Silver Paw Provides Gentle Water Cremation for Pets
LEETONIA, Ohio – For those who love the calming properties of flowing water, Silver Paw Water Cremation provides a solution for grieving pet owners seeking a gentle cremation.
“End of life care is so important to me,” said Dr. Margee O’Donnell-Foust, a veterinarian and owner of Silver Paw. “And helping them pass peacefully has been so important to me, and so I feel like this is the very final step in knowing how well they are taken care of.”
When she learned about water cremation, O’Donnell-Foust knew she had to make the dignified and peaceful process available for pet owners in the area. She traveled to Bio-Response Solutions, a family-owned company in Danville, Ind., to learn about the process.
“It’s how nature does it,” O’Donnell-Foust said. “The water temperature increases it a little bit, but it’s swirling, almost like a hot tub with the jets off, and it sounds almost like a fountain.”
Using about the same amount of water as two or three pet baths, the Pet550 machine has a large basket with dividers where up to 550 pounds of pets are kept separated throughout the aquamation process, which is also known as alkaline hydrolysis.
The animal is slowly processed during a 20-hour immersion in a low pressure, 204-degree Fahrenheit bath, which is 95% water and 5% alkali, a combination of both sodium and potassium. The weight of the animals determines how much sodium and potassium is added.
After an hourlong rinse, the bones and minerals are collected and dried before they are processed into ashes.
Becky Westover, manager of Silver Paw, personally oversees the process. Westover has worked in the business of fire cremation in the past, but she loves water cremation.
“It’s just so much more peaceful,” Westover said. “The thought of fire compared to the gentle flow of the water, there is no contest for me. It is definitely a more gentle process.”
Westover meets owners at Silver Paw, 16 Walnut St. She also picks up pets, although that service isn’t available 24 hours a day.
Westover then provides each pet a silver tag with a number, which allows her to track the remains throughout the process and ensure the owners they are receiving back their pet’s cremains. Eventually, the hope is to have an online option where an owner also can track their pet throughout the process.
With a turnaround time of about a week or two, the grieving owner knows their pet’s remains will soon be back at home if they choose the individual option. Those who choose common cremation will have their pet’s cremains scattered on private property by a staff member.
Still, O’Donnell-Foust and Westover believe getting a pet back to a grieving family is a priority.
“It definitely can take a little bit longer than fire cremation, just because of the gentle nature of it,” O’Donnell-Foust said.
When the individual water cremation is completed, the owner receives the silver tag and the pet’s cremains, which resembles a white sand. It is placed in a burlap bag inside a standard bamboo box or one of the other containers and urns available, along with a certificate noting the date of the process.
The process results in about 20% more cremains than a traditional fire cremation.
O’Donnell-Foust said they are working with a designer with Humtown Products to create a larger containment option, because larger dogs are not fitting in the largest available pet containers and have been requiring a human urn.
According to Global Market Insights, the market size of the pet cremation services industry in the United States was $1.3 billion in 2023, and future growth is projected.
Cremations at Silver Paw start at $70 for a common cremation and $95 for an individual cremation. Prices rise up to just under $400, based on the size of the animal.
Silver Paw also offers a line of items such as keepsake paw prints, jewelry and small jars to hold fur clippings.
Additionally, the office includes a calming space with comfortable couches, flowing water and plants where Westover said she encourages people to grieve, especially when they bring their pet to the facility. O’Donnell-Foust said she would like to add a pet loss group for pet owners in the future.
“I treat each pet like it was my own,” Westover said. “I feel like that is the best way to handle everybody else’s animals – the way I would want mine handled.”
O’Donnell-Foust said she initially bought the building at 16 Walnut St. for her Bark Veterinary Clinic, which she began operating in 2012, first as a mobile pet clinic and now in a location down the street.
However, she knew the building was not big enough to be the long-term solution for her veterinary business. But the location was a great place for her new venture.
Leetonia Mayor Kevin Siembida said the business has been a great addition to the downtown, including the investment O’Donnell-Foust put into remodeling the previously empty bank building.
Another added benefit has been seen at the wastewater treatment plant, where Siembida said the village is required to balance the alkaline and acidic levels. The higher-alkaline water discharged after the water cremation helps the village’s more acidic water, allowing it to be balanced using fewer chemicals than in the past.
O’Donnell-Foust said if someone were to collect the nutrient-rich water created through the process, it could be applied to trees, plants and crops like fertilizer.
“Between the energy savings and no greenhouse gases or chemicals going out into the environment, what we’re putting out is beneficial,” O’Donnell-Foust said.
The process doesn’t require the burning of fossil fuels and breaks down into natural by-products of 96% water, with the remaining materials made up of amino acids, sugars, nutrients, salts and soap.
Only four other pet water cremation businesses existed in Ohio when Silver Paw opened early this summer. Although the process is permitted and regulated for humans in 26 states, it is not permitted in Ohio.
Pictured at top: Becky Westover, left, manager of Silver Paw, and owner Dr. Margee O’Donnell-Foust.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
