We are an independent crematorium which means we can offer a much more personalised service for your pet’s cremation. You may think that because we are local to your vet, that means they must use us. This is a common misconception that we’ve noticed recently. Unfortunately, just because we may be the most local crematorium to your vets that doesn’t necessarily mean they will use us for their cremations. In fact, around 90% of vets are now owned by larger companies where they are contracted to use a large corporate crematorium, normally which are owned by the same company. Most individually owned vets may still use a large corporate crematorium, but that might just be because they’ve not had the Legacy Pets experience yet!
Be sure to also check if you are with a privately-owned Veterinary Clinic that they are still privately owned, because over the last 24 months there has been a large number of private vets taken over by these large companies, but still run under the same private name. In Bury, Rochdale, Oldham and Bolton alone, a large number of very popular practices have been taken over by the same large corporate business, whom inturn now sends all their cremations to their own crematorium. This reason alone is why a lot of the veterinary practices will not use Legacy Pets, even though we are the local Pet Crematorium.
With these large crematoriums, it means that if your pet has passed away at your vets then they may not be collected for up to a week from your vets and sent for their cremation.
So, what happens to your pet?
The harsh reality is that your vet will be placed in cold storage until they are ready to be collected and sent to the crematorium. That is one of the main reasons why we at Legacy Pets firmly disagree with any form of cold storage – when your pet comes to us directly, they are guaranteed not to be placed in any freezers, fridges or refrigerated rooms. We have a cosy Waiting Lounge where your pet will stay comfortable as they await their cremation.
We stay in contact with you every step of the way and ensure that we only provide the very best service.
When your pet is cremated through your Vets, you can sometimes be waiting over a week for their ashes to be returned. With Legacy Pets, we offer a service where your pet will be ready to come home within 24-48 hours.
We understand that all you want is your pet to be back with you, so we strive to make sure we do this as soon as possible.
As we only offer Individual Cremations, we only cremate a small number of pets per day. If your pet is collected from your vets, they may be sent to a crematorium that operates on a much larger scale. They can collect from upwards of 30 Veterinary Clinics each day, all using the same crematorium – that's a lot of pets!
It is well within your right as a pet owner to ask your vets which crematorium they use and you are also within your right to tell your vet that you’d like another crematorium to take care of your pets cremation, they will have no objection to this as it is your pet and your decision.
Many people think that there is no alternative other than going through your vets and we are trying to change that. It’s important that people know they have another option and shouldn’t feel backed into a corner about such a sensitive decision.
You will also find that by using Legacy Pets, we can save you money compared to the cost that the cremation service may be through your vet. We always offer the best value for money as we know that owning a pet, and even dealing with a poorly pet can mount up and become extremely expensive. We just want our customers to be able to give their pets the best send-off possible which is why we keep our prices extremely competitive.
We are a small, close-knit team here at Legacy Pets and so your pet never gets passed around. Once your pet arrives with us they are treated with the upmost dignity and care right the way through their final journey, guided by our dedicated and caring team. We are the only crematorium in the North West who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – because we know pets can pass away unexpectedly at any time and it’s important that we are here for our customers whenever you need us.