Planning a goodbye for your pet in Long Beach
By our estimate, about 165,000 households in Long Beach have a dog or a cat, and roughly 14,000 of those pets die each year. Every one of those families decides how to say goodbye. Here's how to plan yours.
- Small, personal goodbyes that fit your family
- Questions to ask any provider or cemetery
- No pressure, no packages you don't need
Long Beach, California
Choosing where the farewell happens in Long Beach
Grief after losing a pet can feel isolating in a busy coastal city, especially if you live alone and your pet shaped your daily routine. A pet loss support line, a counselor or simply a friend who knew your pet can make the first weeks easier. Some people find it steadying to return to familiar places, such as the paths around El Dorado Park or the shoreline bike path, and sit with the memory.
Long Beach is a city of neighborhoods, and a farewell often reflects that: friends gathering on a patio in Bixby Knolls, a candle on a balcony overlooking the harbor, or a few quiet minutes in the living room before the car arrives. Providers can usually allow a viewing or a last cuddle beforehand if you ask for it when you first get in touch. There is no single right way to say goodbye.
A pet farewell doesn't have to happen on the day your pet dies. Many Long Beach families say a short goodbye at home, let the vet or crematory take their pet, and hold a gathering when the ashes come back. That second event can be at a park, a relative's garden or the café where the dog was always welcome.
With roughly 450,469 residents, Long Beach is the 7th-largest of the 307 California communities we cover. Some of the providers who serve Long Beach are based about 20 miles away in Los Angeles, the nearest larger centre, so collection times reflect that drive.
For a second opinion on price, Carson (6 miles), Lakewood (7 miles) and Seal Beach (7 miles) are close enough that their providers cover Long Beach routinely. Two written quotes tell you more than any price list.
Our estimate
165,000
How many dog- or cat-owning households Long Beach has (estimate)
How we calculated this
450,469 ÷ 2.5 = 180,188 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 165,000. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
14,000
dog and cat deaths per year in Long Beach, our estimate
How we calculated this
165,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 14,000 a year. The real figure is unlikely to be lower.
53%[1]
53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households.
12.69 years[2]
US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years.
39%[3]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[4]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
None of the figures on this this page are ours alone: they rest on American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
How California thinks about funerals and cremation
Cremation is the usual choice for people in California, at about 70.5%[5]. For pets, that often means the funeral is a gathering around the ashes rather than a burial: a celebration of life at home, a scattering on a favorite walk or a small planting in the garden. None of those needs a venue, and all of them can happen weeks later, when everyone is ready.
The California figure comes from NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). It describes people, not pets, so read it as a sign of local attitudes rather than a pet statistic.
Planning around heat, cold and rain in Long Beach
In a mild place like Long Beach, many families hold two farewells: a quiet one on the day, and a celebration of life in the garden or a park a few weeks later, when the ashes are home. The weather rarely gets in the way, so pick the date that suits people, such as a weekend or the pet's birthday.
A mild climate means you can plant almost any time of year in Long Beach, so a memorial shrub or tree can go in the same week as the farewell instead of waiting for spring. Pick something that suits your soil and flowers around the month your pet died. Our memorial tree finder helps you narrow the choice.
The real cost of a pet goodbye in Long Beach
Ask every provider in Long Beach to split the quote in two: body care (collection, cremation or burial, the container) and the farewell (viewing time, witnessed cremation, a graveside service). Seeing the two numbers apart makes it easy to drop what you don't need. The national figures below show what's typical.
We keep the detailed California price table on one page so it stays current: see California prices.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Permissions to check in California before the ceremony
A grave in the garden stays with the house when you sell it, which is the question few people ask at the graveside. Before you bury, think about where you'll be living in five or ten years, then check the California notes below.
Long Beach Animal Care Services publishes Long Beach's official guidance. Note that it deals with public collection, not with booking a private cremation. Not sure which office covers Long Beach? The California local government directory is the official list.
We keep California's burial and scattering rules in one place: the California rules summary. Before a home burial in Long Beach, also ask the city whether local ordinances add anything.
From first call to farewell: the steps
- Tell your child soon, somewhere quiet, in plain words: use the pet's name and the word died, and avoid softer phrases like 'went away' or 'went to sleep'.
- Let them choose whether to see their pet ahead of the burial or pickup. Some children find that looking answers things they couldn't have asked out loud.
- Offer choices rather than jobs: which blanket, how to decorate the box, or whether to draw a card that goes with their pet.
- Keep the ceremony to about ten minutes and let them say something, or nothing, without anyone correcting them.
- Expect questions later, often at bedtime, and answer them honestly and briefly.
- Let their teacher or childminder know, which means a withdrawn or tearful child makes sense to the grown-ups at school.
Remembering your pet in Long Beach
Long Beach draws on Latino, Cambodian, Filipino, Black and many other communities, and families bring their own traditions to a pet's farewell: prayers, flowers, incense, food shared afterward, or a home altar with photos. Any of these can sit alongside cremation, and a good provider will make room for them. If children are involved, give them a small task, like choosing the photo for the altar, so they feel part of it.
or see what other families chose in the poll results, Our services overview lays out every option side by side, run the numbers with the free planning tools, there are guides for the big decisions and articles for the details. More local pages: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego, the California overview and every city in the United States.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
Who would you want at your pet's farewell?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
When would you hold the farewell?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Farewell & memorial service planner
Build a simple goodbye: who, where, readings, rituals and a checklist.
Aftercare options compared
Compare private, communal and water cremation with burial on cost, timing and what comes home.
Questions people ask
How many pet owners live in Long Beach?
By our estimate, about 165,000 households in Long Beach have at least one dog or cat, and around 14,000 are lost each year. We calculate this from the city's population of about 450,469, the average household size and national ownership and lifespan figures, so treat it as a floor rather than an exact count.
Where are the providers that serve Long Beach actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Los Angeles, about 20 miles away. That is normal for a city this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Long Beach and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Long Beach?
Usually yes. Carson is about 6 miles away, Lakewood is about 7 miles away and Seal Beach is about 7 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
How do California attitudes to cremation compare?
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) puts the California human cremation rate at about 70.5%[5]. We show it on the Long Beach page because pet aftercare choices tend to track it: where cremation is normal for people, communal and private pet cremation are both easy to find.
How soon should a pet funeral happen?
There's no fixed rule. Many families hold a short farewell on the day, before collection or burial, and a larger gathering later when the ashes come home. If people need time to travel, ask the vet or crematory to hold your pet in a cold room and book a viewing there when everyone arrives.
Can I bring my pet home from the vet for a funeral in Long Beach?
Usually, yes. Ask the clinic to wrap your pet in a blanket or place them in a sturdy box, and bring a towel for the car. You may be asked to sign a release form. Once home, keep your pet cool and hold the farewell within a day, then bury them where local rules allow or call a crematory to collect. The vet can still arrange cremation later if you change your mind.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [4] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [5] The NFDA projected California's cremation rate at 70.5% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] A full Hartsdale pet burial costs about 28 times as much as an average pet cremation. Our estimate: USD 7,000 / USD 250. How we calculate.
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