New business helps ease the pain of a pet's death

BENBROOK, Texas — Dustin Womble was a toddler when his mom found Copper in a gutter along a busy highway.

The kitten and the child took to each other immediately and, for the next 15 years, shared a special bond. Even as the family grew — three siblings, two dogs and another cat joined the household — Dustin and Copper remained steadfast companions.

So when Copper died unexpectedly in his sleep recently, Dustin, 16, was distraught.

"It was really hard to watch," said Tami Hubbard, Dustin's mother. "They were very, very attached to each other."

Wanting to honor Copper's life and ease her son's pain, Hubbard contacted Beyond the Rainbow, a business that specializes in pet memorial services.

"They came and did a service so everyone could say goodbye," Hubbard said. "It was very personal. It was just like a funeral. I didn't even know there was a place that offered pet memorial services."

Believed to be the first business of its kind in Texas, Beyond the Rainbow offers complete end-of-life care for pets, including in-home hospice, funerals, cremation and burial. The company, owned by licensed funeral directors Kate Moore and Terry Branson, who spent a combined 60 years in the human funeral industry, has veterinarians, chaplains and counselors to help families deal with pet loss.

"The grieving that takes place when a pet dies or when a human in a family dies is exactly the same," Branson said.

In the not-so-distant past, grieving a sick or dying pet was something owners did privately and quietly, without support or fanfare. The pet usually died naturally or was euthanized in the vet's office. It was then taken away or buried in a back yard or maybe a pasture.

Times have changed. These days, with pets in roughly 71 million U.S. households, pet bereavement is big business. Companies sell pet caskets, handcrafted urns, even mausoleums for four-legged friends. Trained pet chaplains deliver sermons at pet funerals. Pet cemeteries and crematoriums are scattered across the country.

And pet hospice — palliative care designed to keep pets pain-free and comfortable in their homes until they die — is becoming a trend.