567When looking for the perfect cat urn for their ashes, you’ll want something that not only fits their personality but also suits your price range. Ask yourself questions like is this urn the right type? And does it come from a reputable place with a customer satisfaction guarantee?
Jump ahead to these sections:
- Features to Look for in an Urn for Cat Ashes
- What Are the Different Types of Cat Urns?
- How Much Do Cat Urns Typically Cost?
- What Size Urn Will You Need for Your Cat?
- Where You Can Buy Urns for a Cat's Ashes Online
- What Else Can You Do with Your Cat's Ashes?
Your cat is unique, and there's no one that can or will ever replace the amount of joy you received from loving your little one. But you can honor that love and friendship with a beautiful memorial.
Custom urn tip: For a truly unique cat urn, you could turn to a service like Foreverence, which creates custom, 3D-printed urns to order.
Features to Look for in an Urn for Cat Ashes
With a vast selection of cat urns available, how do you know which one is the right one? Let's break that down for you with some tips for your online search parameters and other shopping filters.
- Your primary concern should include the seal and quality of airtightness to prevent moisture from getting in or ashes escaping.
- If a rubber seal isn't available, ensure that the urn can at least be sealed airtight with glue.
- The next concern covers where you'll place the urn. If it's outside in a garden, consider how the material will stand up through varying elements. Marble works for durability, while anything biodegradable works if you're concerned about sustainability.
- If the urn remains inside, almost any material will suffice. If the urn has a felted pad, you can avoid scratching precious surfaces.
- Price is always a concern, too. Atop the cremation fee of $100–200, you'll want to choose an urn that's in your price range. Set the parameters in the shopping filter or search options for an easier search.
While customer satisfaction is not a feature of the urn itself, it should be part of your purchase considerations. Losing your best friend is already one of the most stressful events of your life, so the last thing you'll want is to find out your little one's urn is less than satisfactory.
Make sure there's a phone number for you to use so you can speak with a real person—not just an email.
What Are the Different Types of Cat Urns?
Below is a list of traditional urns for cats, but don't be afraid to think outside the box. For example, you might be someone who wants to turn an old tin can or a glass treasure box into an urn. And that's perfectly fine too, as long as you can securely seal the container.
Egyptian Bastet
Choose from several Egyptian-themed urns, including ones with the symbology often found on ancient Pharaoh and Queen tombs.
A likeness of the cat goddess Bastet will honor and protect your little sun queen in the afterlife. Or the depictions of Horus and Isis, the falcon god and goddess of healing.
Custom 3D portrait
Adhered to a ceramic urn is a hand-sculpted, hand-painted replica of your pet's image. It'll arrive with an ergonomic lid and rubber seal to ensure its lasting quality and the safety of your pet's ashes.
Hand-carved wood
A small, hand-carved wooden urn is adorned with a custom engraved plate or plaque. Choose to leave a short message for your kitty, including their name and any important dates.
Keepsake
These small keepsake urns are made on a treadle-style potter's wheel from soft clay. It's kiln-dried in-house and glazed with wood ash. The resulting pattern is reminiscent of glacial melt due to its translucency and subtle contrasts.
Personalized photo
Find a small capacity black walnut wooden urn with a slot insert for your favorite photograph of the little nugget. Their capacity supports up to 30 lbs, with dimensions of 4.3" x 6.5" x 4.6".
Choose an optional lid engraving to add the kitty's name and a short message.
Cast resin
For the long-haired beauty, like the DLH or Somali, Siberian, Selkirk Rex, Ragdoll, Ragamuffin, Persian, Nibelung, Maine Coon, Himalayan, British Longhair, or Balinese cats, this cast resin urn is sure to impress.
Urn necklace
Made from 316L stainless steel, this quarter-sized, heart-shaped necklace won't tarnish with wear.
The front is flat and black, with a silver silhouette of a cat, perfect for those black cat lovers. The back of the heart is convex and can be engraved with initials and a date.
Porcelain urn
If your little mouser was a DSH, DLH, Bombay, Japanese Bobtail, Scottish Fold, Persian, American Bobtail, American Curl, British Shorthair, Oriental, Maine Coon, Cornish Rex, or Devon Rex, here's another urn for the always genuine black cat.
Atop a fluffy white pillow is a little sleeping, sweet black kitty. With 20 cubic inches, its size can support 17 lbs. of pre-cremated weight.
Sleeping cat
The designer of this urn calls this sleeping pose "precious" as the black cat seems to have fallen asleep holding a yarn ball.
You'll note that the cat has short hair, perhaps a Tom from the streets or a rescue from the local shelter. The fuzzy feline looks strong and agile, but perfectly at peace.
Bronze urn
Some urns are as stately as they are expensive. Such is the case for the cast bronze urn, made using a single wax mold.
The size is 11″ x 7 5/8″, making it also one of the largest urns in this list as it'll support up to 225 cubic inches. Unfortunately, no engraving is available directly on the cast itself, but you can choose to have a special bronze plate made to personalize as needed.
Custom hand-painted portrait
Such a custom piece will take upwards of 2 ½ months to produce. Then, with ceramic as the base of the urn, an artist will meticulously hand-paint the image of your meowser.
Due to its detail and price, you'll receive attentive customer service for this quality product. Don't forget to check out the engraving options—such as hand-painted text.
Marble
At 14 cubic inches (5" x 4" x 2"), the size of this marble urn will be perfect for your tiny little cat, well-suited for any outdoor location where it can sit in pride of place.
Set it next to a bench, a favorite tree, or nearby the garden where the hunter/huntress would wait for hours.
Biodegradable and bio urns
One of the most sustainable options for your little one's urn is something that'll biodegrade back into the healthy soils of the earth or transform into a towering tree.
That tree will continue to grow, housing birds, squirrels, butterflies, and raccoons to delight your sweet one for generations to come.
How Much Do Cat Urns Typically Cost?
Pet urns, on average, cost between twenty to a few hundred dollars.
The lower end of that spectrum covers certain clays or polymers, most biodegradable urns, and a few wood pieces.
The other side of that range gives you more room for artisan painting, craft woodworking, and greater detail or personalization.
What Size Urn Will You Need for Your Cat?
The guidepost for urn sizes is one cubic inch per pound of pre-cremated weight, leaving some additional room to ensure proper closure without spill or worry.
Where You Can Buy Urns for a Cat's Ashes Online
With so many shopping options to buy an urn for your cat’s ashes, how do you know which place is reputable?
Funeral home website
Many funeral homes list urns on their websites both for greater transparency of pricing and a variety of options. Ask the funeral home handling your loved one's cremation for a link so you can check out the choices you have from the privacy and comfort of your home.
Marketplace
The online marketplace as a whole is the most common place to seek cat cremation urns, especially since the selections are so vast. That's also where you'll find the option to narrow your search with price ranges, materials, and customer reviews.
Memorial retailer
Also located online is the memorial retailer. These companies specialize in providing you with an abundance of urn options, from inexpensive to posh. In addition, most have a team of people well-versed in afterlife concerns. So, if you have a question about what you're ordering, just give them a call.
Pro-tip: Look for retailers with physical U.S.-based addresses so you can be confident of customer satisfaction and support.
Artist's website
If you're willing or able to spend an additional $100 or so on a custom pet urn atop the cremation price, you'll get first-class care from someone who loves what they do.
Send them an image of your beloved little purr-nado. The artist will then hand-paint the kitty's image onto a clay urn of your choosing.
Many artists will display customer satisfaction reviews so that you can feel secure working with them.
Pet store
The newest place to find pet urns is through your online pet store. You may have a go-to big box you already trust, or you could find something different at the up-and-coming pet product delivery warehouses.
Given the level of expected customer satisfaction, you should find that any of these places offer affordable urns with reasonable policies.
What Else Can You Do with Your Cat's Ashes?
For those of you who aren't looking for an urn, you might be wondering how you can best honor your little friend's remains.
Scatter them
Did your little one have a favorite hunting ground? Did they sit for hours in a garden or at the base of a tree? Maybe you just want them to be carried into the wind at sea.
No matter where you choose, and before you scatter remains on public property, make sure you understand the codes and laws. Also, don't forget to be courteous to others in the vicinity if you're tossing them into the wind.
Wear them
Pendants of all shapes and sizes are available to you if you'd like to wear your cat's ashes around your neck.
Note that cremation jewelry will only hold a pinch of ashes, which means you'll need a secondary option for the rest of the cremated remains.
Paint with them
No matter the medium you prefer, from gels and acrylics, to oil and water, one of the newest art forms is painting with cremated ashes.
If you're not an artist yourself, you can contact any number of artists around the country to create something extraordinary for you.
Create a towering homage
As mentioned above, there's one other urn option that promotes sustainability and regrowth—planting trees.
Purchase a biodegradable urn kit from a reputable retailer. Fill the urn with kitty's ashes, then plant the tree in a location where you can enjoy watching it grow for generations to come.
Turn them into a gemstone
One of the priciest alternatives for cremated remains is turning a portion of ashes into gemstones. Be prepared to spend a few thousand to twenty thousand dollars for this option.
Blown glass
Artisan glassblowers will use your cat's ashes to create some exquisite and sparkly glass art. You can create just one orb or an entire solar system of balls.
Co-mingle or bury/inter
Temporarily keep your little one's remains in an urn until it's your time. Then have the ashes co-mingled with your cremation wishes. If you're choosing a traditional or green burial, you could also opt for them to be buried with you at that time.
Get a tattoo
Many tattoo artists around the country will work with ink that’s mixed with your cat's ashes. First, you'll need to find a company to mix the ink and ashes. Then you'll need to find an artist who will support your request.
Many artists say that the process is cathartic for those getting tattoos. So maybe this is the right option for you.
Oh, How We Love Our Cats!
If a human had a cat’s sometimes-ornery nature, we’d never put up with it. But when the same personality is attached to a purring, kneading fluff ball (or hairless beauty), there’s so much deserved grace and room.
Most of us at Cake know that there’s nothing worse than losing a beloved pet. So, if you’re looking for more ways to honor that little shiny star, check out our article on pet memorials and remembrance ideas.