Water cremation and more: A new approach to end-of-life and deathcare for animal companions
- aevans1531
- Apr 24, 2024
- 2 min read
End-of-life care and deathcare is something most people think about rarely, engaging with it only when necessary, then quickly tucking it away because it hurts so much. But I think about it all the time.
For me, it started after a wonderful decade spent with a “foster fail”. The grief I experienced when my soul dog died was unlike anything I’d ever endured before or since. When my elderly dog suddenly could no longer walk, I sat in the parking lot of an emergency vet clinic for four hours before we could bring him inside. I'd convinced myself "today is just a bad day” but I went home without my dog that day.
The experience haunted me. In the months that followed, in an attempt to alleviate my own suffering, I began learning everything I could about euthanasia guilt, disenfranchised grief, and cultural variations in deathcare. I became dissatisfied with the depth and breadth of services available in Anchorage, and with the harmful environmental impacts of the funeral industry in general. Knowing that I still have two other dogs at home and NEVER wanting to repeat my previous experience, I founded Flameless Cremation Services – Anchorage’s first water cremation facility.
Water cremation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis, is an eco-friendly alternative to flame cremation. The process requires less energy and produces no carbon emissions. Many families find additional comfort in discovering water cremation is a less destructive process, preserving more cremated remains for the family to save, scatter, or bury. In addition to being more eco-friendly, I’ve been able to carefully craft the kinds of internal practices and policies that would have comforted me as a dog mom. Though I can never take away the hurt a family will experience when a beloved pet dies, I believe that improving the circumstances and logistics that are inevitably involved can alleviate suffering and enable us to find beauty in tragedy.
New in March 2023, I’ve proudly entered a collaborative effort with two other women-owned, Alaskan businesses to offer The Rainbow Bridge Sendoff. With the help of a mobile veterinarian ( 2 Tails Veterinary Services) and at a credentialed death doula (The Ritual Bough), this multidisciplinary effort enables us to provide on-site humane euthanasia, family guidance for memorial ceremonies and home funerals, followed by water cremation. This service allows us to cater to each family's specific needs and to pack as much meaning and beauty as we can into a situation which would otherwise be tragic and isolating. It also means families a single point of contact, receive a single bill, and never have to leave their home.
I operate with the understanding that every animal holds a unique place in the heart of their human guardian. And that our final acts on this earth shouldn’t pollute it further. I believe prioritizing transparency and communication is a step towards destigmatizing death, validating grief, and finding a beautiful way to honor the bond. Making the extra effort to build beauty around an otherwise tragic event makes it easier for our lasting memories to bring us joy instead of sorrow.
Written by: Rachel Bernhardt, Flameless Cremation Services
Basketball random is a fun game to relax and challenge your basketball skills!
The part about disenfranchised grief really resonated — losing an animal companion can feel like your world stops, but you’re expected to carry on like it’s “not the same.” I’m curious how families usually want the process explained in the moment (details vs. gentle overview), because everyone seems to have a different threshold when they’re in shock. Completely unrelated, but the way you wrote about preparing ahead reminded me of how I plan other emotional stuff, like bookmarking a color guide on StyleLookLab, just so decisions feel a little less overwhelming later.
Sitting in the parking lot for hours before being seen is such a specific kind of helplessness — I’ve done that once and it still replays in my head. I also appreciate you calling out the environmental side of the funeral industry; it’s weird how rarely that comes up when you’re making decisions in grief. Side note: this made me think of a totally different “comfort ritual” thing — I saw a ghibli ai style generator at a fun ghibli ai tool where people turn pet photos into keepsakes, and it clicked why those little objects can matter so much after a loss.
I didn’t realize water cremation could preserve more remains for families — that “less destructive” part honestly made me pause, because the usual options always felt so harsh. The way you described euthanasia guilt and how isolating it can be hit close to home; I wish more vets talked about that side of it. Random tangent: I once used a quick online binary translator tool at simple binary translator tool for a class, and it’s funny how we look for anything that makes hard stuff feel a bit more manageable, even if it’s totally unrelated.
This is permanently saved now, and I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for this thoughtful piece. The care and research you've clearly put into this discussion around water cremation truly show, and it's incredibly valuable to have such a well-articulated perspective. I second your points completely, especially regarding the unique team dynamics that must arise with this method. It’s a fascinating aspect that often gets overlooked when discussing end-of-life options for our animal companions https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/scrutiny-of-influencers-and-businesses-for-misleading-advertising-and-online-reviews-continues From another angle, I recently had a personal experience that significantly shifted my own viewpoint on water cremation. Witnessing it firsthand for a beloved pet was a surprisingly peaceful and dignified process, far more so than I had anticipated. It really highlighted the gentle…