Thinking about preserving your pet in Union City?
Roughly 920 dogs and cats die in Union City each year, by our estimate, and most go to cremation by default. If you'd like to preserve yours, tell your vet today and get them into a freezer within hours.
- Freeze-drying, taxidermy or a partial keepsake
- Honest about waits and results
- Written quotes you can compare
Union City, Georgia
Finding a practitioner from Union City
Union City is a working community where many people have long commutes or overnight shifts, and grief often gets squeezed into whatever hours are left. If you can, book collection for a moment when the whole household is home, so nobody misses the farewell. When euthanasia is on the horizon, a home visit from your vet lets the animal stay somewhere it knows.
A farewell in Union City might be a quiet family dinner with stories, a few minutes in the yard holding the pet's favorite toy, or a candle placed on the windowsill for a week. Children can draw pictures or dictate a short letter to tuck in with the ashes. Choose whatever feels honest to your household, and do not worry about getting it perfect.
Dry ice isn't always stocked in a town the size of Union City. If you're shipping your pet to a distant practitioner, you may need to buy it in a larger centre such as Atlanta on the morning you send. Handle it with gloves, keep the car windows cracked while you drive and never seal it into an airtight container, because the gas needs to escape.
Union City is home to about 29,910 people, the 42nd-largest of the 68 Georgia communities we cover. Some of the providers who serve Union City are based about 15 miles away in Atlanta, the nearest larger centre, so collection times reflect that drive.
Our pages for South Fulton (3 miles, a larger centre), East Point (7 miles) and Fayetteville (11 miles) describe the same choices from those towns' point of view, and the providers overlap, so a quote from one often covers Union City as well.
Our estimate
11,000
Estimated dog- or cat-owning households in Union City
How we calculated this
29,910 ÷ 2.5 = 11,964 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 11,000. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
920
Union City families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
11,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 920 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.
The published sources behind those figures are American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Cremation, burial and preservation in Georgia
Roughly 54.2%[5] of those who die in Georgia are cremated. Whichever way your family leans, preservation doesn't have to replace it. Some families bury the body and keep a cleaned skull; others cremate and keep a single freeze-dried paw. Think about how a preserved piece would fit alongside the ways your family already remembers the people and animals it has lost.
Source for the Georgia number: NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes a pet cremation rate for Union City, so the human figure is the best local signal available.
Seasons, shipping and humidity in Union City
Once your preserved pet is home in Union City, sunlight is the quiet risk. Strong summer light through a window fades dark fur toward brown and dries the delicate skin of the nose and ears. Pick a spot that never gets direct sun, or ask for a case with UV-filtering glass. Room warmth alone is rarely the problem; sun, moisture and time together are.
With June, July and August running hot in Union City, the window between death and damage is short. Don't lay your pet on a soft bed or carpet, which holds heat against the body, and don't leave them in a car, even briefly. If you have to transport them to a clinic freezer, pack them in a cooler with bagged ice under a towel and run the air conditioning.
Preservation prices beside other aftercare
Pet preservation is priced by weight, method and pose, not by city, so what you'd pay from Union City depends mostly on your pet and the practitioner you choose. One US price guide quotes freeze-drying a cat or small dog at $1,000–$2,500[6] and traditional taxidermy at $800–$2,500[7]. Large dogs cost several thousand dollars more. The published prices below come from US price lists and cost guides.
Rather than repeat the price table on every city page, we keep one for Georgia: Georgia costs. What each service includes is on the services page.
Free tool
Freeze-dry & taxidermy cost estimator
Estimate cost and waiting time for freeze-drying or taxidermy by size and pose.
Permits, contracts and paperwork in Georgia
Shipping a frozen pet has its own rules. Dry ice is regulated for transport, so carriers ask for the package to be labeled with the amount used, and some services won't accept it at all. Ask your practitioner which carrier they want and follow their packing instructions exactly. For anything you don't preserve, the usual burial and scattering rules in Georgia apply.
Not sure which office covers Union City? The Georgia local government directory is the official list.
Home burial and scattering are governed at the Georgia level first; our Georgia rules summary has the detail. Then check whether Union City or your HOA adds anything.
Your checklist, in the order it matters
- Tell your vet or clinic straight away that you're considering preservation, so your pet isn't sent for cremation with the day's collection.
- Lay your pet in a relaxed position while they're still limp: resting on one side with the legs tucked softly. Leave the coat unbrushed and unwashed.
- Double-bag them using two thick plastic bags, squeezing the air from each one before you close it.
- Put them in the coldest freezer available inside a few hours; a refrigerator isn't cold enough. Once they're in, resist the urge to open the bags and check.
- Take photos you already have and gather more: the face from different sides, the natural set of the ears, every marking. Your practitioner works from these.
- Choose a practitioner by their pet work, then make sure cost, deposit, return date and how they'll travel are written down before your pet leaves the house.
Living with a preserved pet in Union City
Pet-loss support near Union City includes counselors in south Fulton and the airport communities, toll-free bereavement lines for animal owners, and online groups that are active on evenings and weekends. Feeling flattened by the death of an animal is normal. If the heaviness still interferes with daily life after several weeks, book a visit with a counselor or your family doctor.
or look at how readers voted in our polls, Every option Union City families choose between is on the services page, try the free planning tools, browse in-depth guides or recent articles. You can also browse every city in the United States. Nearby, we also cover Athens, Atlanta, Columbus and Savannah, and every city in Georgia.
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?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If your pet died today, could you freeze them properly within a few hours?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Questions people ask
Where are the providers that serve Union City actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Atlanta, about 15 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Union City and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Why does the Union City page quote a human cremation rate?
Because it is the best local signal we have. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) reports about 54.2%[5] of Georgia residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Union City?
Usually yes. South Fulton is about 3 miles away, East Point is about 7 miles away and Fayetteville is about 11 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
Is Union City big enough to have several pet aftercare providers?
Probably, on the numbers. By our estimate about 11,000 Union City households keep a dog or cat and around 920 lose one each year, which is enough steady demand to support more than one provider. We derive that from population (about 29,910), household size and national ownership and lifespan figures.
Does the euthanasia injection affect preservation?
Generally, no. Practitioners routinely work on pets who were put to sleep. What matters far more is what happens next: how much fur was clipped, whether your pet was kept cool and how soon they were frozen. Mention any shaved patches or bandaged areas when you describe your pet, so the practitioner knows what to expect when your pet thaws.
How many families in Union City choose pet preservation?
Very few. By our estimate, about 11,000 households in Union City have a dog or cat, and around 920 dogs and cats die there each year. One market report suggests about 7%[9] of pet owners choose taxidermy, and freeze-drying is the bigger share of the work. Most families who ask about preservation end up with a mix of options.
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 Georgia's cremation rate at 54.2% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Memorials.com puts freeze-drying at $1,000–$2,500 for a cat or small dog and $2,000–$5,000+ for a medium to large dog. Memorials.com – Pet Taxidermy Guide, 2025.
- [7] Memorials.com puts traditional taxidermy at $800–$2,500 for a cat or small dog and $1,500–$5,000+ for a medium to large dog. Memorials.com – Pet Taxidermy Guide, 2025.
- [8] Freeze-drying a cat or small dog costs about 10 times a private cremation. Our estimate: midpoint freeze-dry $1,750 ($1,000–$2,500) / $175 (private cremation 3–24 lb, NC provider). How we calculate.
- [9] About 7% of pet owners choose taxidermy, per Astute Analytica. Astute Analytica via GlobeNewswire — Global Pet Preservation Services Market to Hit USD 112.7 Million by 2032 (Apr 2, 2024), 2024.
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