The process
How it works
Five steps, told plainly. Most of it is waiting, and most of the waiting is ours. Here is exactly what happens between the call you are dreading and the day your pet comes home.
Step
Reach out
Call before you do anything else.
Most people call within hours. We tell you how to keep your pet safe right now, then stop talking about the process and let you decide in your own time.
- +Keep your pet cool. A freezer is best. A cold room is enough for a few hours.
- +Do not wrap tightly or pack anything before we speak.
- +There is no obligation on that first call, and no charge for it.
One call, any hour
01No obligation, no charge, and no script.
Step
Arrive
Bring them to the lab, or ship them frozen.
Our lab is at 168A Irving Ave in Port Chester, New York, open by appointment. If you are further away, we walk you through packing and shipping before you touch a single box.
- +By appointment only, so you are never sharing the room with anyone else.
- +We serve New York City, Westchester and Fairfield County in person.
- +We receive pets from across the country by frozen overnight shipping.
Port Chester lab, or shipped frozen
02By appointment, so the room is only ever yours.
Step
Remember
Tell us how they slept.
This is the part that matters most. We work from your photographs and your memory of how your pet actually held themselves, not from a catalog of poses.
- +Send the ordinary photos, not the posed ones. The nap on the couch tells us more.
- +We talk through the curl, the tucked paw, the tilt of the head.
- +A 50% deposit is taken once your pet arrives. The balance is due when they are prepped and posed.
Your photographs become the pose
03The ordinary photos tell us far more than the posed ones.
Step
Preserve
Months of cold, and no shortcuts.
Extreme cold and sustained vacuum draw every trace of moisture out of the tissue without collapsing it. What is left keeps the real size, the real shape and the real fur, indefinitely.
- +The smallest pets take three to four months. Most take six to nine. We work only with cats and dogs up to fifteen pounds.
- +Cats and dogs only. We do not take wildlife.
- +Nothing about this can be rushed, and we would not want it to be.
Cold down, moisture out, over months
04Three to nine months, depending on weight. Nothing here can be hurried.
Step
Home
They go back where they always were.
Your pet comes home in the pose you chose, at their real size, and stays there. No urn on a shelf. No box in a closet.
- +Delivered in person locally, or shipped in a protective case.
- +Keep them out of direct sun and damp. Nothing else is required.
- +We are here afterward if anything ever needs attention.
Back in the room they always slept in
05Delivered in person locally, or shipped in a protective case.
Timing, honestly
How long it takes
Up to 5 lbs
3–4 months
Kittens, cats and toy breeds.
5–10 lbs
4–6 months
Most cats and small dogs land here.
10–15 lbs
6–9 months
The upper limit of what we take.
These are honest ranges, not promises. Moisture leaves tissue at its own pace. We would rather tell you nine months and finish in seven than the other way around.
Ready when you are
Up to 10 pounds is $5,500. Up to 15 pounds is at most $7,500. Larger pets are by request. Call and we will talk it through.