Considering Pet Crematories from a Profitability
and Customer Care Perspective

Should Your Veterinary Clinic Have Its Own Pet Crematory?

Design innovations in recent years have made it possible for many veterinary hospitals to afford their own on-site crematory. Would having a crematory at your veterinary clinic be a good idea? To answer, it is important to examine the question from both a business and a customer service perspective.

Other factors such as space considerations and local regulations have to be addressed also, but the bottom line on major purchasing decisions often comes down to the bottom line.

Is Having An On-Site Crematory Profitable?

If your veterinary clinic specializes in dogs, cats, and other small animals a small crematory (which processes 200 or 400 pounds at a time) will easily accommodate your cremation needs. If your clinic leases a crematory and performs slightly more than one cremation per week, you can expect a net profit of $11,000 the first year. In five years your unit would be essentially paid off, at which point your annual net profit would be over $32,000. (These numbers assume your crematory is leased at 4.6% interest.)

Best of all, today's crematories are built with the user in mind. They are custom configured to the specifications of each veterinary clinic, including the type of fuel you want to use, and which features would be of most use to your staff.

Veterinary crematories are simple and safe to use. Your crematory can be installed indoors or outdoors, so space is not an issue. With a few minutes of training, anyone on your staff can be trained to operate your crematory. After the crematory is loaded simply set the timer and walk away. In a couple of hours 200 pounds of organic matter is reduced to less than 10 pounds of sterile ash.

The profitability of a crematory for a veterinary hospital is clear. Profitability is the main reason so many veterinary clinics offer the service. Still, the question remains, will your customers utilize it?

A Valuable Service to Your Veterinary Clinic Customers

There are multiple reasons why more people than ever before are seeking cremation of their pets, but one of the main reasons is undoubtedly cost. Most municipalities have adopted laws that forbid the internment of pet remains at the pet owner's home because of potential risks to the water table. Also, because people are more likely to move from one place of residence to another, backyard internment is no longer as common as it once was.

The Cremation Association of North America stated that the cremation rate in 1985 was a mere 15 percent, but by the year 2020 they predict that the number will skyrocket to over 50 percent for all Americans choosing cremation for themselves or a family member. These statistics are likely more dramatic when considering pets, and it accounts for the dramatic upswing in the number of veterinary clinics offering on-site cremation.

Pet owners want options from their veterinary hospital, but the greatest apprehension for most people that might consider cremation for their dog or cat deals with the sanctity of the cremation process. Will the pet be cremated along with other pets? Will the ashes that the client receives be from the actual pet that passed? How can they be certain?

For the veterinary clinic that handles cremations off-site, these questions can be difficult to answer. By providing on-site cremation services, the veterinary clinic can guarantee that the pet owner is getting exactly what they are asking for. Some veterinary hospitals even go so far as to allow the pet owner to view the animal being placed into the crematory.

In office pet cremation is beneficial to the veterinary hospital not only because it provides an in-demand service to pet owners, but it also creates opportunity for a cremation pricing structure that can appeal to a wide range of people.

Pet owners want to treat their pets as an individual after their death. Not only do they care about how they are treated during the cremation process, they also want control over the ashes when the process is done. While some people may want to keep the ashes for a ceremony or other purpose, others will want the veterinarian to dispose of the cremated remains.

Cremation services are quickly becoming a valuable resource for the veterinary hospital, and in the future offering in-clinic cremation could very well be necessary in order to compete.

Contact us today to talk with a crematory specialist about your veterinary clinic's needs. Within 60 days your new fully-compliant crematory can be installed and in operation at your veterinary clinic.