Description of your pet's remains journey after the euthanasia has taken place

Immediately after the euthanasia

After the euthanasia has been performed, your pet's remains are respectfully placed in the doctor's vehicle.  The doctor then makes an identification label for your pet and places this ID tag with your pet so that no confusion can occur on identifying your pet for the rest of the process.   From there, your pet's remains will be taken to our office in Brea and respectfully kept cold and clearly identified until the cremation facility's staff picks up your pet.  The crematory comes to our office 3 times per week, which means that your pet may stay at our office for 3 to 4 days (rarely longer when there is a holiday involved).  

Arrival at the crematory

When the crematory staff comes to our office to pick up your baby's remains, they record all the information that is on the tag and they create a metal tag with a number specifically assigned to your pet.  That metal tag is placed with your pet and stays with your pet throughout the entire cremation process.  The tag that the doctor placed with your pet contains all your pet's information:  Name, date of euthanasia, your name, your pet's breed and markings, etc...  The crematory keeps that information and adds the metal tag number to it.   When your pet reaches the crematory, if they are not able to start the Aquamation process immediately, your pet will be respectfully kept cold until the process is ready to start (1-3 days).  

The Aquamation process

When the process is ready to begin, the crematory staff will place your pet (with the metal ID tag) in the Aquamation chamber.  The process takes approximately 20-24 hours to complete the cycle.  Once the cycle is completed, what is left in the chamber are bone fragments (same as with Flame based cremation).  However, as the process is water-based, the bone remains are wet and will need to go through a drying process.  This process takes another day or two.  Once the remains are dry, they will be ready to be processed and transformed into "ashes" in the same manner as if a Flame-Based cremation was done.  

Urn

After that process, the ashes are packaged in the standard urn or in the custom urn you have chosen.  Please note that if you have chosen a custom urn, it may take an additional week or 2 for the crematory to order and receive the custom urn, and this adds time to the process).  

Quality Control at the crematory

The Crematory Quality Control staff then make sure that the urn is labeled properly, that the name of your pet and your name are correct and correctly spelled, that your pet's identification tag matches the metal tag that was placed on your pet at the start of the process to make 100% sure that ashes do not get mixed up.  This is how you can be assured that the ashes you receive are your pet's ashes and no-one else's.  

Your pet's ashes journey from the crematory back to our office

At that time, your pet's ashes will be ready to be returned to our facility in Brea.  As stated earlier, the cremation staff comes to our office 3 times per week, so it can take another 3-4 days for the urn to reach our office.  

Quality Control at our office

When the urn reaches our office, our own Quality Control staff make another Quality check to make sure that the urn is in good condition, that your name and your pet's names are correct, that the information matches the label we originally made and matches the information you gave us on the forms.  If you requested a hair clipping or a paw print, we will then put those items with the urn and will then be ready to be returned to you.   If we have found defects in the urn, packaging or spelling errors in the labels, this may involve requesting that a new urn be brought to us so that the urn you receive is up to our standards.

Appointment for delivery of ashes

Once the QC process is completed, we will contact you and make an appointment with you either to personally deliver the ashes to you if you had requested so or for you to come pick up your baby's ashes at our office.  As stated in the documents you have filled out, pick ups and deliveries are scheduled on the weekend following the day we receive your pet's ashes back from the crematory.  If we received your pet's ashes back on a Monday, the appointment is then scheduled for the  very next Saturday or Sunday, which potentially adds another 5 days before you can receive your pet's ashes.

Why it takes up to 2-3 weeks for you to receive your pet's ashes back

As you can see, this process involves multiple vital steps, including stringent quality control and can be a bit lengthy and this is why you may not receive  your pet's ashes back for 2-3 weeks after the euthanasia visit.