Planning a goodbye for your pet in Billings
About 44,500 Billings households share their home with a dog or cat, by our estimate. When the time comes, a small farewell helps. This page covers where to hold it, what it costs and who to call.
- Small, personal goodbyes that fit your family
- Questions to ask any provider or cemetery
- No pressure, no packages you don't need
Billings, Montana
Pet farewells in Billings: the local picture
Montanans are often stoic about loss, especially with animals, but grief for a pet is real and doesn't have to be hidden. Children in particular may need a simple farewell, such as drawing a picture, keeping a collar or planting a flower in spring. Once the ashes come home, you can wait for the snow to melt and hold a farewell outdoors.
Billings has a close-knit, neighborly feel, and friends, church communities and coworkers often know each other's animals. A few words said together on the porch can be enough of a service. A few minutes together at home, with a favorite blanket or collar, helps everyone say goodbye. If family is coming in from the ranch, ask for a later collection time. Nobody needs a formal ceremony.
If Billings has no pet cemetery of its own, a larger centre such as Billings may have one with a chapel or garden where short services are held. These are often booked by the hour, so ask how long you'll have, whether your own music is welcome, and whether staff or family lower the casket.
About 121,239 people live in Billings, which makes it the largest of the 10 Montana communities we cover.
Nearby, we also have local pages for Sheridan (101 miles), Bozeman (123 miles) and Belgrade (129 miles), which can help if your vet or the provider you prefer is based there.
Our estimate
44,500
Estimated dog- or cat-owning households in Billings
How we calculated this
121,239 ÷ 2.5 = 48,496 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 44,500. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
3,700
dog and cat deaths per year in Billings, our estimate
How we calculated this
44,500 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 3,700 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 American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, and both are worth a look if you want the detail.
What local funeral habits mean for your pet
With cremation the choice for roughly 73.4%[5] of people in Montana, plenty of families skip an open viewing for relatives and go straight to a memorial. You may feel the same about your pet, and that's fine. Others find a few quiet minutes with their pet's body makes the loss real in a helpful way. Ask each person what they want rather than assuming.
The Montana figure comes from Direct Cremate (citing CANA) (2024). It describes people, not pets, so read it as a sign of local attitudes rather than a pet statistic.
How the seasons in Billings affect the day
It's tempting to keep your pet in an unheated garage or shed through January, February, March, November and December until the ground softens. For a few days that can work, in a closed box off the floor and sealed from wildlife, but over weeks the temperature swings too much. For a spring burial, cremation now and burying the ashes later is kinder and simpler.
Cold weather gives you a little more time before a home farewell has to end, but it also makes outdoor goodbyes harder. With January lows near 18°F in Billings, keep any outdoor part short, with hats, gloves and a warm room to go back to. The words can be said indoors by the window facing the garden.
Pet farewell prices for Billings families
Ask every provider in Billings 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.
The full price table by product is on our Montana page, and the services page explains what each option includes.
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 Montana
Pet cemeteries, parks and private gardens all have different rules. A cemetery handles the permissions for you; a garden burial or a scattering in public is your responsibility. If you rent, ask the landlord before digging. Here's what to know in Montana.
To find your county or city office in Montana, start with the official Montana local government directory.
For Montana's rules on burying a pet at home or scattering ashes, see the Montana guide. Local rules in Billings can be stricter than the state's, especially in homeowners' associations and rentals.
A simple plan for the hours ahead
- If the goodbye is planned, ask your vet about a home visit and book it early; in-home vets serving Billings can be booked up days ahead.
- Tell the vet what you'd like around it: some quiet beforehand, some afterwards, and no pickup until everyone in the family says they're ready.
- Prepare the room: your pet's bed, a blanket, soft light, phones away.
- Give each person, including children, one small job, whether that's picking a flower or reading a single sentence aloud.
- Say a few words. One memory each is plenty. Laughter is welcome.
- Plan a second gathering around the ashes' return, so anyone who missed the first can still take part.
After the farewell: ways to keep the memory close
The weeks after losing a pet can feel lonelier than people expect, especially through Montana's long, dark winter and in rural areas far from neighbors. Pet loss support groups, counselors and hotlines serve Montana, and many meet online. Picking up the phone takes courage, but it's worth it. A friend who knew your pet may welcome the chance to share a memory, and your veterinarian can suggest where to start.
the guides answer the longer questions and the blog the newer ones, or look at how readers voted in our polls, See what each option includes on our services page, try the free planning tools. If you live between Billings and Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell and Helena, either page applies. Every other community in Montana, 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?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Who would you want at your pet's 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
Does the Billings climate change what I should do first?
Only the timing. In July, with highs near 87°F, cool the body and book collection the same day. In January, February, March, November and December, when lows sit below freezing, a home burial may have to wait for a thaw, so cremation with ashes returned keeps your options open.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Billings?
The closest communities we cover are Sheridan (about 101 miles), Bozeman (about 123 miles) and Belgrade (about 129 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Billings too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
Roughly how many pets die in Billings each year?
Our estimate is around 3,700. It comes from Billings's population (about 121,239), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 44,500 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
Is cremation common in Montana?
For people, yes: about 73.4%[5] of Montana deaths end in cremation, according to Direct Cremate (citing CANA) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in Billings follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
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.
Can I hold a funeral for my pet at home in Billings?
Yes, and it's the most common kind of pet funeral. Choose a quiet room or a corner of the garden, lay your pet on their bed, invite the few people who should be there and plan one small ritual. Then ask the vet or crematory to collect afterwards, or go ahead with a home burial if Montana rules allow it.
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] Montana had a 73.4% cremation rate in 2024, among the highest in the US. Direct Cremate (citing CANA), 2024.
- [6] Posted surcharges to witness or view a pet cremation range from $25 to $350, with a median of about $125 across four data points. Our estimate: median of [$25 guide low, $100 guide high, $150 NC provider, $350 VA provider]. How we calculate.
Get pet farewell options in Billings
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