A proper farewell for your pet in The Colony
By our estimate, about 17,000 households in The Colony have a dog or a cat, and roughly 1,400 of those pets die each year. Every one of those families decides how to say goodbye. Here's how to plan yours.
- A simple running order you can print
- Graveside and home ceremony guidance
- Help with timing around the weather
The Colony, Texas
How families in The Colony say goodbye to a pet
Children in The Colony often grow up with pets as steady companions through school years and moves. When one dies, give them honest words and something to do: drawing a portrait, choosing a favorite photo, decorating a stone for the garden. Adults can create their own quiet ritual, like watching the sunset over Lewisville Lake from the shoreline trail on the anniversary each year.
A goodbye in The Colony might happen at home with everyone crowded onto the sofa, in the private room of your veterinary clinic, or later at Stewart Creek Park with the ashes and a few close friends. Some people read a short poem; others light a candle or play a song the animal seemed to like. The best farewell is simply one that fits your family.
Collection from a small town is often scheduled rather than on demand, so there may be a day or so between the death and the handover. That time can be a gift. With your pet kept cool, it lets family travel in for a farewell and gives children a chance to say goodbye properly instead of coming home to an empty bed.
The Colony is home to about 46,196 people, the 79th-largest of the 325 Texas communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Frisco, about 6 miles (10 km) away, which is where some providers serving The Colony are based.
Nearby, we also have local pages for Lewisville (6 miles, a larger centre), Frisco (6 miles, a larger centre) and Little Elm (7 miles), which can help if your vet or the provider you prefer is based there.
Our estimate
17,000
How many dog- or cat-owning households The Colony has (estimate)
How we calculated this
46,196 ÷ 2.5 = 18,478 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 17,000. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
1,400
Estimated dog and cat losses in The Colony each year
How we calculated this
17,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,400 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.
The published sources behind those figures are American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Funeral traditions in Texas and your pet
In a place where roughly 55.7%[5] of people are cremated, families follow a mix of faiths, some of which prefer burial for people. Many traditions say little about animals' remains, so a pet's farewell is usually a family choice. If it matters to you, a quick word with your faith leader before the vet visit saves second thoughts later.
We take the Texas rate from NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). It is a human statistic; there is no equivalent pet figure for The Colony, and we would rather show a real number than invent one.
Planning an outdoor goodbye in The Colony's climate
Warm weather brings flies, which can upset children at an outdoor goodbye. Wrap your pet in a light cotton sheet with only the face showing, keep the outdoor part in deep shade and keep it short. During The Colony's June, July, August and September, many families simply move the ceremony indoors, with the curtains drawn and a fan running.
By July, garden soil around The Colony 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.
Where the money goes in a The Colony pet funeral
It helps to see the whole bill at once. By our estimate, a typical US dog's end-of-life care comes to about $670 with a home euthanasia and private cremation, against about $399 when the goodbye happens in the clinic [6]. The farewell on top can be as small as a candle or as large as a cemetery service, so decide where the goodbye happens first.
The full price table by product is on our Texas 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 Texas allows for burial and scattering
A farewell itself needs no permission anywhere: you can gather, speak and say goodbye at home as you wish. The rules start when the body or the ashes go into the ground or the open air. Here's what applies in Texas for burying at home and scattering ashes.
The official Texas local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in The Colony.
The Texas page sets out who oversees pet cremation and what the state says about burial and scattering. The Colony's own bylaws can sit on top of that, so ask before you dig.
A pet funeral within a day: how to do it
- Take a breath. When a pet dies at home, settle them onto a towel or their own bed somewhere cool. There is no decision you need to make within the hour.
- Decide cremation or burial first. That one choice sets the clock for everything else, including when the farewell can happen.
- Call the vet, crematory or pet cemetery to reserve a slot, and find out if they can hold your pet in cold storage in the meantime.
- Send one short message to the few people who should be there, with the time and place.
- Choose a spot and one small ritual: a lit candle, a song, a note beneath a paw, or their best-loved toy beside them.
- Hold the farewell, and afterwards either bury your pet or pass them over to whoever is collecting.
- Ask for the written total ahead of the pickup, with any viewing or ceremony charge included.
Remembering your pet in The Colony
Grief can catch you off guard in The Colony: on the drive home along the tollway, at the trailhead you used to visit together, or when a neighbor asks after your pet over the back fence. Let people know. Pet-loss phone services, internet grief forums and therapists focused on animal bereavement offer a place to talk when friends aren't enough.
or see what other families chose in the poll results, run the numbers with the free planning tools, read our guides and latest articles, Compare every option on our services page. More local pages: Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and Fort Worth, the Texas 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?
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What kind of goodbye feels right for your pet?
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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 The Colony?
Usually yes. Lewisville is about 6 miles away, Frisco is about 6 miles away and Little Elm 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.
Where are the providers that serve The Colony actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Frisco, about 6 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for The Colony and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Is cremation common in Texas?
For people, yes: about 55.7%[5] of Texas deaths end in cremation, according to NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in The Colony follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Is The Colony big enough to have several pet aftercare providers?
Probably, on the numbers. By our estimate about 17,000 The Colony households keep a dog or cat and around 1,400 lose one each year, which is enough steady demand to support more than one provider. We derive that from population (about 46,196), household size and national ownership and lifespan figures.
Can I be there when my pet is cremated if I live in The Colony?
Possibly, but it may mean a drive. Smaller places often send pets to a crematory in a larger centre such as Frisco, so ask your vet which one they use and call it directly. Some families take their pet there themselves, hold the farewell in the car park or a quiet room, and stay while the cremation begins.
Will I need to book a pet farewell in advance in The Colony?
Going by our estimate of 17,000 dog- or cat-owning households in The Colony, roughly 1,400 of their pets die each year, so local vets and crematories handle goodbyes every week. Collection and standard cremation rarely need long notice. In-home vet visits, viewing rooms and witnessed cremations are limited, though, so book those as soon as you know the date, particularly for weekends.
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 Texas's cremation rate at 55.7% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] A typical US dog end-of-life bill is about $670 with at-home euthanasia plus private cremation, versus about $399 with clinic euthanasia plus private cremation. Our estimate: 410 + 260 = 670; 139 + 260 = 399. How we calculate.
- [7] Across five posted US pet-cemetery price lists, the median whole-body burial for a small pet, including plot and opening/closing, was about $350. Our estimate: median of [Rainier $150 plot incl. first burial, Cedar Bend $290, Forest $350, Great River $750, Precious Memories $1,500]. How we calculate.
Plan your pet's farewell with us
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.