Preserving your pet from Urbandale: the first hours and beyond
By our estimate, about 18,000 households in Urbandale 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.
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Urbandale, Iowa
Arranging preservation from Urbandale: the practical side
Urbandale families sometimes mark a pet's life in small, repeatable ways: a candle lit each year on the date, a bag of food dropped at the county shelter in the pet's honor, a photo book put together over a weekend. A backyard gathering when the urn is ready works well for neighbors who knew the animal. Children can choose a flower or write a short goodbye.
Families in Urbandale often want a goodbye that fits the pet's personality: a nervous cat at home in its favorite window, or an elderly rabbit in the quiet of the living room. Ask your vet whether they, or a colleague, offer home euthanasia in the metro. If a clinic visit is easier, ask whether the whole family can be in the room and have time afterward.
News travels in a place like Urbandale, and some owners worry about what neighbors will think of a preserved pet. You don't owe anyone an explanation. Preservation is an old, ordinary choice, and plenty of people keep a paw, a tail or a whole pet at home quietly. Decide what feels right for your family first, and let the rest follow.
About 48,570 people live in Urbandale, which makes it the 12th-largest of the 27 Iowa communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Des Moines, about 9 miles (14 km) away, which is where some providers serving Urbandale are based.
Nearby, we also have local pages for Clive (2 miles), Johnston (5 miles) and West Des Moines (6 miles), which can help if your vet or the provider you prefer is based there.
Our estimate
18,000
Estimated dog- or cat-owning households in Urbandale
How we calculated this
48,570 ÷ 2.5 = 19,428 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 18,000. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
1,500
dog and cat deaths per year in Urbandale, our estimate
How we calculated this
18,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,500 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.
To check the figures yourself, see American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Aftercare traditions in Iowa, and choosing to preserve
Roughly 63.6%[5] of those who die in Iowa 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.
The Iowa percentage above is from NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) and refers to human funerals. Treat it as context for Urbandale, not as a count of pets.
Seasons, shipping and humidity in Urbandale
With 5 months of freezing lows in Urbandale, a death in January may come when roads are icy and clinics short-staffed. If you can't safely get to the vet, keep your pet indoors in the coolest room, not outside, and use your own freezer. A small pet fits a kitchen freezer, and a cat or dog can wait a few hours in a cooler packed with ice until the roads improve.
Frozen ground through January, February, March, November and December in Urbandale means burying anything you don't keep may have to wait until spring. That's fine. Whatever the practitioner returns, or your whole pet if you change your mind, can stay in the freezer until the soil softens. Label the bag clearly with your pet's name and the date so nobody opens it by mistake.
Budgeting for freeze-drying or taxidermy from Urbandale
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.
The full price table by product is on our Iowa page, and the services page explains what each option includes.
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What Iowa rules mean for a preserved pet
Most of the paperwork you'll sign for preservation is a contract, not a permit. Read what it says about the deposit, storage fees if you can't collect on time, and what happens to your pet if the studio closes or the practitioner falls ill. Keep a copy with your pet's photos. For whatever won't be kept, the rules for Iowa below apply.
Not sure which office covers Urbandale? The Iowa local government directory is the official list.
The Iowa page sets out who oversees pet cremation and what the state says about burial and scattering. Urbandale's own bylaws can sit on top of that, so ask before you dig.
What to do first if you might preserve your pet
- Take a breath. If your pet was frozen quickly, you have time. If they weren't, freeze them now anyway and ask a practitioner honestly.
- Describe exactly what happened when you reach out: the time of death, the gap before your pet was frozen, and how warm the room was.
- Choose the pose with the practitioner. Closed-eye sleeping poses usually look the most natural.
- Send reference photos, including the face in good light and anything distinctive about how your pet sat or lay.
- Pay only the agreed deposit, and keep the written quote, return date and refund terms somewhere safe.
- Prepare a spot at home away from sun, damp and heating vents, so your pet has somewhere safe to come back to.
Caring for the piece, and for the memories
Losing a pet can shake a household more than people outside it realize. Children may regress or ask repeated questions; older adults may feel the loss of routine most. Give it time. Pet-loss hotlines, online communities and counselors in the Des Moines area can help, and many vets keep a list of local resources. Ask for it at the front desk.
Our services overview lays out every option side by side, read our guides and latest articles, or see what other families chose in the poll results, use the free tools before you ring anyone. You can also browse every city in the United States. Nearby, we also cover Sioux City, Davenport, Des Moines and Ankeny, and every city in Iowa.
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.
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.
How do you feel about waiting months for a preserved pet to come 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
Is cremation common in Iowa?
For people, yes: about 63.6%[5] of Iowa deaths end in cremation, according to NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in Urbandale follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Urbandale?
Usually yes. Clive is about 2 miles away, Johnston is about 5 miles away and West Des Moines is about 6 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
Where are the providers that serve Urbandale actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Des Moines, about 9 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Urbandale and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Roughly how many pets die in Urbandale each year?
Our estimate is around 1,500. It comes from Urbandale's population (about 48,570), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 18,000 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
How do I look after a preserved pet at home?
Protect it from sunlight, damp and insects. Direct sun fades fur, humid air can soften freeze-dried tissue and moths or carpet beetles can damage fur over time. Keep the piece in a dry room away from bathrooms and heating vents, dust it with a soft makeup brush or a hair dryer on cool, and never wash it. A glass case helps with all three.
How many pets die in Urbandale each year, and how many are preserved?
Our estimate for Urbandale is roughly 1,500 dog and cat deaths a year, across about 18,000 homes with a dog or cat. Just a small fraction are preserved; one market report puts taxidermy at about 7%[10] of owners' choices, and many families end up with a partial keepsake instead. You won't be the first to ask, but your vet may not have been asked before.
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 Iowa's cremation rate at 63.6% 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.
- [10] 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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