Jeannene Freeman is co-owner and president of Heavenly Pet Memorials of Lawrence, a new business that provides pet cremations, funerals, burials and related services and products for pet owners dealing with the passing of their animal companions.

Jeannene Freeman has opened a new store in Lawrence, a store that comforts those who might have recently lost a pet.

Pet owners who spend their lives pampering their beloved dogs, cats and other animal companions now can extend that unwavering commitment into the afterlife.

Jeannene and Robert Freeman are opening Heavenly Pet Memorials of Lawrence, a pet mortuary along East 23rd Street where grieving owners can give their deceased loved ones the same attention and treatment normally reserved for humans.

“People regard their pets as family, and they want to do something special when their pet dies,” said Jeannene Freeman, co-owner and president. “We help them through that process.”

The business is the latest addition to a line of ventures in Lawrence and throughout the country looking to build on peoples’ devotion to their pets. Whether it’s downtown restaurants welcoming diners by putting out bowls of water for their dogs, or Pawsh Wash offering upscale grooming services and products, pets are generating increased spending in town.

From service to service-worthy

Pet mortuaries are simply the latest business evolution. More than 200 such operations are members of the International Association of Pet Cemeteries & Crematories, a membership that has doubled during the past nine years.

At least 750 businesses that provide mortuary, cemetery or cremation services for pets are up and running in the United States, said Brenda Drown, executive secretary for the association, based in upstate New York.

The days of pets being regarded merely as service animals – such as a dog to protect the house, or a cat to catch mice – have given way to an era in which animals are considered trusted, dependable and agreeable family members, she said.

No wonder businesses are paying attention.

“It can be big business,” Drown said. “We have members that are $1 million businesses. There are a lot of people making a living out of this business, and everything that it entails.”

Now comes Heavenly Pet Memorials, the Freemans’ second mortuary to go along with a crematorium that Robert Freeman opened six years ago.

Adding mortuary services – their Topeka location opened March 1 – answers calls from people who are seeing their pets as deserving more than a simple backyard burial in a box.

“People love their pets,” Jeannene Freeman said. “For some people, that’s the only family they have. They want to take very good care of them when they pass.”

Mementos, memorials

The mortuary provides a range of services and products that would be familiar at any traditional funeral home. Animals may be cremated or prepared for burial, and Heavenly Pet Memorials also can arrange and conduct a memorial service.

Special products include engraved headstones, elaborate urns, lined caskets and even keepsake paw prints that can be transferred to jewelry, so that owners can keep memories of their faithful companions close for years to come.

Heavenly Pet Memorials expects to see about 30 clients each month at 1216 E. 23rd St., in the former home of ACE Sports & Tickets. The new location includes a welcoming area that has samples for products, brochures explaining services and books that can help grieving owners come to grips with their losses.

A private viewing room also is available, so that owners and surviving pets can say goodbye – with the privacy and intimacy they deserve.

“I think there are more real emotions with people” in dealing with a pet’s death, said Donna Madl Davenport, who spent 25 years as a licensed embalmer and funeral director in Las Vegas and elsewhere before coming out of retirement to work for the Freemans. “People will come into a funeral home and put on that stoic front, especially men.

“But if they’ve just lost their German shepherd, or their little dachshund, they’ll have true emotion. They’ll really cry, and that’s the way life is. People love their pets.”