Getting your pet's paw print in Miami
Miami has an estimated 180,000 dog- or cat-owning households. If yours is one of them, a print taken now, or before cremation, is the keepsake you can't go back for.
- Take the print before cremation
- Clay, ink or cast, explained simply
- Published prices, no guesswork
Miami, Florida
How owners in Miami get a paw print
Florida has a high cremation rate for people, and many Miami families are comfortable keeping or scattering ashes. Some want to scatter part of a pet's ashes at sea or on Biscayne Bay; if so, go out on a boat and scatter well offshore, away from swimmers, and check any rules. Many families hold a little back in a keepsake so the whole of their pet is not gone out with the tide.
Miami's sun, salt air and humidity are hard on outdoor memorials. Painted wood rots and many plastics fade, while stone, stainless steel and glazed ceramic last longer. In a condo, a small urn, framed paw print or potted plant on the balcony works well. If you have a garden, a native plant such as a coontie or firebush can be a living memorial.
If your dog or cat has a regular groomer in Miami, ask for their help. A quick paw tidy a day or two before a planned goodbye trims the fur between the pads and around the toes, which is the difference between a clear print and a fuzzy oval. Many groomers will fit in a short, gentle appointment for an elderly pet once they know why. Ask them to leave the fur around the outer edge so the outline stays.
About 489,812 people live in Miami, which makes it the 2nd-largest of the 235 Florida communities we cover.
Families in Miami often end up using a provider from Miami Beach (4 miles), Coral Gables (7 miles) and Hialeah (9 miles). That is normal: crematories serve a radius, not a single town, and the drive is priced into collection.
Our estimate
180,000
Miami: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
489,812 ÷ 2.5 = 195,925 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 180,000. Multi-pet homes count once.
Our estimate
15,000
dog and cat deaths per year in Miami, our estimate
How we calculated this
180,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 15,000 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.
The numbers above come from American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, if you'd like to read the original sources.
How Florida thinks about cremation, and why prints matter
Because Florida cremates about 72.5%[5] of the people who die there, many families have no grave to visit, for people or for pets. Something has to take the place of a headstone, and a print does that job surprisingly well. It's physical, it's unmistakably your animal, and it can hang by the front door or sit on a desk. If you plan to scatter the ashes, the print may be the only memorial you keep.
Source for the Florida number: NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes a pet cremation rate for Miami, so the human figure is the best local signal available.
When the weather works against clay and ink
If your pet dies at home during May, June, July, August, September and October, keeping them cool comes first and the print second. Move them to the coolest room, lay them on a towel over a hard floor and take the print within the first few hours, before the body stiffens. If collection is coming soon, ask the team to wait while you finish, or ask the crematory to take the print at intake.
Summers in Miami are hot: August averages highs around 91°F. Heat is hard on air-dry clay. In dry heat the surface skins over and cracks before the inside has set, so dry your print slowly indoors, away from sunny windows and air vents, and turn it every few hours. In humid heat the opposite happens: the clay stays soft for days, so be patient and don't try to speed it up in the oven unless the kit says it's bakeable.
What paw print keepsakes cost in Miami
The print itself is cheap; what you turn it into is where the budget goes. At one urn retailer, an engraved paw print added to an urn typically costs $20–$35[6] and paw and nose print pendants start from $99.95[7]; a custom sterling silver charm made from your pet's actual print costs about $143 before the chain[8]. Custom silver print charms from one crematory network run $290 to $420[9].
Prices for Miami track the wider Florida market, so use the Florida 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.
Local rules worth knowing in Florida
If you might move away from Florida one day, it helps to know that a print, a cast or a photograph needs no paperwork at a border, while ashes sometimes do, and a grave can't come with you at all. None of that should decide your plans, but it's worth weighing alongside what Florida allows, set out below.
Miami-Dade County Animal Services publishes Miami's official guidance. Note that it deals with public collection, not with booking a private cremation. The official Florida local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in Miami.
The Florida page sets out who oversees pet cremation and what the state says about burial and scattering. Miami's own bylaws can sit on top of that, so ask before you dig.
How to make sure a print is taken in time
- For a horse, book the farrier to trim and clean the hoof first. Pick out the sole and dry it well.
- Press the hoof into a thick slab of clay laid on a board, or paint the sole with non-toxic paint and press it onto heavy card. Have someone hold the foot steady.
- Keep the last shoe and a length of tail or mane hair, since plenty of owners later have the hair plaited or cast in resin.
- For a bird or a very small pet, choose the softest clay or an inkless sheet, and barely press at all. Clay picks up tiny toes best.
- For a fluffy cat or rabbit, an inkless kit avoids ink on fur they'll groom later, and clay shows the long shape of a rabbit's foot.
- Dry and store every print indoors, then take a photo so any maker can use the picture, not the original.
From paw print to pendant, frame or garden stone
Miami's many cultures bring different traditions of remembering. Some families place a pet's photo and ashes on a home altar with candles and flowers; others choose a simple urn, a paw print keepsake or a pendant with a little ash. In Cuban, Haitian, Colombian and other households, prayers and family gatherings are often part of saying goodbye. There is no single way to do it here.
The services page is the place to compare what is included, or see what other families chose in the poll results, there are guides for the big decisions and articles for the details, run the numbers with the free planning tools. Close to Miami we also cover Port St. Lucie, Jacksonville, Cape Coral and Tampa; the full list for Florida and for the United States is a click away.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
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Who would you rather take the print?
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Where would your pet's print live?
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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.
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
When is the hardest time of year to arrange a burial in Miami?
There is no frozen-ground season here; average lows stay above freezing all year. The other pressure point is August, when highs around 91°F mean a body needs cooling and collecting quickly.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Miami?
The closest communities we cover are Miami Beach (about 4 miles), Coral Gables (about 7 miles) and Hialeah (about 9 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Miami too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
How do Florida attitudes to cremation compare?
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) puts the Florida human cremation rate at about 72.5%[5]. We show it on the Miami 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.
Is Miami big enough to have several pet aftercare providers?
Probably, on the numbers. By our estimate about 180,000 Miami households keep a dog or cat and around 15,000 lose one each year, which is enough steady demand to support more than one provider. We derive that from population (about 489,812), household size and national ownership and lifespan figures.
Why take a paw print in Miami 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 Miami has around 180,000 dog- or cat-owning homes and loses about 15,000 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.
How do I stop an ink paw print from smudging?
Dry the paw with a towel first, tape the card to a hard surface and press straight down with steady pressure, then lift straight up without sliding. Too much ink blurs the pads, so dab lightly. Take three or four prints and keep the clearest. Let the ink dry fully before touching it, especially in humid weather.
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 Florida's cremation rate at 72.5% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Adding an engraved paw print or symbol to a pet urn typically costs $20–$35. Memorials.com – Pet Urn Cost Guide, 2025.
- [7] Paw print and nose print pendants at Memorials.com start at $99.95. Memorials.com – Pet print jewelry, 2026.
- [8] A custom sterling silver actual-paw-print charm costs $143 before the chain (about $59–$79 for silver) and takes about 2 weeks to make. String of Jewels – Actual paw print necklace, 2026.
- [9] Final Gift's pet memorial jewelry runs from a $60 urn pendant to $290–$420 for custom sterling silver print charms, with glass ash beads at $245. Final Gift Pet Memorial Center – Memorial Products, 2026.
- [10] 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.
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