Planning a goodbye for your pet in Monrovia
By our estimate, about 14,000 households in Monrovia have a dog or a cat, and roughly 1,150 of those pets die each year. Every one of those families decides how to say goodbye. Here's how to plan yours.
- Real costs, not guesswork
- Ideas for including children gently
- Options that serve Monrovia by email
Monrovia, California
Where a goodbye can happen in Monrovia
Families with young children in Monrovia may be facing their first pet loss. Speak plainly: the pet has died and will not come back. Children can help choose an urn, write a note, plant a flower or look at photos. Their grief may come and go, returning in quiet moments. That is a normal part of grieving. A photo album made together can help children put their feelings into words.
Many Monrovia families mark a pet's death with a small gathering in the garden or on the porch: a candle, a few words, a favorite blanket. If you would like a formal viewing before cremation, ask providers whether they offer one. In a close-knit Old Town neighborhood, neighbors often want to share their memories, too. Some families gather again when the ashes come home, perhaps on the porch at dusk.
Neighbours in a place like Monrovia often offer to help, and it's fine to say yes. Someone with a small digger or a strong back can prepare a grave, a friend can mind the children for an hour, and someone else can bring supper so nobody has to cook that night. Accepting help is part of how small communities mark a loss.
With roughly 38,264 residents, Monrovia is the 186th-largest of the 307 California communities we cover. Some of the providers who serve Monrovia are based about 17 miles away in Los Angeles, the nearest larger centre, so collection times reflect that drive.
Monrovia sits within easy reach of Duarte (2 miles), Arcadia (4 miles) and Azusa (4 miles). A provider based in any of them will usually collect from Monrovia; ask what the mileage adds to the bill.
Our estimate
14,000
How many dog- or cat-owning households Monrovia has (estimate)
How we calculated this
38,264 ÷ 2.5 = 15,306 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 14,000. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
1,150
Estimated dog and cat losses in Monrovia each year
How we calculated this
14,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,150 a year. A floor, not a ceiling.
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.
Sources for the statistics above: American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Funeral traditions in California and your pet
Human crematoria in California, where roughly 70.5%[5] of deaths end in cremation, tend to have gardens of remembrance with benches and small plaques. Some pet crematories copy the idea with a memorial wall or garden where families can scatter ashes or add a name. Ask whether there's one and what a plaque costs; it gives the family somewhere to go on the anniversary.
Source for the California number: NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes a pet cremation rate for Monrovia, so the human figure is the best local signal available.
Monrovia weather and your pet's farewell
Candles, flowers and printed photos all suffer in Monrovia's summer heat, with highs near 91°F. For an outdoor ceremony, use battery candles or lanterns, keep flowers in water until the last minute and print photos on card rather than paper. Small practical choices like these keep the farewell calm instead of frantic.
By August, garden soil around Monrovia can bake as hard as brick. If you're planning a home burial, soak the spot with a hose the evening before, dig at first light and lay a board over the hole if you need to pause. Two people make lighter work of it, and nobody grieving should be digging at noon.
The real cost of a pet goodbye in Monrovia
Ask every provider in Monrovia 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.
Rather than repeat the price table on every city page, we keep one for California: California costs. What each service includes is on the services page.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
What you can and can't do in California
If your pet was put to sleep, the drug stays in the body, and wildlife or other animals can be poisoned if a grave is dug up. That risk is one reason home burial is regulated at all, and why a well-covered grave or cremation matters. Here's what California says.
To find your county or city office in California, start with the official California local government directory.
We keep California's burial and scattering rules in one place: the California rules summary. Before a home burial in Monrovia, also ask the city whether local ordinances add anything.
From first call to farewell: the steps
- Keep your pet cool and indoors, especially in warm weather, while you make calls.
- Ask whether a viewing room or witnessed cremation is possible, and how far ahead it needs booking.
- For a pet cemetery burial, ask about the plot, the opening fee, casket or shroud, and whether a graveside service is allowed on the day.
- For a home burial, check the California rules, choose a spot away from water and drains, and dig before the family arrives.
- Collect a keepsake first: the tags and collar, a snip of fur, an impression of a paw.
- Confirm the price in writing before anyone collects your pet.
- Write down the date they give you for the ashes coming back; the next part of the plan hangs on it.
Remembering your pet in Monrovia
For foothill residents who have faced fire evacuations or nearby disasters, the death of a pet can reopen earlier stress. Go gently with yourself in the weeks ahead. Pet loss support groups, helplines and counselors in the San Gabriel Valley and online can help, and many offer phone or video sessions if you prefer to stay home. Keeping a simple routine, such as a morning coffee on the porch, helps too.
or see how other readers answered in our polls, read our guides and latest articles, For a plain comparison of the choices, open services, use the free tools before you ring anyone. If you live between Monrovia and Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, either page applies. Every other community in California, and all of the United States, is listed too.
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.
When would you hold the farewell?
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Who would you want at your pet's farewell?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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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
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Monrovia?
Usually yes. Duarte is about 2 miles away, Arcadia is about 4 miles away and Azusa is about 4 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
When is the hardest time of year to arrange a burial in Monrovia?
There is no frozen-ground season here; average lows stay above freezing all year. The other pressure point is August, when highs around 91°F mean a body needs cooling and collecting quickly.
Will I have to travel to Los Angeles to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Los Angeles (roughly 17 miles from Monrovia) collect from here as a matter of routine, and the paperwork is done by email or phone. If you want to be present for a witnessed cremation, that is when the drive matters.
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 Monrovia 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 many families in Monrovia lose a pet each year?
By our estimate, about 14,000 households in Monrovia have a dog or cat, and around 1,150 of those pets die each year. We calculate this from the city's population, average household size and national ownership and lifespan figures. It's a floor rather than a ceiling, because households with several pets count once.
Do people hold funerals for hamsters, birds and other small pets?
Plenty do. A small pet's farewell needs little more than a lined box, a few words and a flower, and children often need it more than adults expect. Choose a garden grave where local rules allow and you expect to stay, or ask a crematory about individual cremation for small animals, since the amount of ash is tiny. Mark the spot with a stone or a pot plant.
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] Across 15 US pet cemeteries' posted starting burial prices, the median entry price was about $600. Our estimate: median of starting prices [400,185,300,550,575,99,660.44,730,740,850,850,800,850,600,600]. How we calculate.
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