Thinking about preserving your pet in Long Beach?
By our estimate, about 165,000 households in Long Beach have a dog or cat. Only a small share of families ever consider preservation, so if you're one of them, here's how to freeze your pet in time and what comes next.
- Freeze-drying, taxidermy or a partial keepsake
- Honest about waits and results
- Written quotes you can compare
Long Beach, California
Finding a practitioner from Long Beach
Long Beach draws on Latino, Cambodian, Filipino, Black and many other communities, and families bring their own traditions to a pet's farewell: prayers, flowers, incense, food shared afterward, or a home altar with photos. Any of these can sit alongside cremation, and a good provider will make room for them. If children are involved, give them a small task, like choosing the photo for the altar, so they feel part of it.
Grief after losing a pet can feel isolating in a busy coastal city, especially if you live alone and your pet shaped your daily routine. A pet loss support line, a counselor or simply a friend who knew your pet can make the first weeks easier. Some people find it steadying to return to familiar places, such as the paths around El Dorado Park or the shoreline bike path, and sit with the memory.
Some families in Long Beach would rather hand their pet to a person than to a courier. A practitioner within a few hours' drive, perhaps nearer a larger centre such as Los Angeles, could meet you partway. Bring your pet frozen solid in a cooler, agree the meeting point and time in advance, and bring printed reference photos so nothing depends on email later.
About 450,469 people live in Long Beach, which makes it the 7th-largest of the 307 California communities we cover. Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Long Beach run from there.
For a second opinion on price, Carson (6 miles), Lakewood (7 miles) and Seal Beach (7 miles) are close enough that their providers cover Long Beach routinely. Two written quotes tell you more than any price list.
Our estimate
165,000
How many dog- or cat-owning households Long Beach has (estimate)
How we calculated this
450,469 ÷ 2.5 = 180,188 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 165,000. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
14,000
dog and cat deaths per year in Long Beach, our estimate
How we calculated this
165,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 14,000 a year. The real figure is unlikely to be lower.
53%[1]
53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households.
12.69 years[2]
US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years.
39%[3]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[4]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
Sources for the statistics above: American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Cremation, burial and preservation in California
Cremation is chosen for about 70.5%[5] of deaths in California, and local pet crematories have built whole menus around it: engraved urns, clay paw prints, fur clippings. That's useful even if you're drawn to preservation, because it shows how much can be kept without keeping the body. If you're torn, freeze first, ask a crematory which keepsakes they'd return with the ashes and compare that with a practitioner's quote.
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) is where the California figure comes from. It counts people; we use it because attitudes to cremating a pet in Long Beach tend to follow attitudes to cremation generally.
Long Beach weather, freezing and power cuts
Shipping from Long Beach is usually straightforward in a mild climate, with fewer heat or snow delays than many places. Still pack generously: a thick cooler, plenty of dry ice and your pet frozen solid for at least a day or two before sending. Send early in the week so there's time to recover if a delivery slips.
Long Beach can be damp around February without ever feeling muggy. Freeze-dried pets are most at risk where damp air sits still, in closed rooms and cupboards. If you need to store the piece for a while, during a move for example, wrap it loosely in acid-free tissue in a box with silica gel packets, never in sealed plastic that traps moisture.
Published prices and waits for Long Beach owners
The simplest guide is weight. One published US price list charges USD 650[6] for a pet under a pound, $2,095 plus $49 a pound for pets of 6 to 19 lb, and $2,781 plus $69 a pound above 20 lb[7]. On our reading of that list, a 10 lb cat comes to about USD 2,291–2,585[8]. Other studios charge less, and some more.
We keep the detailed California price table on one page so it stays current: see California prices.
Free tool
Freeze-dry & taxidermy cost estimator
Estimate cost and waiting time for freeze-drying or taxidermy by size and pose.
When the rules in California come into play
Most people never need to think about law when preserving a pet. The exceptions are wild or native animals, pets that died of a notifiable disease, and pets sent across a border, where animal health paperwork may apply. If any of those fit, raise it with your vet and practitioner first. Anything you don't keep follows the ordinary burial and scattering rules.
Long Beach Animal Care Services publishes Long Beach's official guidance. Note that it deals with public collection, not with booking a private cremation. The official California local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in Long Beach.
The California page sets out who oversees pet cremation and what the state says about burial and scattering. Long Beach's own bylaws can sit on top of that, so ask before you dig.
Just lost your pet? An order to follow
- Don't rush into a decision, rush into a freezer. The method and the practitioner can both be chosen later.
- Keep your pet away from warmth: off the blankets, out of the sun, never in a vehicle.
- Wrap them in two heavy bags, air pressed out, and freeze within hours.
- Talk with the people you live with about where a preserved pet would live and who would see it every day.
- Look at finished pets of your species from each practitioner, ideally unedited photos in daylight.
- Ask for a written quote including base, pose, delivery both ways and any touch-ups.
- Expect a long wait and plan how you'll mark those months, for example with a small memorial at home.
Living with a preserved pet in Long Beach
Long Beach is a city of neighborhoods, and a farewell often reflects that: friends gathering on a patio in Bixby Knolls, a candle on a balcony overlooking the harbor, or a few quiet minutes in the living room before the car arrives. Providers can usually allow a viewing or a last cuddle beforehand if you ask for it when you first get in touch. There is no single right way to say goodbye.
See what each option includes on our services page, or see how other readers answered in our polls, go deeper with the guides or catch up on recent articles, use the free tools before you ring anyone. More local pages: Los Angeles, San Jose, Fresno and San Diego, the California overview and every city in the United States.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
How do you feel about waiting months for a preserved pet to come home?
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Where would a preserved pet live in your home?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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Questions people ask
Will I have to travel to Los Angeles to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Los Angeles (roughly 20 miles from Long Beach) collect from here as a matter of routine, and the paperwork is done by email or phone. If you want to be present for a witnessed cremation, that is when the drive matters.
How do California attitudes to cremation compare?
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) puts the California human cremation rate at about 70.5%[5]. We show it on the Long Beach page because pet aftercare choices tend to track it: where cremation is normal for people, communal and private pet cremation are both easy to find.
Roughly how many pets die in Long Beach each year?
Our estimate is around 14,000. It comes from Long Beach's population (about 450,469), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 165,000 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
How does Long Beach's weather affect pet aftercare?
August is the hottest month in Long Beach, with average highs around 77°F, so prompt collection matters most then. Winters are mild, with average lows staying above freezing, so outdoor burial or scattering is usually possible year round.
Can I keep my pet's skull or skeleton instead of a full preservation?
Yes. Some practitioners clean and whiten a skull, and a few articulate full skeletons, especially for birds, reptiles and small mammals. It's a quieter keepsake than a lifelike piece and suits people who like the idea of keeping something real but find fur and glass eyes unsettling. Ask about the method used, the wait and whether the remaining body can go for cremation.
My pet has been in the fridge for a day. Can they still be preserved?
Sometimes. A pet kept cold the whole time may still be workable, while one left somewhere warm often isn't, because fur starts to slip. Move them to a freezer now and describe exactly what happened, including how long they were at room temperature, to a practitioner. A good one will tell you honestly whether it's still possible before taking a deposit.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [4] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [5] The NFDA projected California's cremation rate at 70.5% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] One U.S. pet preservation studio charges USD 650 to freeze-dry a pet under 1 lb, with a 4–6 month turnaround. Animal Family Pet — Pet Preservation Pricing & Shipping, 2026.
- [7] An Ohio pet preservation studio prices freeze-drying for pets over 20 lb at $2,781 plus $69 per pound, and 6–19 lb pets at $2,095 plus $49 per pound. Animal Family Pet Preservation – Pricing, 2026.
- [8] Freeze-drying a 10 lb cat at one published price list would cost about USD 2,290–2,590. Our estimate: Low: 2,095 + 49 x (10-6) lb; High: 2,095 + 49 x 10 lb. How we calculate.
- [9] The pet preservation (freeze-dry/taxidermy) market adds only about USD 2.7 million a year, far slower than pet funeral services. Our estimate: (112.7M - 88.6M) / 9 years. How we calculate.
Tell us about your pet and what you'd like kept
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.