Eternal Image Inc (fka ETNLQ)

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http://www.freep.com/article/20081207/BUSINESS06/812070389/1019/BUSINESS


Eternal memories for beloved pets

BY KIMBERLY LIFTON • FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER • December 7, 2008

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There is good news. Fluffy won't be spending eternity in an unmarked grave.
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Wealthy pet lovers are memorializing their beloved companions in style, spending big bucks on high-end silk-lined caskets with foam mattresses, chiseled-edged stone markers, cemetery plots, private mausoleums and urns topped with hand-carved figurines of the pet's image.

"For a lot of people, their pets are part of their family," said Pat Norris, who runs the Garden of Our Little Friends pet cemetery inside Cadillac Memorial Gardens East in Clinton Township. "Money is not the object. It's about unconditional love."

LAP OF LUXURY: Americans spent $43 billion last year on products and services that ensure their pets live the good life. Now those who have the means are making sure their dogs, cats, birds, lizards, rabbits and ferrets are properly laid to rest.

One local family doled out more than $40,000 for a private mausoleum at the Garden of Our Little Friends in Clinton Township with spaces for 12 pets. Seven dogs and cats are buried inside. Another pet lover spent more than $10,000 on a granite bird bath doubling as a tomb for his beloved bird.

ETERNAL LOVE: A crematory urn with an LCD screen showing pictures of a pet costs about $500. A wooden casket, lined with linen, starts at about $750. For $1,000, you might consider displaying your pet's urn in a columbarium at a pet cemetery.

"This is a huge business, and it is going to get bigger," Norris said.

WANT IT? The average cost of a pet funeral at one of four Garden of Our Little Friends' cemeteries throughout metro Detroit, which includes gravesite, opening it, lowering the casket and a marker, is $2,000. Starting price for a small silver hand-carved figurine for an urn designed by jeweler Link Wachler is $1,500. A small figurine carved in gold could top $4,500. Go to www.linkwachler.com. Contact Norris at 586-286-7500.

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