A living memorial for your pet in Ames
By our estimate, around 25,000 households in Ames share their home with a dog or cat, and roughly 2,100 of those pets die each year. More of those families now ask about planting or water memorials. Here's how to do it well.
- Planting, garden and water urns compared
- Honest notes on local rules
- Help choosing a native species
Ames, Iowa
Planning a greener goodbye in Ames
With January lows near 9 degrees, Ames is hard on outdoor memorials. Porous stone, thin concrete and resin crack in the freeze-thaw cycle, while granite and bronze last for decades. If you want a marker in the yard, rest it on compacted gravel so it stays level through winter heaving, and keep indoor urns out of damp basements where labels and wood can suffer.
People who adopted a pet during college, then moved on, sometimes keep the ashes for years before choosing a permanent place. Dividing ashes helps when a pet was shared between roommates or partners: small vials, jewelry or keepsake boxes can travel with each person. Mention early on if you'd like a paw print or clipped fur, because the provider has to take it beforehand.
In a town the size of Ames, the nearest aquamation provider may be an hour or more away, and pet crematories often serve a wide rural area. That doesn't change what you can do with the ashes. A flame-cremated pet's ashes work just as well in a planting urn or water urn. If a lower-impact goodbye is the main reason you're here, the choice of cremation matters more than the urn, so ask about water cremation before you commit.
Ames is home to about 68,220 people, the 8th-largest of the 27 Iowa communities we cover. Des Moines, roughly 30 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Ames run from there.
The closest communities we cover are Ankeny (20 miles), Johnston (24 miles) and Altoona (27 miles). Providers serving those towns often travel to Ames too, so it can be worth asking them for a quote.
Our estimate
25,000
How many dog- or cat-owning households Ames has (estimate)
How we calculated this
68,220 ÷ 2.5 = 27,288 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 25,000. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
2,100
Estimated dog and cat losses in Ames each year
How we calculated this
25,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 2,100 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, burial and green choices in Iowa
Faith shapes these choices in Iowa, where cremation covers about 63.6%[5] of deaths and burial much of the rest. Some traditions that prefer burial for people have no view on pets; others do. If this matters to anyone in your household, ask a faith leader you trust. A planting urn puts the ashes back into the ground, which many people find sits comfortably with a burial tradition.
Source for the Iowa number: NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes a pet cremation rate for Ames, so the human figure is the best local signal available.
Ames seasons and your memorial tree
Water releases need open water, and in Ames lakes and ponds may ice over around January. Never walk out onto ice to release an urn. If a lake or river was your pet's place, plan the release for spring or summer, when the shoreline is safe and a water-soluble urn can float and dissolve as it's meant to. Keep the ashes at home until then.
Snow can hide a young memorial tree and the damage done around it. In Ames, where lows average about 9°F in January, voles and rabbits chew bark under the snow line, and snowplows or shovels can snap a sapling. Put a tall stake beside the planting so you can find it, and fit a loose guard around the trunk before the first snow.
Price ranges for planting and water urns
It helps to compare a planted memorial with the alternatives. A pet cemetery burial for a dog averages about $831[6] in the US, which by our estimate is around 3.2 times the national average for private cremation[7]. Private cremation plus a bio urn and a sapling in your own Ames garden usually comes in far below a cemetery plot, and there are no yearly maintenance fees.
Prices for Ames track the wider Iowa market, so use the Iowa price table as your baseline and the services page to see what is included.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Rules worth knowing in Iowa before you scatter
Rules about ashes were mostly written for people, and pet ashes often sit in a grey area. That's a reason to ask, not a reason to assume. On land you own, planting or burying ashes is generally fine. Anywhere else in Iowa, from parks to beaches to a friend's field, the land manager or owner decides, so ask first.
To find your county or city office in Iowa, start with the official Iowa local government directory.
The rules that apply across Iowa (home burial, scattering and who oversees pet cremation) are summarized on our Iowa page. Ames may add its own conditions, so check with the city or county before digging.
A simple plan for your pet's eco memorial
- Decide what the memorial is for. Wanting somewhere to sit, a living plant, a release on water or simply the gentlest footprint each leads you toward a different kind of urn.
- If a greener cremation matters, ask about aquamation before anything else; it's the step with the biggest environmental difference.
- Keep a small portion back in a keepsake in case a house move or a second memorial is on the cards down the line.
- Buy the tree locally. A young native tree from a grower around Ames tends to outgrow anything sprouted from a packet seed.
- Prepare the soil a season ahead where you can, and the mixture of compost and ash will have settled by the time you dig the hole.
- Plant with the people who loved your pet, and give each of them a job: mixing, filling, watering.
Ways to mark the spot and the date
Memorials in Ames reflect a town of students and long-settled families alike. A student might pick a pendant or a palm-sized urn that fits a dorm shelf, while a family on a quiet street may lay a flat stone among the hostas or plant a maple. There's no deadline for any of it; the provider's container holds up fine until you're ready.
Every option Ames families choose between is on the services page, go deeper with the guides or catch up on recent articles, or see how other readers answered in our polls, run the numbers with the free planning tools. Close to Ames we also cover Sioux City, Davenport, Cedar Rapids and Ankeny; the full list for Iowa 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 consider releasing your pet's ashes in water?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What kind of tree or plant would you choose?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Memorial tree finder
Pick a tree for a planting urn that suits your climate, space and pet.
Aftercare options compared
Compare private, communal and water cremation with burial on cost, timing and what comes home.
Questions people ask
How many pet owners live in Ames?
By our estimate, about 25,000 households in Ames have at least one dog or cat, and around 2,100 are lost each year. We calculate this from the city's population of about 68,220, the average household size and national ownership and lifespan figures, so treat it as a floor rather than an exact count.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Ames?
Usually yes. Ankeny is about 20 miles away, Johnston is about 24 miles away and Altoona is about 27 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
When is the hardest time of year to arrange a burial in Ames?
January, February, March, November and December: average lows are below freezing then, and frozen ground makes a home grave slow or impossible until it thaws. The other pressure point is July, when highs around 84°F mean a body needs cooling and collecting quickly.
Why does the Ames 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 63.6%[5] of Iowa residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
What happens to the memorial tree if I move away from Ames?
It stays with the land, and ashes mixed into soil can't be recovered. If a move is possible, plant in a large container, plant at a relative's home, or keep a small portion of the ashes back for a future garden. Cuttings from many shrubs root easily, so you can take a piece of the plant with you.
How many dogs and cats are there in Ames?
By our estimate, about 25,000 households in Ames have a dog or a cat, and around 2,100 of those pets die each year. We calculate this from the city's population, average household size and national pet ownership and lifespan figures. The method is shown on this page, and the real number of animals is higher.
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] CareCredit's 2025 cost study put the US national average for pet cemetery burial of a dog at $831 (range $659-$1,513). CareCredit (Synchrony) - How Much Does It Cost To Euthanize a Dog? (2025 ASQ360 procedural cost study), 2025.
- [7] US pet cemetery burial for a dog costs about 3.2x a private cremation ($831 vs $260 national averages). Our estimate: 831 / 260 = 3.20. How we calculate.
- [8] Each shelter-animal flame cremation emits about 31 kg CO2e on average. Our estimate: 19,000 t CO2e / 607,000 animals. How we calculate.
Tell us about your pet and your garden
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.