Australia has one of the world’s highest pet ownership rates but when they pass away and homeowners and renters are forced to move, leaving them behind can be heartbreaking.
A memorial stone made from your pet’s ashes mean you can take them with you when you move. Picture: Alex Coppel
Now a New Zealand-founded company has launched what it is claiming to be a “world-first memorial stone” made from the ashes of pets in Australia, allowing homebuyers, sellers and renters to take their fur angels with them when they move.
Reterniti founder and managing director Peter Russell said there had seen a shift away from the usual practices of scattering pet ashes at the base of a tree or burying them in the backyard.
Moving is stressful enough, let alone leaving behind a pet that has crossed the rainbow bridge
“For many Australians, especially renters or people who buy and sell reasonably frequently, burying in the backyard or scattering ashes under a tree just doesn’t work,” Mr Russell said.
“No one wants to dig up your buried pet. Nor do you want a townhouse built over your fur buddy.
“At the same time, traditional memorial options like urns or boxes simply don’t fit modern life.
“People don’t like displaying urns and most homes don’t have a mantlepiece anymore.
“For renters in particular, there’s often no permanent place for outdoor placement.”
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An example of the Reterniti stone,w hich is made from ashes and is portable
Mr Russell said a memorial stone allowed pet owners to take their beloved Fluffy or Fido with them, just like any other treasured belonging.
And the idea for the memorial stone made from ashes was a personal one for Mr Russell, who revealed that when his own dog Hogan passed away, he scattered his ashes under a large boulder in a local park.
Whne he returned, the local council had removed the boulder and erected a toilet block.
“We wish we could’ve moved his ashes,” he said.
“Pets are such an important part of our lives, and when they pass away people often don’t know what to do with the ashes.
“We wanted to create something that felt simple and considered.
“Something people could hold in their hand and keep close.”
The Animal Medicines Australia’s (AMA) Pets in Australia 2025 report revealed that 73 per cent of households - or 7.7 million homes - included a pet, up from 69 per cent in 2022 and 61 per cent before the Covid-19 pandemic hit Aussie shores in early 2020.
Alternatives to memorial stones include infusing glass or resin with pet ashes, pet ash pendant necklaces, tattoos with a msall amount of ash mixed in, ash-infused synthetic diamonds and traditional urns.
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