Getting your pet's paw print in Bern
Many vets and pet crematories will take a paw print before cremation, but often only if someone asks. This guide to Bern covers timing, home kits, costs and turning a print into jewelry or art.
- Take the print before cremation
- Clay, ink or cast, explained simply
- Published prices, no guesswork
Bern, Switzerland
How owners in Bern get a paw print
Many people in Bern live in rented apartments without a garden, so memorials here tend to be things that can sit on a shelf or be carried when you move. A small urn, a keepsake box with a paw print, or a piece of jewelry holding a little ash all fit an apartment easily. If family members live in other cantons or abroad, ashes can be divided so each person keeps a portion.
Switzerland has a strong tradition of neat, carefully kept memorials, and many families here want something that will last through snow, rain and frost. A memorial stone or engraved slate plaque stands up to a Bernese winter far better than wood. If you have a garden and plan to stay, a biodegradable urn planted with a native tree or shrub gives the memorial a living shape that changes with the seasons.
Home goodbyes are increasingly common in Bern. If you're booking an in-home vet, ask whether they bring a clay kit and whether they'll take two prints, one for each person in the family. Taking your own print the day before, when your pet is calm and comfortable on their own bed, is another option and often gives a cleaner result.
About 134,000 people live in Bern. Zurich, roughly 59 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Bern run from there.
Nearby, we also have local pages for Lucerne (41 miles), Basel (43 miles) and Lausanne (49 miles), which can help if your vet or the provider you prefer is based there.
90%[1]
About 90% of people who died in Switzerland in 2020 were cremated.
~$32[2]
Paw-print add-ons at US crematories have a median price of about $32, from $10 to $76.
3-5% of body weight[3]
Embrace notes cremated remains typically weigh about 3-5% of the pet's original body weight.
What local funeral habits mean for a print
Cremation is the norm for people in Switzerland (about 90%[1] of deaths), and pet crematories there tend to offer a long menu of extras: paw prints, nose prints, fur clippings, name plates, photo urns. It's easy to feel you ought to say yes to everything. You don't have to. Pick the one or two things you'll actually look at in five years' time. For many families, that's a clear print and a small lock of fur.
For the Switzerland figure we rely on bestatter.ch (Swiss funeral services association) (2020). Read it as a picture of local custom around death and remembrance in Bern rather than as pet data.
When the weather works against clay and ink
If you're thinking of an outdoor memorial in Bern, such as a garden stone with your pet's print pressed in, the weather decides when to make it. Concrete doesn't cure well in frost or fierce heat. Take the print now in clay or ink and keep it indoors, then make the stone in a mild month when the ground is workable.
Where the money goes: the print, then the finishing
European crematoria often price by package rather than by item. An Irish crematorium, for example, lists individual cremation from €250 for cats or dogs up to 10 kg[4]. A print is usually a modest extra within that, and jewelry or engraving from a print is priced separately by the maker. Ask providers in Bern what's included before you choose.
For a line-by-line price table, see the Switzerland overview; for what's included in each option, see our services.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Local rules worth knowing in Switzerland
You don't need anyone's permission to take your pet's paw print, and prints, casts and ashes jewelry can be kept, posted or carried anywhere. The rules that matter in Switzerland are about burial and scattering. If you plan a home burial, take the print before you begin; if you plan to scatter, keep some ashes back for a print pendant first.
Getting a paw print in Bern, step by step
- Tell your child what's happening in plain words, then offer them a part in making the print if they want one. Our guide to print-making with children has age-by-age ideas for what they can do.
- Give them a real job: rolling the clay, choosing the card color or writing the name.
- Let them press a hand or fingerprint beside the paw if they want to.
- If the print is taken after death, let an adult or the vet do it, and show your child the finished keepsake.
- Make a copy for your child's room, so the original can stay somewhere safe.
- Come back to it later. Some children want the print framed straight away; others return to it months on.
Ways families in Bern keep a print close
The Aare, the Gurten hill and the forests around the city are places many Bernese associate with calm, and some families think of them for a farewell. Before scattering ashes on public land or in water, check what the local authority allows, since rules differ between places. Keeping part of the ashes back for an urn or keepsake lets you have both a place and an object to hold.
See what each option includes on our services page, the guides answer the longer questions and the blog the newer ones, or see how other readers answered in our polls, run the numbers with the free planning tools. Every other community in Switzerland, and all of Switzerland, is listed too.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
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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.
Paw print keepsake chooser
Match a print method to your pet's size, fur and the keepsake you want to keep.
Jewelry ash capacity guide
How much ash fits in pendants, rings and glass, and how many pieces one pet can fill.
Questions people ask
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Bern?
Usually yes. Lucerne is about 41 miles away, Basel is about 43 miles away and Lausanne is about 49 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
Will I have to travel to Zurich to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Zurich (roughly 59 miles from Bern) 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.
Why does the Bern page quote a human cremation rate?
Because it is the best local signal we have. bestatter.ch (Swiss funeral services association) (2020) reports about 90%[1] of Switzerland residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
Is a paw print included when a vet comes to our home in Bern?
Often, but not always. Many home-visit vets bring a clay kit and include one print in their fee; others charge for it or leave it to the crematory. Ask when you book, and check whether a flat ink copy is possible as well. Home goodbyes are no longer unusual: in the Dog Aging Project, 22.8% of dogs who were euthanized died at home[6]. You can also take your own print before the vet arrives.
How do I get a clear print from very furry paws?
Trim the tufts between the pads with blunt-tipped scissors, leaving the fur around the edge, which gives the print its outline. For cats, long-haired dogs and rabbits, an inkless kit or soft clay often works better than ink. Rabbits have no pads at all, so clay shows the long shape of the hind foot beautifully.
Will my vet or crematory take a paw print before cremation?
Most will if asked, and many include a clay or ink print in the package. But requests can be missed on a busy day, especially at emergency clinics. Mention it when you book, ask for it to be written on the aftercare form and ask whether it comes back to you that day or with the ashes. Once your pet has been cremated, the chance is gone.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] About 90% of people who died in Switzerland in 2020 were cremated. bestatter.ch (Swiss funeral services association), 2020.
- [2] Paw-print add-ons at US crematories have a median price of about $32, from $10 to $76. Our estimate: median of [$10 clay (AGP), $15 laser engraving (AGP), $49 ink (Final Gift), $76 clay (Final Gift)]. How we calculate.
- [3] Embrace notes cremated remains typically weigh about 3-5% of the pet's original body weight. Embrace Pet Insurance - Bury or Cremate Your Dog? Costs, Pros & Cons, 2025.
- [4] An Irish pet crematorium lists individual cremation from EUR 150 for pets under 2 kg and EUR 250 for cats or dogs up to 10 kg. Donegal Pet Crematorium - How Much is Pet Cremation in Ireland?, 2026.
- [5] The median price multiple of private (ashes returned) over communal cremation across 8 markets is about 2.0x, ranging from 1.25x (Tokyo) to 5.2x (Auckland). Our estimate: median(private_price / communal_price) same weight band: US CareCredit 51-70 lb midpoints (250/75) = 3.33x; Auckland 15-25 kg (445/85) = 5.24x; Norway 1-20 kg (3790/1190) = 3.18x; Singapore 10-20 kg (480/260) = 1.85x; Ontario 25-250 lb (549/279) = 1.97x; Tokyo 20-30 kg (38500/30800) = 1.25x; France 20 kg midpoints (200/95) = 2.11x; Germany range midpoints (270/145) = 1.86x. How we calculate.
- [6] Of euthanized dogs in the Dog Aging Project, 76.7% were euthanized at a veterinary clinic or hospital and 22.8% at the owner's home. Dog Aging Project End of Life Survey - Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2026), via PubMed Central, 2026.
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