If you are looking up pet memorial ideas, you are probably missing someone who used to meet you at the door. There is no correct way to mark that loss and no deadline for doing it. Some people want a ceremony the same week. Others cannot touch the leash on the hook for a year. Both are fine. These are ideas to choose from, most of them free or close to it, for whenever you feel ready.

Simple things you can do today

• Write down the small stuff. The noise they made when you opened the cheese drawer. Where they slept. What they did when you came home late. These details are the first to blur, and they are the ones you will want most. A note on your phone is enough.
• Gather the photos in one place. Look through your phone, your family’s phones, and old social posts. Ask anyone who loved them to send what they have. You may get pictures you have never seen.
• Save a voice or video clip. A short video of them snoring or barking at the mail carrier can be a real comfort later, even if you cannot watch it yet.
• Keep the collar. Hang it by the door, tuck it into a shadow box, or leave it in a drawer until you know what you want to do.
• Light a candle at dinner and let each person tell one story. Children especially do well with something simple and concrete to do.

Memorials for home

• A small corner. A favorite photo, the collar tag, a toy, and a candle on one shelf gives your grief a place to go.
• A shadow box. These work well for the collar, tag, a tuft of fur, and a printed photo. Craft stores carry them inexpensively.
• A paw print. Many vets and pet crematories can make a clay or ink paw print if you ask at the time. If that moment has passed, a framed photo of their paws does much of the same work.
• A framed portrait or print of the picture that looks most like them, hung where they used to spend their days.
• An ornament. Hanging one on the tree each year is a gentle way to include them. Here is our guide to a personalized pet ornament.
• A memory book. A book brings the photos and stories together in something you can hold and pass around.

Memorials outdoors

• Plant something. A tree, a rose bush, or a pot of herbs on the balcony gives you something to tend. If you want to include ashes, ask a nursery first, because cremated remains are alkaline and salty and can be hard on roots unless they are mixed with the right soil.
• A garden stone. You can buy one engraved or make one with a bag of quick-set concrete and their name pressed in by hand. It is a good project for kids.
• Revisit their favorite walk. Go to the beach or the trail they loved. Some people scatter ashes there. If you plan to, check the rules for that park, beach, or waterway first.
• Home burial. Rules vary by city and county, and renters will need the owner’s permission, so look up your local rules before you dig.

Ways to honor them by helping others

• Donate in their name to a local shelter or rescue. Unopened food, beds, and blankets are often welcome, so call and ask what they need.
• Volunteer. Walking shelter dogs or socializing cats is not for everyone in early grief, but some people find it helps a great deal a few months on.
• Help another family with a vet bill. Many pets go without care over cost. Our Pets Are Family page explains how we try to help with that.

Getting through the first holidays without them

With the holidays coming, this deserves its own mention. A lot of people are surprised by how much the first Thanksgiving or Christmas hurts: no one under the table, no stocking to fill, and a quiet house when the guests leave. It helps to decide ahead of time how you want to include them. You could hang their stocking anyway, put a photo at the table, give what you would have spent on their treats to a shelter, or tell your family plainly that you would like them to be mentioned. It is also fine to skip what you cannot face this year.

When a friend is the one grieving

If you are here for somebody else, the most valuable thing is usually to say the pet’s name and share one memory of them. Our guide on what to say when someone’s pet dies has words you can borrow, and if you would like to send something, see gifts for someone whose dog passed away.

If the grief feels heavy

Losing a pet can hurt as much as losing a person, and you do not have to justify that to anyone. There are people whose work is to listen. Cornell’s veterinary college runs a Pet Loss Support Hotline staffed by trained veterinary students, and Tufts runs one at 508-839-7966, typically on weekday evenings. Hours change, so check before you call or leave a message. The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement hosts free moderated chat rooms. Your vet may also know of a local group.

If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please call or text 988 in the US at any hour. You deserve support, and it is there for this too.

A free memory book, if you would like one

We keep a page called In Loving Memory because we are pet people too, and there is nothing to buy on it. You can remember your pet there, and if you ask, we will send you a link where you can add a few favorite photos and memories, which we turn into a keepsake book for you at no cost. You can also request one on behalf of a grieving friend. The gift link comes to you, so you can pass it along when the time feels right.

If, later on, you would like something printed to keep on the shelf, our memorial keepsakes are there. There is no hurry. They will be just as loved next year as they are today.