Pet Loss Gifts
When a dog, a cat, a horse or a squirrel dies, people often go quiet because they do not know what to say. A gift that carries the animal's face, hair, paw print or name says it for you: I know who you lost.
I have sorted these by animal: dogs, cats, horses, and everyone else. Many of these makers need photos, so ask gently, or ask a family member to send a few. I will keep adding as I find more.
For a dog, especially a pug
Fern Levack sculpts your own dog in clay from your photos, paints the markings by hand, then glazes and kiln-fires it. She will even make your pug, which is the part I love. She also makes art prints of pets and ships worldwide. Find her on Instagram at @fern.levack.
Visit Pottery Dogs →Dogs
Something to hold
Custom stuffed animals made to match your pet from photos, down to the markings and the ears. You can add a weighted insert, so it sits in your lap with some heft, and a hidden pouch for a little of the ashes. The founder started the company after her own Great Dane died. They also make cats, horses, rabbits and more.
Visit Cuddle Clones →To wear every day
Bronze and silver necklaces cast from the dog's actual paw print or nose print. Many vet clinics take an ink or clay paw print at the end, and this turns that print into something to wear.
Visit Faithful Companion →A nose print in silver
A sterling silver charm cast from the dog's nose print. Every nose is as unique as a fingerprint, which is part of what makes it feel like them.
Visit Bubbling Well →Before the goodbye
An inexpensive clay kit for pressing a paw print at home. A gentle gift for a friend whose dog is old or sick, so the print is there when they want it later.
See the kit →A book for the grown-ups
Short chapters on the loss of an animal companion, with room for the guilt, the empty bowl and the rituals that help. Easy to read in pieces when concentration is low.
See the book →A gift in their name
A donation in the dog's name helps homeless dogs and cats. They also make a Rainbow Paw sympathy card whose sales support the animals.
Visit Best Friends →Cats
Something to hold
A faux-fur stuffed cat made from your photos to match the coat, eye color and size. For a cat who always slept on the bed, this fills the spot in a way people do not expect.
Visit Cuddle Clones →A tiny nose, kept
A cat's nose or paw print cast into a pendant, ring or charm, made from a photo or an ink or clay print.
Visit Thumbies →For the whiskers you saved
Cat people often find a shed whisker on the floor and cannot throw it away. Small makers seal whiskers, fur or ashes into glass pendants and rings. Ashes with Art in the UK is one, and it ships internationally.
Visit Ashes with Art →A place for the ashes
Cat urns in every style, from simple wood boxes to a cat curled up asleep in a basket. A good choice once the family knows the ashes are coming home.
See the urns →A gift in their name
You give in memory of the cat and Cornell sends your friend a condolence letter. The amount stays private, and the gift funds research that helps other cats.
Give in their name →When there are children
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst and Goodbye Mog by Judith Kerr are both about a cat who dies, and both give children words for it. The Seattle Public Library keeps a good list.
See the list →Horses
Made from their own tail
Bracelets and keepsakes hand-braided from the horse's own tail hair, finished with sterling silver horseshoe end caps. If you can, cut a lock of the tail or mane before the horse leaves the barn. You will be glad to have it.
Visit Tail Spin →Horsehair, braided
Another well-loved maker of jewelry from your horse's own tail hair, often recommended among horse people for its quality and quick turnaround.
Visit Twisted Tails →Their own horseshoe
A layered wood portrait of the horse, painted from a photo, that can be built around the horse's own worn shoe. Save a shoe from the last trim if you can.
See the portrait →A hoof to wear
A small silver hoof, complete with its shoe, on a pendant that holds a pinch of ashes or a few strands of mane or tail. Made in Canada.
See the necklace →For the barn
An engraved plate with the horse's name for the stall door. Barns are full of daily reminders, and this one marks the place on purpose.
See the plate →Something to hold
A stuffed horse made to match their own horse from photos, with the coat, the blaze and the socks. Lovely for a child who lost their first horse.
Visit Cuddle Clones →A book for horse people
A short book on grieving a horse, with interviews, ways to honor them, and a template for writing your horse's eulogy.
See the book →A gift in their name
A sanctuary for rescued horses in Chatham, New York. They accept donations in memory of a horse and send a card to your friend.
Give in their name →Squirrels, birds & small animals
For a squirrel
A licensed nonprofit in Vancouver, Washington that raises orphaned and injured squirrels, rabbits and opossums for release. A gift in your friend's squirrel's name raises another baby squirrel. All of it goes to formula, vet care and release enclosures.
Give in their name →For a squirrel, in wool
A small handmade wool squirrel, curled up asleep, about four inches across. Needle felters can make almost any animal from photos, including a hamster, a rat or a hedgehog.
See the squirrel →Wildlife rescue, any animal
A wildlife rehabilitation center in Tennessee that takes gifts in memory of an animal and sends a card to the family. Many local wildlife rehabs do the same, so it is worth checking the one near your friend.
Give in their name →Any species, in plush
Hand-sewn, airbrushed stuffed animals made from one photo. They have made pigs, birds, bunnies, rats and guinea pigs, so ask them about any animal.
Visit Petsies →For a bird
A braided leather bracelet that holds a feather, with a steel center you can engrave with the bird's name. For a parrot who talked every morning, a feather on the wrist keeps them close.
See the bracelet →Small urns for small bodies
Urns sized for a hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, rat or bird, plus a sterling silver feather pendant that holds a pinch of ashes.
See the urns →A book for every animal
A warm book about loving and losing pets of every kind, with chapters on birds, rodents, turtles and fish alongside cats and dogs. People who lost a "small" pet often feel seen here for the first time.
See the book →Handmade on Etsy
Small makers, one piece at a time. Etsy listings come and go, so if one has sold out, the shop can usually make another.
Horse
A pot fired with the horse's own tail hair. The hair is laid on the hot clay and burns permanent dark lines into the glaze, so the horse is literally part of the piece.
See it on Etsy →Horse
A raku horse-head sculpture painted from your photos to look like your own horse, fired with their hair, with an engraved nameplate.
See it on Etsy →Horse
A silver and glass charm with a few strands of the horse's mane or tail sealed inside. Small enough to wear every day.
See it on Etsy →Horse
A hardwood box made to hold the halter, a braided lock of tail, a photo and an engraved plate. A place for the things you cannot throw away.
See it on Etsy →Horse
Memorial art made from real horseshoes, from a shop with thousands of happy buyers. Send them your horse's own shoe.
Visit the shop →Dog
Linda Facci, known as The Dog Felterer, sculpts remarkably lifelike wool replicas of one particular dog from photos.
Visit the shop →Dog or cat
The pet's portrait stitched in thread like a painting, set in a small hoop. Quiet and lovely on a bedside table.
See it on Etsy →Cat
The artist paints your cat on a porcelain urn from your photo and fires it in the kiln, so the painting becomes part of the glaze.
See it on Etsy →Dog or cat
The pet's actual paw print engraved on a sterling silver signet ring. Bring the ink print from the vet.
See it on Etsy →Any animal
A torch-made glass bead with a little of the ashes sealed inside. It slides onto a bracelet or necklace.
See it on Etsy →Bird
A life-size wool copy of the bird made from your photos, with progress pictures before it ships. Parrot people will understand.
See it on Etsy →Rat or mouse
A tiny clay figure of the rat or mouse, sculpted by hand from a photo. Rat people grieve hard, and this honors that.
See it on Etsy →Reptile
A life-size bearded dragon, sculpted, cast in concrete and hand-painted, for the garden or the place they are buried.
See it on Etsy →Squirrel
Handmade squirrel keepsakes are rare, so start here: garden stakes, stones and small makers who will take a custom request.
Browse Etsy →For anyone, any animal
From me
I wrote this guided journal for anyone grieving an animal. We lost our pug Hope this year, and I know how quiet the house gets. It has ten rooms to wander in any order, with space for their name, their habits, and the last day. It is a PDF, so you can send it today.
See the journal →These are not affiliate links. I am not paid for any of them. Prices and wait times change, and handmade pieces can take six to eight weeks, so check with each maker before ordering. If the grief feels like more than a gift can hold, I am here, and pet loss is real loss.
Take this with you
Why Grief Keeps Coming Back is my free guide on why loss resurfaces long after everyone else thinks you should be done, and why that is not you going backward. Leave your name and email and I will send it.