Keeping your pet close in Des Moines: pendants, rings and glass
Des Moines has an estimated 12,000 dog- or cat-owning households. When one of those pets dies, a pendant, ring or glass bead lets the whole family carry a pinch of ashes. This is the plain guide to doing it well.
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Des Moines, Washington
Local maker or mail-in: the Des Moines picture
In Des Moines, where many homes look west over the water, families often want a memorial placed where the Sound is in view. A ceramic or wooden urn on the sill, a framed ink impression of paw pads, or a glass paperweight with a swirl of ashes inside can all catch the evening light. Condo dwellers may appreciate something slim that fits a narrow shelf.
Bluff-top gardens here take salt spray and wind as well as the usual Northwest rain, so outdoor markers need to be sturdy. Polished granite, basalt and cast bronze cope well; painted plaster and softwood plaques flake and rot. Anchor a marker firmly on gravel so winter storms and soggy ground don't shift it, and brush off moss every few months to keep lettering clear.
Getting to a jeweler for ring sizing can mean a drive from Des Moines to a larger centre such as Tacoma. If you're ordering a ring by mail, ask the maker for a ring sizer, measure at the end of the day when your fingers are slightly larger and check it twice. Sealed rings are hard to resize, so it's worth getting this right first time.
Des Moines is home to about 33,032 people, the 40th-largest of the 67 Washington communities we cover. Tacoma, roughly 11 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Des Moines run from there.
Des Moines sits within easy reach of SeaTac (4 miles), Kent (5 miles, a larger centre) and Federal Way (5 miles, a larger centre). A provider based in any of them will usually collect from Des Moines; ask what the mileage adds to the bill.
Our estimate
12,000
How many dog- or cat-owning households Des Moines has (estimate)
How we calculated this
33,032 ÷ 2.5 = 13,213 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 12,000. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
1,000
dog and cat deaths per year in Des Moines, our estimate
How we calculated this
12,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,000 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.
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.
What local customs mean for a memorial piece
Where roughly 79.1%[5] of the population of Washington ends up cremated, many homes already have an urn on a shelf, sometimes more than one. That familiarity means a pet's ashes don't feel unusual in the house, and jewelry becomes a way to take a little of them out into the day. Some people wear a piece for a relative and another for a pet on the same chain.
That Washington rate is a human one, published by Direct Cremate (citing CANA) (2024). We quote it for Des Moines only as a pointer to how families here already think about cremation.
Timing fittings and ceremonies around Des Moines's weather
If you like the outdoors around Des Moines, the realistic risks are garden soil, sea air and the occasional knock rather than heat or ice. Take a filled pendant off for gardening and swimming, rinse off salt after a day at the coast and keep glass pieces away from stone floors and hard countertops, where a drop is most likely to chip them.
A mild, often damp climate like Des Moines's is easy on resin but less forgiving of thin plating, which can wear through at the edges after a year or two of daily wear. For a piece you'll never take off, solid sterling, gold or titanium outlasts gold-plated brass, even though it costs more at the start.
Budgeting for a pendant, ring or glass piece
Prices depend far more on the material than on where you live. Across US retailers, a stainless steel ash pendant starts from $19.95[6], sterling silver necklaces run $88–$298[7], and a solid 14k gold pendant costs $1,298–$4,750[8]. That's why entry-level silver is about 4.4 times entry-level steel[9], and entry-level gold about 15 times silver[10]. A Des Moines jeweler may charge a little more or less, but these are the ranges to compare against.
The full price table by product is on our Washington page, and the services page explains what each option includes.
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 Washington
Wearing ashes is a private choice, and Washington 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 Washington side; a postal carrier's own conditions sit alongside it.
To find your county or city office in Washington, start with the official Washington local government directory.
The Washington page sets out who oversees pet cremation and what the state says about burial and scattering. Des Moines's own bylaws can sit on top of that, so ask before you dig.
Your order, one step at a time
- Look at the ashes you have. They're usually coarse and grainy; a small sieve or a gentle crush with the back of a spoon makes filling easier for tiny chambers.
- Buy or commission the piece. Self-fill pendants arrive in days; glass, resin and rings take weeks; diamonds take months.
- Fill at a calm moment. A clear table, a sheet of paper, the funnel from the kit and no fan or open window.
- Seal the screw. Use the adhesive supplied, wipe any excess and leave it to cure before wearing.
- Tell the people who'll wear the others. Relatives living elsewhere can have theirs posted with tracking, along with a few lines on how to look after it.
- Keep the rest of the ashes safe. Urn, scattering or burial is a decision for another day.
Remembering your pet, in Des Moines and beyond
With a community college in town and many residents who commute or relocate for work, households here are often small and scattered. A single urn might stay with one person while tiny keepsake vials or a pendant go to a sibling or former partner who shared the animal. Divided ashes need to be requested before cremation, and each container is worth labeling with a name and year.
or compare your instinct with the poll results, run the numbers with the free planning tools, go deeper with the guides or catch up on recent articles, For a plain comparison of the choices, open services. Close to Des Moines we also cover Bellevue, Kent, Seattle and Vancouver; the full list for Washington and for the United States is a click away.
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.
Would you get a piece for anyone else in the family?
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What worries you most about wearing your pet's ashes?
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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
Why does the Des Moines page quote a human cremation rate?
Because it is the best local signal we have. Direct Cremate (citing CANA) (2024) reports about 79.1%[5] of Washington residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
Will I have to travel to Tacoma to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Tacoma (roughly 11 miles from Des Moines) 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.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Des Moines?
Usually yes. SeaTac is about 4 miles away, Kent is about 5 miles away and Federal Way is about 5 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
Roughly how many pets die in Des Moines each year?
Our estimate is around 1,000. It comes from Des Moines's population (about 33,032), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 12,000 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
My pet was cremated years ago. Can I still have jewelry made?
Yes. Cremated remains are stable mineral and don't change over time, so ashes from years ago work just as well. Open the urn over a sheet of paper, take a teaspoon with a clean spoon and seal the urn again. If the ashes are in a sealed container you'd rather not open, a Des Moines jeweler or the original crematory may help.
Can I mail my pet's ashes to a jewelry maker from Des Moines?
Yes. In the US, the Postal Service is the carrier that accepts cremated remains, and it requires Priority Mail Express with its dedicated cremated remains label on the box. Seal the ashes in a small bag, cushion it inside a sturdy box and keep the tracking number. Most private couriers won't knowingly carry ashes, so check with the maker before using one. Many makers send a prepaid kit.
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] Washington had a 79.1% cremation rate in 2024, among the highest in the US. Direct Cremate (citing CANA), 2024.
- [6] Memorials.com sells stainless steel pet-ash necklaces from $19.95, most under $30. Memorials.com – Pet ashes necklaces, 2026.
- [7] Sterling silver pet-ash necklaces at Memorials.com cost $87.95–$297.95. Memorials.com – Pet ashes necklaces, 2026.
- [8] Solid 14k gold pet-ash pendants at Memorials.com cost $1,297.95–$4,749.95; gold-plated ones $87.95–$169.95. Memorials.com – Pet ashes necklaces, 2026.
- [9] Entry-level sterling silver pet-ash necklaces cost about 4.4 times entry-level stainless steel ones. Our estimate: $87.95 / $19.95 (Memorials.com starting prices). How we calculate.
- [10] Entry-level solid 14k gold pet-ash pendants cost about 15 times entry-level sterling silver ones at the same retailer. Our estimate: $1,297.95 / $87.95 (Memorials.com starting prices). How we calculate.
- [11] The cheapest advertised memorial diamond costs about 8 times a typical sterling silver ashes pendant. Our estimate: $995 (EverDear colorless from) / $129 (Urns.com sterling silver median). How we calculate.
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.