Wearing your pet's ashes in Lakewood: jewelry options
By our estimate, about 57,500 households in Lakewood share their home with a dog or cat, and roughly 4,800 of those pets die each year. A small wearable piece is one of the quieter ways people there keep them close.
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Lakewood, Colorado
Local maker or mail-in: the Lakewood picture
Many Lakewood families keep a pet's memorial close: an urn on a mantel, a paw print cast, or a pendant holding a small amount of ashes. If you'd like to scatter some ashes in the mountains later, ask for the ashes to be divided before they're returned, so part stays home in a keepsake urn and part is ready for a trip into the foothills.
Bear Creek Lake Park, Green Mountain and the foothills trails around Red Rocks and Morrison are places many Lakewood families link with good times outdoors. If you'd like to scatter some ashes somewhere like that, choose a quiet, private spot and check the rules for any park or open space. Keeping a small portion aside means you'll always have a keepsake at home.
The postal route matters in Lakewood if you choose a distant maker. Find out which counter at the local post office handles tracked, signed parcels, and go at a quiet time. Some services require the parcel to be labeled as holding cremated remains, so answer plainly if asked, and keep the receipt until the maker confirms arrival.
With roughly 156,927 residents, Lakewood is the 5th-largest of the 36 Colorado communities we cover. Some of the providers who serve Lakewood are based about 6 miles away in Denver, the nearest larger centre, so collection times reflect that drive.
Nearby, we also have local pages for Wheat Ridge (5 miles), Denver (5 miles, a larger centre) and Englewood (6 miles), which can help if your vet or the provider you prefer is based there.
Our estimate
57,500
Lakewood: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
156,927 ÷ 2.5 = 62,771 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 57,500. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
4,800
Estimated dog and cat losses in Lakewood each year
How we calculated this
57,500 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 4,800 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.
None of the figures on this this page are ours alone: they rest on Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science and American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry.
Cremation habits in Colorado
Cremation accounts for around 77.4%[5] of deaths in Colorado, so the local trade is busy: crematories, funeral suppliers and jewelers all see ashes regularly. For you, that means more choice and some competition on price. It's reasonable to get two quotes for filling and sealing and to ask to see a finished memorial piece the jeweler has made.
The Colorado 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 Lakewood, not as a count of pets.
Lakewood weather, water and your memorial piece
Winter in Lakewood is hard on glass in one specific way: sudden temperature change. A glass pendant that's been out in the cold and then goes straight under a hot shower can, in rare cases, crack. Let it warm up to room temperature first. The bigger risk is a fall on ice, so if you're heading out on a slippery morning, tuck the pendant under a layer rather than letting it swing.
Lakewood sees average lows below freezing in January, February, March, November and December, and cold shrinks fingers. A ring that fits in summer can slip off inside a glove in December, when lows average about 17°F. If you're ordering an ash ring, measure your finger at room temperature at the end of the day, and consider a slightly snug fit or a ring guard for winter. A lost sealed ring is much harder to replace than a pendant.
Budgeting for a pendant, ring or glass piece
Most pet cremation jewelry in the US costs $30–$300+[6] (per one large retailer), and the table below shows where each material sits. Memorial diamonds are in a different league: a quarter-carat stone is listed at $3,499[7] by one of the larger US labs, about 27 times a typical sterling pendant[8]. If you're in Lakewood and weighing a diamond against a set of silver pieces for the whole family, that ratio is worth keeping in mind.
Rather than repeat the price table on every city page, we keep one for Colorado: Colorado costs. What each service includes is on the services page.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Wearing ashes is your call; the rest has rules in Colorado
Wearing ashes is a private choice, and Colorado asks for no permit or form to keep a portion in a pendant or ring. The questions that do carry rules come afterwards: where the remaining ashes may be scattered or buried, and how a portion may travel if your maker is elsewhere. Below is the Colorado side; a postal carrier's own conditions sit alongside it.
Colorado keeps an official directory of local governments; use it to reach the county or city office that covers Lakewood.
Start with the Colorado rules, which cover burial, scattering and oversight for the whole state, and treat Lakewood's local ordinances as a possible extra layer.
What to do first, and what can wait
- Call your vet or an aftercare provider first. They'll explain how and when your pet is collected; jewelry is a question for later.
- If you can, keep a lock of fur. Before collection, a small snip from under the chin or the ruff, placed in a paper envelope, is all a resin piece needs.
- Press a paw into something soft if you have modelling clay or washable ink to hand. Skip it if it feels like too much; the vet or crematory may take one.
- Say when you book that you want ashes back, and ask for a little to be bagged apart for jewelry.
- Give yourself a few weeks. Shock makes choices harder, and a pendant chosen a month later means every bit as much.
- When you're ready, compare two routes: a jeweler near Lakewood for a same-day fill, or a specialist studio for a custom design.
More ways to keep your pet in daily life
Colorado's intense sun, dry air and freeze-thaw winters are hard on outdoor memorials. Granite and bronze hold up well, while softer stone and painted resin can crack or fade. If you'd like a memorial tree, native species that handle dry summers and cold winters do better. Planting in spring gives roots a full season to settle before the first hard freeze.
Compare every option on our services page, go deeper with the guides or catch up on recent articles, or see what other families chose in the poll results, run the numbers with the free planning tools. If you live between Lakewood and Fort Collins, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Denver, either page applies. Every other community in Colorado, and all of the United States, is listed too.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Jewelry ash capacity guide
How much ash fits in pendants, rings and glass, and how many pieces one pet can fill.
Ashes sharing planner
Split ashes fairly between family members, keepsake urns and jewelry.
Questions people ask
How many pet owners live in Lakewood?
By our estimate, about 57,500 households in Lakewood have at least one dog or cat, and around 4,800 are lost each year. We calculate this from the city's population of about 156,927, the average household size and national ownership and lifespan figures, so treat it as a floor rather than an exact count.
Will I have to travel to Denver to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Denver (roughly 6 miles from Lakewood) 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.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Lakewood?
The closest communities we cover are Wheat Ridge (about 5 miles), Denver (about 5 miles) and Englewood (about 6 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Lakewood too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
Why does the Lakewood 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 77.4%[5] of Colorado residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
Can I use my pet's fur instead of ashes?
Yes. Fur can't go into molten glass, but it sets well in resin, where you can still see its color. Some memorial-diamond labs can also work from fur; one Swiss lab needs about 5 g[10]. Fur has to be clipped before cremation, so if your pet is still with you, it's worth taking a little from a hidden spot now.
What if my memorial pendant breaks or I lose it?
If it breaks, stop wearing it and put it in a small sealed bag straight away so no ash is lost. A jeweler can often replace a bail or clasp without opening the chamber. For peace of mind, keep a little spare ash in the urn so a replacement can be filled, and ask whether your home insurance covers jewelry.
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 Colorado's cremation rate at 77.4% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Cremation jewelry that holds pet ashes typically costs $30–$300+. Memorials.com – Pet Cremation Cost Guide 2026, 2026.
- [7] Eterneva prices a 0.25-carat memorial diamond from ashes at $3,499; its range starts at $2,999 for 0.1 carat. Eterneva – Pet Ashes to Diamonds, 2026.
- [8] The entry-level Eterneva memorial diamond (0.25 ct) costs about 27 times a typical sterling silver ashes pendant. Our estimate: $3,499 / $129 (Urns.com sterling silver median). How we calculate.
- [9] Memorial diamond production takes about 8.5 months on average across three providers' stated timelines, ranging from 4 to 12 months. Our estimate: mean of midpoints: Eterneva 7–10 (8.5), LONITÉ 12, Saint Diamonds 4–6 (5) = (8.5+12+5)/3. How we calculate.
- [10] LONITÉ needs at least 150 g (5 oz) of pet ashes, or 5 g of fur, to make a memorial diamond. LONITÉ – Pet cremation diamonds, 2026.
Find a maker for your pet's ashes
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.