for how you said goodbye, your pet's free memorial begins with an urn on the shelf beside their photo, and you can arrange it however you like.