Animal or Pet Death Casting

Most of us feel like our pets are a member of the family. Therefore it's only natural when they come to the end of their life that we want to remember them and cherish them as much as possible. The most common request we get is for dog paw casts or prints, which can be left freestanding in a range of materials or can be mounted in a frame or set into a plaque, amongst other options. 

If you know in advance your pet is reaching the end of life, the most cost-effective option is to bring them to us to be cast in our warm and friendly home studio. We do ask that you only choose this option if your pet DOES NOT have a contagious disease, as we are unable to cast sick animals where there is a risk of passing on germs from pet to pet. 

If you've had to make the very difficult decision to put your pet to sleep, or if they are dying/have just died from natural causes, then as long as you let us know immediately, we will try to fit them in for a casting appointment. As before, the most cost-effective and practical option is usually for you to bring them (wrapped in a blanket or similar) to our studio in Maidstone to have them cast, in which case THE PRICES are usually the same as for living pets. However, for an additional call-out charge to cover time, travel and other expenses and the cost of closing our workshop down for the day or half day (depending on your location), we are sometimes able to accommodate requests to cast them at your vets or pet crematorium if you are able to get permission from the managers. As this callout charge can add quite a bit to overall costs we offer very flexible payment terms if you need this kind of casting. As a general rule, local callout starts from £75 for our nearest vets and goes up to £400 to London and the home counties on top of our regular casting charges. 

With dogs, cats and other small mammals, we can usually offer paw casts, prints, and nose casts. We can also take hair trimmings or ink prints to be used in personalised jewellery items made by artisan friends of ours. For other animals such as fish, reptiles (including snakes, tortoises and lizards), amphibians, etc, we can often offer to cast the whole animal. Horses can have hoof prints or casts made, along with nose/muzzle casts depending on the position of the body. We have also cast the whole body of our own beloved dead cat and know it is technically possible to cast other entire animals such as dogs depending on a) the condition and position of the body and b) your budget (such items require extensive hand-sculpting to remove flaws due to the complexity of the challenge so can be a little more expensive than other types of work). But whatever your budget, we can advise you on the different possibilities for honouring your lovely pet, and will accept a staggered payment in instalments to make it more affordable for you if necessary. For a comparison between different popular material finishes, click here. 

We also work with zoos, safari parks and wildlife shelters to provide a casting service for animals that are recently deceased or under anaesthetic. These casts make wonderful teaching aids for blind and partially sighted children and we will often perform this type of 'exotic casting' free of charge in order to expand André Masters' 'Endangered Species Collection' of artefacts for this specific purpose. The Endangered Species Collection is a non-profit project where we provide our time and skills completely voluntarily and raise funds independently through the sale of artistic artefacts from the collection to pay for materials and travel. If you would like to donate money towards the future expansion of this collection and help us produce more tactile teaching aids for the blind then every single penny helps go towards a very good cause.