Pet freeze-drying and taxidermy in Midwest City
By our estimate, about 21,500 households in Midwest City 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.
- Clear steps for the first few hours
- Shipping frozen, explained plainly
- No pressure, we reply by email
Midwest City, Oklahoma
Arranging preservation from Midwest City: the practical side
For a service member or military spouse, a pet often provides stability through deployments, temporary duty and cross-country moves, and losing it can hit much harder than people expect. Base family support services, chaplains and national bereavement lines for animal owners are all available. You don't need to justify grieving for an animal; that bond carried you through a lot.
Military kids have often changed schools and left friends behind several times, so the animal who came along every time may have been their closest friend. Honest words help, along with a way to participate, like picking out a picture or composing a goodbye message. A small keepsake in their bedroom that can travel on the next move also offers comfort.
Small towns like Midwest City often have a taxidermist who does deer and turkeys each season. They may be willing to freeze your pet for you, or to point you to someone who does pets, and that can be a real help. Just remember that mounting a buck and recreating your cat's face are different skills, so look at their pet work before you commit.
With roughly 58,799 residents, Midwest City is the 7th-largest of the 26 Oklahoma communities we cover. Oklahoma City, roughly 8 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Midwest City run from there.
If you want to compare providers, look at Del City (4 miles), Oklahoma City (8 miles, a larger centre) and Moore (11 miles). Distance matters because pickup fees and the time until the ashes come back both grow with the drive.
Our estimate
21,500
Midwest City: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
58,799 ÷ 2.5 = 23,520 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 21,500. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
1,800
Estimated dog and cat losses in Midwest City each year
How we calculated this
21,500 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,800 a year. A floor, not a ceiling.
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.
Why preservation means speaking up early in Oklahoma
Roughly 58.6%[5] of those who die in Oklahoma 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.
That Oklahoma rate is a human one, published by NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). We quote it for Midwest City only as a pointer to how families here already think about cremation.
Seasons, shipping and humidity in Midwest City
It's worth thinking about when a finished piece travels back to Midwest City. Some practitioners avoid shipping through the peak heat of July or the storms of January, February and December, and will hold a finished pet until the weather settles. Ask when they plan to send yours, and arrange to be home so the box comes straight indoors.
A preserved pet in Midwest City 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.
Published prices and waits for Midwest City owners
Large dogs are where prices climb fastest. On one US studio's published list, pets over 20 lb are priced at $2,781 + $69/lb[6]; by our estimate, a 50 lb dog would come to ~$4,851[7] on that list before a base or shipping. Ask several practitioners for a quote by weight, and ask whether a head-and-shoulders piece or a paw would be possible instead.
Rather than repeat the price table on every city page, we keep one for Oklahoma: Oklahoma 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.
When the rules in Oklahoma come into play
One practical rule matters more than any statute: a pet who has had a post-mortem examination (a necropsy) usually can't be preserved whole, because of the incisions involved. If your vet, insurer or breeder asks for one, decide first which matters more to you, the answers or the body. Otherwise, domestic pets face few legal limits, and the notes below for Oklahoma cover anything you don't keep.
The official Oklahoma local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in Midwest City.
For Oklahoma's rules on burying a pet at home or scattering ashes, see the Oklahoma guide. Local rules in Midwest City can be stricter than the state's, especially in homeowners' associations and rentals.
What to do now, and what can wait
- If your pet is at a clinic, ask the staff to write on the paperwork that your pet is held for preservation and must not be cremated.
- Ask them to freeze, not refrigerate, and to avoid shaving more fur than they need to.
- Bring your pet home frozen inside a cooler, or set up a pickup from the clinic by the practitioner or a courier.
- Keep your pet frozen solid for at least a day or two before any shipping, as most practitioners ask.
- Pack in a thick cooler with dry ice, labeled as the carrier requires, and send overnight on a Monday or Tuesday.
- Keep the tracking number and ask the practitioner to confirm your pet went straight into their freezer.
Caring for the piece, and for the memories
Midwest City goodbyes usually take place at home, in the den or out under the carport after sundown. Some families book an in-home euthanasia so there's no stressful drive. Military families coping with a deployment might arrange a video call so the absent parent or spouse can say goodbye too, which is worth planning ahead if you possibly can. A few minutes on screen is plenty.
read our guides and latest articles, Compare every option on our services page, the planning tools turn your pet's details into figures, or compare your instinct with the poll results. More local pages: Oklahoma City, Norman, Edmond and Broken Arrow, the Oklahoma overview and every city in the United States.
Reader polls
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Questions people ask
Roughly how many pets die in Midwest City each year?
Our estimate is around 1,800. It comes from Midwest City's population (about 58,799), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 21,500 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Midwest City?
The closest communities we cover are Del City (about 4 miles), Oklahoma City (about 8 miles) and Moore (about 11 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Midwest City too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
Is cremation common in Oklahoma?
For people, yes: about 58.6%[5] of Oklahoma 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 Midwest City follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Where are the providers that serve Midwest City actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Oklahoma City, about 8 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Midwest City and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Is it legal to preserve my pet bird, turtle or snake?
For captive-bred pets such as budgies, cockatiels, parrots, corn snakes and most pet tortoises, usually yes. Native wild species are different: many wild birds, turtles and reptiles are protected, and possessing or preserving them can require a permit even if you kept them legally. Tell the practitioner exactly what species your pet is and where they came from before you ship.
The only taxidermist near Midwest City does deer. Can they do my cat?
They might, but ask to see cats or dogs they've finished before you agree. Recreating a pet's face is a different skill from mounting game, because you know every detail of how your pet looked. A game taxidermist can still be a big help in the first hours, by freezing your pet properly or pointing you to a pet specialist.
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 Oklahoma's cremation rate at 58.6% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] 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.
- [7] On a per-pound-above-threshold reading of its price list, one Ohio studio would charge about $4,851 to freeze-dry a 50 lb dog. Our estimate: $2,781 + $69 × (50 − 20) lb. How we calculate.
- [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.
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.