Online and Virtual Pet Funerals: How to Hold One

Updated November 4, 2026

An online pet funeral is a set time when family and friends join from wherever they are to remember a pet together, usually on a video call or a memorial site. It follows the same simple shape as an in-person funeral: a welcome, your pet's story, memories from everyone, a quiet moment, and a goodbye.

It solves a real problem. Pets often belong to a whole family, but the family is spread across states. The grandchild who grew up with the dog, the sibling who adopted the cat with you, the friend who moved away: they loved this animal too, and an online funeral gives them a place to say so.

Why families choose an online funeral

Most grief over a pet happens quietly. In a 2020 national survey of 340 U.S. owners who had euthanized a pet, 74.7% said they mourned privately and 58.2% sought support from other people. An online funeral sits between those two: small and private, but shared.

People also tend to be more comfortable with online resources than with formal groups. In a separate 2020 survey of 2,043 U.S. dog and cat owners, 41.0% said they would be extremely likely to use recommended online resources after a loss, compared with 17.5% for a virtual support group. A funeral you host for your own family is not a support group. It is your family, your pet, and your words.

Three ways to hold one

1. A video call

Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet or any video app your family already uses. This is the easiest option and works well for 3 to 15 people.

• Good for: a living-room service, a short gathering after cremation, families who already video chat.
• Watch for: time limits on free plans, people talking over each other, and a cluttered screen. Ask everyone except the speaker to mute.

2. A livestreamed burial or scattering

If you are burying your pet in the yard or scattering ashes, one person can stream it from a phone.

• Good for: relatives who want to be "there" for the goodbye itself.
• Watch for: wind noise, glare and a dying battery. Use a tripod or lean the phone against something steady. Tell people ahead of time what they will see, and keep the camera on faces, flowers and the marker rather than on the body.

3. A memorial site with a funeral room

Some sites are built for this: everyone opens the same link, arrives in the same quiet place, and the host moves through the steps. Bridgeside works this way. You can hold a free online funeral for your pet, choose an order that fits your faith or no faith, and send an invite link that family can open in a browser and join as avatars, without anyone installing an app.

• Good for: families who want it to feel like a place, not a meeting; people who would rather stay quiet than be on camera.
• Watch for: older relatives who may need a two-minute walkthrough. Call them before it starts.

Group memorials you can join

If you would rather join something already planned, there are options. Lap of Love lists a World Pet Memorial on Zoom on June 9 at 7 p.m. Eastern, with a candle-lighting ceremony; check its page for the current year. The Chicago Veterinary Medical Association runs a free pet loss group called WINGS on Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month, and Lap of Love runs free virtual pet loss support groups several times a week. These are support gatherings rather than funerals for one pet, and you're welcome to bring your pet's name and story. More options are in our pet loss support resources.

A simple plan for a 20-minute online funeral

1. Gathering (2 minutes). Let people arrive. Play a song your pet's house always had on, or just say hello.
2. Welcome (1 minute). The host: "Thank you all for being here for [Name]. Wherever you are right now, we're together for this."
3. [Name]'s story (3 minutes). How your pet came home, a few daily habits, and what made them themselves.
4. Memories (8 to 10 minutes). Call on people by name so no one has to guess when to talk. "Aunt Jo, would you go first?"
5. A moment of quiet (1 minute). Everyone who has one lights a candle at home, at the same time.
6. Goodbye (1 minute). A short reading or simply: "Thank you, [Name]. We were lucky."
7. Close. Thank everyone. Tell them what happens next, like when the ashes come home or where the memorial will be.

The pet funeral order of service has fuller versions, including religious ones, and what to say at a pet funeral has wording you can borrow.

Tech tips that prevent awkward moments

• Send the time in every time zone. "7 p.m. Eastern, 6 Central, 5 Mountain, 4 Pacific."
• Send the link the day before and again an hour before.
• Pick a host and a helper. The host leads. The helper admits late arrivals, mutes background noise, and texts anyone who is stuck.
• Test the sound 15 minutes early. Outdoors, a phone held close to the speaker works better than a laptop across the yard.
• Ask before recording. Some people won't want their grief saved. If you do record, say so at the start.
• Have a plan B. If the call drops, everyone rejoins the same link. If that fails, switch to a group phone call.

Making it feel like a funeral, not a meeting

Small touches change the tone.

• Put a photo in view. Prop it beside the host or share it on screen at the start.
• Ask everyone to bring one thing. A photo, a story, a candle, or the leash they kept.
• Light candles together. Even across five time zones, the shared moment lands.
• Say the name often. People hold back from saying it, worried it will hurt. Usually it helps them speak.

Ohio State's veterinary medical center notes that grieving pet owners often feel isolated, and that talking about your loss with people you trust to understand is one of the ways people cope. An online funeral is one structured way to do that with the people who knew your pet best.

After the funeral

Send everyone a short note the next day: a photo of the candle or the grave, and a few of the memories people shared. Some families turn those memories into an online memorial page that people can visit later. See how to make an online pet memorial for what to include.