Pet freeze-drying and taxidermy in Collinsville
By our estimate, about 8,750 households in Collinsville 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 first, decide later
- Published prices by pet size
- Help finding a specialist who takes your species
Collinsville, Illinois
What pet preservation is like in Collinsville
A Collinsville farewell might mean relatives out under the backyard maple, a candle beside the sink, or a drive up to the bluffs at sunset to look out over the river valley. Some families reconvene when the ashes are back, telling stories over a meal. Children usually want a role, maybe painting a garden stone, picking out a frame or choosing a shrub for the yard.
Collinsville families often stay near the same church, school and neighbors for generations, so word travels fast when a family's animal dies. When the end can be scheduled, many Metro East vets will bring euthanasia to your door, keeping the animal curled in its own bed. A few minutes together at the kitchen table beforehand gives everyone a proper goodbye.
Snow, floods or a long drive can make reaching a larger centre such as St. Louis from Collinsville impossible on the day your pet dies. Don't wait for the roads to clear before cooling your pet. Use your own freezer, a neighbor's, or a cooler topped up with fresh ice every few hours, and write down each step, because a practitioner will ask.
Collinsville is home to about 23,717 people, the 96th-largest of the 151 Illinois communities we cover. Some of the providers who serve Collinsville are based about 11 miles away in St. Louis, the nearest larger centre, so collection times reflect that drive.
The closest communities we cover are Granite City (7 miles), O'Fallon (7 miles) and East St. Louis (8 miles). Providers serving those towns often travel to Collinsville too, so it can be worth asking them for a quote.
Our estimate
8,750
Collinsville: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
23,717 ÷ 2.5 = 9,487 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 8,750. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
730
Collinsville families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
8,750 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 730 a year. Treat it as a minimum.
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.
Where these figures come from: Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science and American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry.
Local aftercare habits and pet preservation
Roughly 60.2%[5] of people in Illinois are cremated, and the rest are mostly buried, so families here are used to both ideas. Preservation is a third way of keeping a pet close, and one with a hard deadline: it has to be decided on, at least provisionally, before the body warms. Freeze first, and the burial or cremation choice for anything you don't keep can wait.
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) is where the Illinois figure comes from. It counts people; we use it because attitudes to cremating a pet in Collinsville tend to follow attitudes to cremation generally.
Keeping your pet frozen through Collinsville's weather
Shipping a frozen pet from Collinsville changes with the season. In July, heat on loading docks is the worry, so use plenty of dry ice and a thick cooler. In January, February and December, snow delays are more likely than thawing. Whatever the month, send early in the week and ask the practitioner to confirm when your pet has arrived and gone into their freezer.
A preserved pet in Collinsville lives through humid summers and dry, heated winters. Both can be hard on delicate work. Keep the piece away from heating vents, sunny windows and damp rooms, and consider a sealed glass case, which evens out swings in humidity. In the most humid weeks around July, a dehumidifier in the room helps.
Preservation prices beside other aftercare
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.
Rather than repeat the price table on every city page, we keep one for Illinois: Illinois 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 Illinois
Keeping a preserved pet you loved is legal almost everywhere, but selling or passing on some preserved species later can be restricted, especially birds and reptiles covered by wildlife-trade rules. Keep the practitioner's invoice, your pet's purchase or breeder records and any permits with the finished piece, so its origin is never in doubt. Remains you don't keep follow the Illinois guidance below.
To find your county or city office in Illinois, start with the official Illinois local government directory.
Start with the Illinois rules, which cover burial, scattering and oversight for the whole state, and treat Collinsville's local ordinances as a possible extra layer.
A checklist for the first hours
- Stop the clock. Warmth is the enemy here; the first thing to do is get your pet down onto the coolest hard floor you have.
- Call ahead to your vet or an emergency clinic if you don't have freezer space, and ask them to hold your pet frozen rather than refrigerated.
- Set aside the collar, tags and a favorite blanket. Leave the fur alone for now; if you'd like a clipped lock, ask the practitioner where to take it from.
- Bag and freeze your pet inside a few hours, sealed in two layers and posed as if simply lying down.
- Decide on the method: preserving the whole pet by freeze-drying, conventional taxidermy, or keeping just one part and cremating the remainder.
- Agree everything in writing, including what happens if damage is found when your pet thaws.
Keepsakes, displays and gentler options
For a retiree whose cat or bird was the main company through the day, the quiet afterward can feel crushing, and it may last longer than friends expect. Clinics across the Metro East occasionally know of bereavement meetings in Illinois or St. Louis County, and national helplines welcome any caller. A standing weekly phone call from a son, daughter or neighbor can matter a great deal.
or see what other families chose in the poll results, The services page is the place to compare what is included, use the free tools before you ring anyone, the guides answer the longer questions and the blog the newer ones. More local pages: Naperville, Rockford, Elgin and Chicago, the Illinois 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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If your pet died today, could you freeze them properly within a few hours?
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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
Roughly how many pets die in Collinsville each year?
Our estimate is around 730. It comes from Collinsville's population (about 23,717), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 8,750 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
Why does the Collinsville 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 60.2%[5] of Illinois 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 Collinsville?
Usually yes. Granite City is about 7 miles away, O'Fallon is about 7 miles away and East St. Louis is about 8 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
When is the hardest time of year to arrange a burial in Collinsville?
January, February and December: average lows are below freezing then, and frozen ground makes a home grave slow or impossible until it thaws. The other pressure point is July, when highs around 90°F mean a body needs cooling and collecting quickly.
Should I tell my vet about preservation before a planned euthanasia?
Yes, ideally when you book. The clinic can then plan to put your pet in a freezer rather than add them to the crematory collection, clip only a small patch of fur for the injection and give you a quiet room with time afterward to settle your pet into a natural shape. If you've already chosen a practitioner, ask them whether they have any requests for the vet, and pass them on.
Can I pay extra to get my preserved pet back sooner?
Some practitioners offer a rush service. One US studio cuts freeze-dry turnaround to six to eight weeks for 50% more[10]. It's rarely necessary, because a well-frozen pet can wait safely. Rushing can make sense if you're moving, or if the wait itself is weighing on you, but ask what the faster timeline changes about the work.
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 Illinois's cremation rate at 60.2% 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] 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.
- [10] Paying 50% extra for VIP service cuts freeze-dry turnaround to 6–8 weeks at Animal Family Pet Preservation. Animal Family Pet Preservation – Pricing, 2026.
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