Paw and nose prints in Northglenn: a calm guide
About 1,200 households in Northglenn lose a dog or cat each year, by our estimate. A clear paw print, taken at home or by your vet, is often the keepsake people are most glad to have.
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Northglenn, Colorado
Arranging a paw print around Northglenn
Front Range freeze-thaw cycles are tough on anything left in Northglenn backyards year-round. Concrete statuary can flake, and glazed pots crack after one cold snap with water in them. Solid granite, bronze and weathered steel last much longer. A memorial tree should go in during spring, and hardy choices like a Rocky Mountain maple or a serviceberry cope with the city's dry winters.
Many Northglenn homeowners have stayed put for decades and raised several pets there. Some families mark each one with a matching small stone along a garden border, creating a quiet row that tells the household's history. Others keep a shelf of small urns and collars. There is no single tradition, and your memorial can grow or change over the years.
One advantage of a town like Northglenn is that people know each other. Your vet team has probably met your pet many times and will understand why a print matters. Small practices often keep a clay kit on the shelf for exactly this. If they don't, ask whether you can bring your own and take the print together in a quiet room.
About 38,893 people live in Northglenn, which makes it the 24th-largest of the 36 Colorado communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Denver, about 12 miles (19 km) away, which is where some providers serving Northglenn are based.
For a second opinion on price, Thornton (3 miles, a larger centre), Broomfield (5 miles, a larger centre) and Westminster (6 miles, a larger centre) are close enough that their providers cover Northglenn routinely. Two written quotes tell you more than any price list.
Our estimate
14,500
Northglenn: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
38,893 ÷ 2.5 = 15,557 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 14,500. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
1,200
Northglenn families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
14,500 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,200 a year. A floor, not a ceiling.
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 American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
How Colorado thinks about cremation, and why prints matter
Cremation is the norm for people in Colorado (about 77.4%[5] 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.
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 Northglenn, not as a count of pets.
Heat, humidity, cold and drying times
If you're planning a garden stone with your pet's print pressed into it, the Northglenn winter will decide your timing. Concrete and mortar need temperatures above freezing to cure properly, so take the print now in clay or ink and keep it indoors. In spring, once the ground has thawed, you or a local stonemason can use it to make the outdoor memorial.
Plaster and cold don't mix well. Plaster sets more slowly in a cold room, and if the water in it freezes before it cures, the cast turns chalky and crumbles. In January, February, March, November and December, mix plaster with lukewarm water, let it set somewhere warm indoors and never leave a curing cast in a car, porch or shed overnight. The same goes for air-dry clay.
What paw print keepsakes cost in Northglenn
If the print is heading for jewelry, budget for the metal rather than the print. By our estimate, a typical sterling silver pet pendant costs about $190[6], and entry-level solid gold pieces at the same retailer cost about 15 times the silver equivalent[7]. Ask any maker in Northglenn whether the quote includes the chain, a proof image before production and engraving on the back, because those three extras are where quotes differ most.
The full price table by product is on our Colorado 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.
Local rules worth knowing in Colorado
Burial rules in many places, including Colorado, exist partly because the drugs used in euthanasia stay in the body and can harm wildlife or other pets that dig. A print carries none of those concerns, which is why no one regulates it. If you're choosing between a home burial and cremation, the notes below cover what's allowed here; take the print before either.
The official Colorado local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in Northglenn.
The rules that apply across Colorado (home burial, scattering and who oversees pet cremation) are summarized on our Colorado page. Northglenn may add its own conditions, so check with the city or county before digging.
A short checklist for a clean print
- Take a breath. If your pet has just died at home, there is usually time for a print in the first few hours. Lay them on a towel in a cool room.
- Gather what you need: clay warmed in your hands, or card taped to a board with a pet-safe ink pad, plus a damp cloth.
- If the leg has stiffened, bring the clay to the paw. Ease it onto the pads with light pressure; don't try to push the foot down.
- Take a nose print too if you'd like one, with a light touch of ink or an inkless wipe.
- Call your vet or crematory afterwards, and let them know a print has already been made so they can skip that step.
- Let the print dry indoors, out of direct sun and well clear of radiators, before framing it or mailing it.
Shelf, wall or garden: where the print ends up
Northglenn's mid-century lots give most homes a modest backyard, often with a mature tree or two. A flat stone beneath that tree, a small memorial bed of perennials or a birdbath with an engraved rim suits the scale well. Inside, the long living-room walls typical of these ranch houses have room for a framed photo arrangement, with a small urn on the shelf below.
or look at how readers voted in our polls, go deeper with the guides or catch up on recent articles, Every option Northglenn families choose between is on the services page, the planning tools turn your pet's details into figures. More local pages: Lakewood, Colorado Springs, Thornton and Fort Collins, the Colorado overview and every city in the United States.
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.
Whose print are you thinking about?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What worries you most about taking a print yourself?
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.
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
How do Colorado attitudes to cremation compare?
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) puts the Colorado human cremation rate at about 77.4%[5]. We show it on the Northglenn page because pet aftercare choices tend to track it: where cremation is normal for people, communal and private pet cremation are both easy to find.
Roughly how many pets die in Northglenn each year?
Our estimate is around 1,200. It comes from Northglenn's population (about 38,893), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 14,500 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Northglenn?
Usually yes. Thornton is about 3 miles away, Broomfield is about 5 miles away and Westminster is about 6 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
Where are the providers that serve Northglenn actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Denver, about 12 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Northglenn and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Why take a paw print in Northglenn if I already have plenty of photos?
Photos show what your pet looked like; a print records something you touched every day, at actual size. We estimate Northglenn has around 14,500 dog- or cat-owning homes and loses about 1,200 of those pets a year. Most of those owners have hundreds of photos. The difference is that photos can be found later, while a print only exists if someone makes it before the body is cremated or buried, which is why it's worth doing first.
Should I take a paw print while my senior pet is still alive?
If you can, yes. A relaxed living pet usually gives the clearest print, and you can take as many as you like without pressure. It can also give anticipatory grief something useful to do; in an RSPCA survey, 75.4%[9] of bereaved owners said they grieved before their pet died. Choose a calm, good day and keep the session short.
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] The typical sterling silver pet cremation pendant costs about $190, based on the middle of three sellers' price points. Our estimate: median of [Urns.com median $129, Memorials.com midpoint of $87.95–$297.95 = $193, Final Gift sterling paw pendant $240]. How we calculate.
- [7] 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.
- [8] 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.
- [9] 75.4% of RSPCA pet-loss survey respondents experienced anticipatory grief before their pet died. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
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