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6 ideas to keep your beloved pet’s memory alive, from whimsical to luxurious

Losing a pet is as painful as losing a family member. Pet owners are turning to different ways to remember their pets, from customised cushions and hand-drawn portraits to jewellery containing their pet’s fur or ashes, and even taxidermy.

6 ideas to keep your beloved pet’s memory alive, from whimsical to luxurious

Losing a pet can be as painful as losing a family member and pet owners in Singapore are looking for creative ways to memorialise their beloved pet. (Photo: iStock/whitebalance.oatt)

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When Optimus, our nine-year-old chow chow, passed away in June 2023, it left a dog-shaped void in my family. When we brought him home in an urn, I wished I had something less morbid to remember him by. And then I remembered: Yes, I did have a special keepsake.

A few years ago, I commissioned a felting artist – and fellow chow pawrent – to do felt figurines of my two dogs, Optimus the chow chow, and Rey the British bulldog. I was asked to collect Optimus’ fur so that she could mix the fur into the figurine’s chest and tail.

Back then, it was just a whimsy touch but now, I’m grateful that I can stroke my Optimus’ fur again.

Unfortunately, my felting artist friend is not taking orders for now. However, there are many other options bereaved pawrents can explore, from as affordable as S$5.90 for a keychain.

1. PET CUSHIONS, FELT FIGURINES AND OTHER MEMORABILIA

Online store @pea-nuts offers customised pet memorabilia, starting from S$5.90 for an acrylic keychain. The pillows (from S$10.90) are a bestseller, with up to 60 orders a month, 120 during Christmas.

A handmade felt wool figurine of your pet costs between S$138 and S$208 at @pea-nuts. (Photo: @pea-nuts)
Customised pet pillows from @pea_nuts cost from S$10.90 to S$66. (Photo: @pea-nuts)

You can also get puzzle pieces (from S$10.90), acrylic stands (from S$12.90), table lamps (from S$20.90), doormats (S$22.90), cups (S$25.90), phone pop sockets (from S$11.90), and a blanket and pillow set (from S$25.90).

Or splurge S$138 to S$208 for a handmade felt wool figurine in your pet’s likeness (although they don’t offer the inclusion of your pet’s fur).

Coming up next, is customised luggage sleeves. Now Pooch can go jetsetting with you, even if it can’t join you onboard as an emotional support animal.

Get it at: @pea-nuts  

2. PET PORTRAITS

HAND-DRAWN PORTRAIT BY A MALAYSIAN ARTIST

Ipoh artist Alexander Yong offers hand drawing or watercolour painting for both pets and humans at his shop, Ipoh Art, just down the road from Kong Heng Square, a popular tourist spot in Ipoh, Malaysia. It costs from RM30 (US$7) and can be shipped to Singapore.

Tell him your requirements and WhatsApp or email him a few photos of your pet, so he can select the one that works best for the painting.

An A4-sized colour portrait costs RM30 per pet/human, with a maximum of five subjects. An A3-sized portrait costs RM40 per pet/human, up to eight subjects.

If you’re commissioning him from Singapore, postage costs RM52, which includes a certificate tube to keep your drawing safe. Make your payment before he starts painting.

If you are in Ipoh, he can start work on the spot – a watercolour portrait of a single pet takes about 30 minutes, and Yong will message you when it is ready for collection. A more complicated one will take at least a week.

Get it at: Ipoh Art is at 19, Jalan Panglima, 30000 Ipoh, Perak. Email Alexander Yong at Yongwaiyeen168 [at] gmail.com () or check out his Instagram.

3. DIGITAL PET PORTRAITS BY AN ETSY SHOP

There are many sellers offering the same service on Etsy, but we found the hilariously named Pethelangelo aka Michaelangelo’s spirit animal.

Choose your portrait style from a range of templates, inspired by Game of Thrones, to Star Wars and royalty. A digital copy costs S$28.76 while a 61cm by 91cm poster costs S$112.96.

You can also get your pet’s likeness printed on pillows (from S$53.12) and blankets (from S$73). The price includes shipping from the United States.

Get it at: Pethelangelo on Etsy  

4. JEWELLERY

OFF-THE-SHELF PENDANTS FROM A PET CREMATION COMPANY

Rainbow Paradise is a pet cremation company in Singapore with a retail corner at their Sungei Tengah premises; you don’t have to use their cremation services to purchase their merchandise.

You can get a keepsake pendant (S$60) in the shape of a paw print, dog bone, cylinder, and even a cross, to hold a little bit of your pet’s ashes, a small bone, toenail or tooth.

A keepsake pendant from Rainbow Paradise costs S$60 and can hold a little of your pet’s remains. (Photo: Rainbow Paradise)
A memorial box is a non-jewellery option that displays your pet’s paw print or paw bone. (Photo: Rainbow Paradise)

Pet funeral conductor Angela Chua lost her Persian ragdoll cat IO, in November 2023. She now carries a part of IO in her pendant. “With pendants, you can keep your pets close to you, remember them while you do your daily routine and bring them to places they couldn’t come with you before they passed on.”

For a non-jewellery option, Rainbow Paradise also sells glass-covered memorial boxes for S$38. You can get your pet’s paw prints before the cremation and even place a paw bone in the box.

Get it at: Rainbow Paradise is at 81 Sungei Tengah Road. Call 8862 7922 to make an appointment before you pop by. 

5. CUSTOMISED KEEPSAKE JEWELLERY

In 2022, a near-death experience involving Andrew Lim’s father inspired him to start Apart.sg. If something had happened to his dad, said Lim, he would have wanted a memorial of him “by my side”. 

His company offers keepsake jewellery for both people and pets; pet owners make up 50 per cent of his clientele.

Lim personally receives the ashes, bone, hair or fur from each client, invites them to the showroom to ensure the keepsake jewellery fits the client properly, and documents the process of making each piece so that the pawrents know that the remains have been handled respectfully and incorporated into their customised jewellery.

The keepsake rings are first lined with ashes, bone, hair or fur, then topped with crushed Australian opals from the customer’s choice of five different colours. You can request for the bones or fur to be visible and mixed with the opals or opt for a pure bone/fur ring. Prices range from S$249 for a tungsten base to S$399 for a sterling silver ring.

For necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, Apart.sg will turn the remains into a powder to make a cement, which then fills up the hollow pendants and are then topped off with mother-of-pearl or agate.

The Eternal Square Pendant Necklace costs from S$189 at apart.sg. (Photo: Apart.sg)

Prices range from S$189 for an Eternal square pendant made of stainless steel, to S$1,299 for their bestselling Hope necklace, made of 18k solid rose gold and topped with mother-of-pearl.

Dog owner Phyllis Hoo, who lost her nine-year-old Bichon-poodle crossbreed Benji, chose a black ember opal on a sterling silver ring, which she wears daily. “Benji has been with me to work, on vacation, everywhere. I love that I can have him by my side… It’s only human to want to keep something you hold so dearly, close to you always,” she said.

Get it at: Apart.sg

6. TAXIDERMY

Vivian Tham, a zoologist-turned-taxidermist who founded Black Crow Taxidermy & Art in Oct 2021, offers preservation services for pets. Every month, she stuffs up to 10 cats or dogs, five rabbits or chickens, and 15 birds and hamsters.

Her fees start from S$200 for a small terrapin, to over S$5,000 for a large dog.

Vivian Tham is a professional taxidermist who founded Singapore's first and only commercial taxidermy studio. (Photo: Marcus Mark Ramos/CNA)
Tham offers taxidermy services to pet owners, from terrapins to birds, cats, and arowana or koi fish. (Photo: Black Crow Taxidermy & Art)

Depending on the job scope – “sometimes, owners want specific requests or the final position to be in a certain manner which can prove challenging” – it takes Tham one month for a small animal like a hamster or budgie, three months for a rabbit, and four to six months for a cat or dog. Due to popular demand, Vivian recently started offered marine preservation for arowana and koi fish.

She is seeing a growing number of younger, well-to-do pet owners requesting for her services.

Elton Seah, who is not Tham’s customer but had his dalmatian Tyson taxidermised in 2012, when such services were hardly heard of, said: “It’s the best way to remember Tyson, see Tyson, feel Tyson and pet him. It keeps the memories of him fresh, very tangible, and is a good point of conversation.”

Source: CNA/pc
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