Planning a goodbye for your pet in Monterey
By our estimate, about 10,500 households in Monterey have a dog or a cat, and roughly 890 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
Monterey, California
Choosing where the farewell happens in Monterey
The bay and the rocky shoreline are natural places for Monterey families to remember a pet. A quiet morning on the recreation trail, or an evening watching the waves and the lights of the wharf, can help mark the loss. Younger family members may want to draw the pet or pick a small keepsake of their own. Honest, gentle answers to their questions help them understand. Many people find the sound of the surf itself steadying on a hard day.
With most Californians choosing cremation for their own families, keeping a pet's ashes at home feels familiar to many in Monterey. Some families hold a small ceremony, perhaps at the water's edge; others grieve privately. Both are normal. If the loss lingers and begins to affect sleep or work, a pet loss support group or helpline can offer somewhere to talk.
In-home vets are fewer around smaller places like Monterey, and one may cover a wide area, so a home goodbye often needs booking several days ahead. If timing is uncertain, ask your usual clinic whether they'd visit in an emergency, or whether they have a side room with its own door so you can avoid the waiting room.
With roughly 28,953 residents, Monterey is the 221st-largest of the 307 California communities we cover. San Jose, roughly 51 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Monterey run from there.
Families in Monterey often end up using a provider from Pacific Grove (2 miles), Seaside (3 miles) and Carmel-by-the-Sea (3 miles). That is normal: crematories serve a radius, not a single town, and the drive is priced into collection.
Our estimate
10,500
Monterey: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
28,953 ÷ 2.5 = 11,581 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 10,500. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
890
Monterey families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
10,500 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 890 a year. Treat it as a minimum.
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.
We built the this numbers from Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science and American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, and both are worth a look if you want the detail.
How California thinks about funerals and cremation
With about 70.5%[5] of people in California cremated, a cremation is the familiar end to a funeral here, and many families want a pet's farewell to echo it on a small scale. You can borrow whatever feels right: a blessing, a moment of silence, a candle, a shared meal afterwards. Whatever your family would do for a person, a smaller, simpler version usually fits a pet.
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) is where the California figure comes from. It counts people; we use it because attitudes to cremating a pet in Monterey tend to follow attitudes to cremation generally.
When the weather shapes the goodbye
A mild climate means you can plant almost any time of year in Monterey, 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.
Gentle weather in Monterey suits the kind of farewell pets would have enjoyed: a picnic on a favorite field, a slow walk along a river path, a barbecue with the neighbours who threw the ball back over the fence. Bring a folding table, a framed photo and a water bowl for any dog guests, and let it be sociable.
Pet funeral and burial prices for families in Monterey
Ask every provider in Monterey 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.
For a line-by-line price table, see the California overview; for what's included in each option, see our services.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Local rules worth checking in California
Before you plan a graveside ceremony in the garden or a scattering on a favorite walk, check the local rules. They're mostly about protecting water and other people's land, so they focus on depth, distance from wells and streams, and permission from whoever owns the land. Here's the picture for California.
To find your county or city office in California, start with the official California local government directory.
Start with the California rules, which cover burial, scattering and oversight for the whole state, and treat Monterey's local ordinances as a possible extra layer.
What to do first, and what can wait
- Ask the clinic for a quiet room and some time, even if the decision was made in a rush. You don't have to leave straight away.
- Don't sign the aftercare form on the spot if you're unsure. Ask the clinic to keep your pet in their cold room for a day while you think.
- Find out which crematory the practice uses, and whether you can choose a different one or take your pet home for burial instead.
- Request a paw print or a clipping of fur before your pet leaves the room; it's much harder to arrange later.
- If family couldn't get there in time, ask whether they can visit the clinic to say goodbye before the collection.
- Get the aftercare price on its own line, separate from the medical bill, so you can see what the farewell part costs.
- Pencil in a gathering for later, for when the ashes are back or at the graveside, for the people who missed the day.
Keeping their memory alive in Monterey
Monterey is a mix of long-time families, retirees and military and language-school households on assignment, and a pet's death can come at a busy or unsettled time. A farewell can be simple: a few minutes together at home, a note from each family member or a video call with someone far away. The point is simply that nobody misses the chance to say goodbye.
use the free tools before you ring anyone, or see how other readers answered in our polls, there are guides for the big decisions and articles for the details, Our services overview lays out every option side by side. You can also browse every city in the United States. Nearby, we also cover San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles, and every city in California.
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.
Should young children be part of a pet's goodbye?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
When would you hold the 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
Where are the providers that serve Monterey actually based?
Some are local, and some run from San Jose, about 51 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Monterey and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Monterey?
Usually yes. Pacific Grove is about 2 miles away, Seaside is about 3 miles away and Carmel-by-the-Sea is about 3 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
How does Monterey's weather affect pet aftercare?
September is the hottest month in Monterey, with average highs around 74°F, so prompt collection matters most then. Winters are mild, with average lows staying above freezing, so outdoor burial or scattering is usually possible year round.
Why does the Monterey page quote a human cremation rate?
Because it is the best local signal we have. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) reports about 70.5%[5] of California residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
What's a viewing, and do I need one?
A viewing is unhurried time with your pet in a private room, usually at the crematory, vet or a funeral home, before cremation or burial. You don't need one, but it helps if you weren't there at the end, if relatives are arriving from out of town, or if children need to see that their pet has really died.
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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