Ho Moon Yee
NUS Industrial Design
sherry_ho6@hotmail.com
Pet Funerals and Meanings
A Year 4 Thesis Project
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A pet owner whose pet has died can have the cremation done at their homes with a Buddhist priest reading sutras at the funeral ceremony and have the ashes placed in a charnel house resembling a pagoda. Some pets are given funerals like those given people, where the deceased is placed on a futon and family gather around for an all-night wake. Afterwards an altar with the pet’s picture is set up. 
Pet cremation services are divided into ones that cremate multiple bodies at one time and those than cremate a single individuals at a time. The latter category is further divided into two types—ones in which the entire process is left to the service operator and the other in which the pet owners pick up the pet bones from the ashes. Owners have the choice to have Buddhist monks read sutras before the pet is cremated and Buddhist rituals involving wooden tablet dedicated to the loved pet on key anniversary dates can be arranged. Owners can also have an exclusive grave in pet cemetery. 
It is legal to bury a pet on one’s property but if someone buries a pet in a park or other public place they can be charged with illegal waste disposal. Many municipalities ask pet owners to bring the bodies of their pets to local garbage incinerator to be burned with the garbage. Some places have incinerators reserved only for pets.