Paw print keepsakes in Westover Hills: timing, methods and costs
Westover Hills has an estimated 240 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.
- Home kit or vet-taken: your choice
- Tips for heat, humidity and cold
- Ideas for jewelry, engraving and art
Westover Hills, Texas
Who takes paw prints in Westover Hills
Some families here prefer a quieter, more private form of remembrance: a small portrait painted from a favorite photo, a pendant holding a pinch of ash, or a paw impression framed alongside the collar. Pieces like these travel easily between homes, which matters for households that also keep a ranch, a lake house, or have grown children living in Austin, Dallas or out of state.
Westover Hills homeowners often invest in memorials that match the style of the house: hand-thrown ceramic, carved hardwood, cast bronze or custom stonework. A commissioned piece can take several weeks to finish, so it is perfectly fine to keep the ashes in the crematory's temporary container until it arrives. Ask for the exact volume of the remains before you place the order with any maker.
In a smaller place like Westover Hills, the local vet usually arranges aftercare and sends pets to a crematory in a larger centre such as Fort Worth. That makes the vet the natural moment for a print, because once your pet leaves town it's much harder to ask. Tell the clinic you'd like a clay or ink print before collection, and check it's clear before you leave.
Westover Hills is home to about 643 people, the 319th-largest of the 325 Texas communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Fort Worth, about 5 miles (8 km) away, which is where some providers serving Westover Hills are based.
Westover Hills sits within easy reach of River Oaks (2 miles, a larger centre), White Settlement (3 miles, a larger centre) and Fort Worth (5 miles, a larger centre). A provider based in any of them will usually collect from Westover Hills; ask what the mileage adds to the bill.
Our estimate
240
Estimated dog- or cat-owning households in Westover Hills
How we calculated this
643 ÷ 2.5 = 257 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 240. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
20
Westover Hills families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
240 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 20 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.
Sources for the statistics above: Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science and American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry.
Local customs and the keepsake you keep
About 55.7%[5] of people who die in Texas are cremated. With both burial and cremation common, you'll find pet cemeteries that set a print into a headstone and crematories that return one with the ashes. The print itself is the same either way. What changes is who takes it, so decide that early.
We take the Texas rate from NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). It is a human statistic; there is no equivalent pet figure for Westover Hills, and we would rather show a real number than invent one.
Getting a clean print in Westover Hills in any season
Hot months in Westover Hills are the best time for an outdoor project in the shade, but not for drying a print outdoors. Direct sun on an air-dry clay disc can warp it and crack the thin edges of the toes. Bring it inside, set it on a wire rack so air reaches both sides and give it two or three days before sealing it with a matte acrylic sealer.
Around August, when highs in Westover Hills run near 96°F, a senior pet may be flat and uncomfortable in the afternoons. That's often a good time for a print, oddly enough: a hot, sleepy dog or cat lies still. Choose a cool room, keep sessions short, offer water and stop if your pet gets restless. You can always try again the next evening.
What owners in Westover Hills typically pay for a print
If you'd like the print framed with a lock of fur, one Northeast crematory network charges $133 for that combination and $23 for a fur clipping on its own[6]. Some water cremation providers bundle a print in too: an Arizona aquamation service includes an ink paw print in individual packages from $75 to $349[7]. In Westover Hills, it's worth asking every provider what comes with the package before adding extras.
Prices for Westover Hills track the wider Texas market, so use the Texas 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.
What the law in Texas does and doesn't cover
Rules in Texas say a good deal about where a pet can be buried and very little about how a crematory keeps track of each animal. That's one more reason to take your own print: made before collection, it's a record you created yourself. Ask your provider how pets are tagged, and read the burial and scattering notes below for the rest.
To find your county or city office in Texas, start with the official Texas local government directory.
We keep Texas's burial and scattering rules in one place: the Texas rules summary. Before a home burial in Westover Hills, also ask the city whether local ordinances add anything.
A short checklist for a clean print
- Choose one calm afternoon to print every pet in the house, starting with the most relaxed animal.
- Label everything before you start: write each name on the reverse of its card, or scratch an initial into the base of each clay disc.
- Use a separate ink pad or wipe for each animal and clean every paw straight away, so no one licks ink off anyone else.
- Keep each turn short, no more than a minute or two each, and reward every press with a treat.
- Make a combined piece if you like: all the paws on one big card or slab of clay becomes a whole-family portrait.
- Store the set together with the date written on the back, so no print goes missing over the years.
Remembering your pet through their print
North Texas weather is tough on outdoor memorials, with hail, drought, heat above 100 degrees on some days and the odd winter ice storm. Granite and bronze handle all of it well; limestone softens and stains over time. For a planted tribute, a cedar elm, Texas redbud or Mexican plum suits the thin, rocky soil on Fort Worth's west side.
or look at how readers voted in our polls, the guides answer the longer questions and the blog the newer ones, use the free tools before you ring anyone, For a plain comparison of the choices, open services. Close to Westover Hills we also cover Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston; the full list for Texas and for the United States is a click away.
Reader polls
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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
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Westover Hills?
Usually yes. River Oaks is about 2 miles away, White Settlement is about 3 miles away and Fort Worth is about 5 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 Westover Hills actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Fort Worth, about 5 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Westover Hills and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
Is cremation common in Texas?
For people, yes: about 55.7%[5] of Texas deaths end in cremation, according to NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in Westover Hills follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Roughly how many pets die in Westover Hills each year?
Our estimate is around 20. It comes from Westover Hills's population (about 643), the average household size, the share of homes with a dog or cat (about 240 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
Can my pet's paw print be turned into a tattoo?
Yes, and it's a popular choice. A tattoo artist will want a clear, high-contrast flat print, so an ink or inkless print works better than clay. Scan it at a high resolution and bring the file to your consultation. Many people have the print tattooed at actual size, sometimes with the pet's name or a nose print alongside.
Can I get a hoof print from my horse?
Yes. Most owners take one after the farrier has trimmed and cleaned the hoof: pick out the sole, dry it and press it into a thick slab of clay on a board, or paint it with non-toxic paint and press it onto heavy card. Someone should hold the foot steady. Many owners also keep the last shoe and a length of tail hair.
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 Texas's cremation rate at 55.7% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Final Gift charges $49 for ink paw prints, $76 for a clay or silver-clay paw print, $111 framed, and $133 framed with a fur clipping; a fur clipping alone costs $23. Final Gift Pet Memorial Center – Memorial Products, 2026.
- [7] A Greener Place in Mesa, Arizona, charges $75–$349 for individual pet aquamation by weight, including an urn, nameplate and ink paw print. A Greener Place Pet Aquamation – Pricing, 2026.
- [8] Around 765,000 U.S. families a year are likely open to a personalized pet keepsake. Our estimate: 1.5M pet cremations x 51% interest in personalized memorials. How we calculate.
Ask who takes paw prints in Westover Hills
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.