"Pet Perennials" Helping People Mourn Their Animals
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Losing a pet can be very difficult, and grieving that pet is certainly not easy.
Two local women are behind the one-of-a-kind product called Pet Perennials. It will help you mourn the loss of your pet and can even give your pet new life in a different way.
"I lost my dog who was very special to me. Her name was Olive, in 2012," Remy Bibaud said.
Remy Bibaud is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pet Perennials. She says Olive, a little white labrador, was the inspiration behind her pet business that's starting to 'literally' grow.
"At the end of the day I got back a box with her ashes in it and I thought what! Is this it for this beautiful life," Bibaud said.
Bibaud founded the company Cherished Ones with her partner Lori Davidson. The business markets Pet Perennials and operates out of Bibaud's garage in Baldwin Township.
"It's an eco-friendly product and what it is is it creates life from the love and loss of a pet," Co-Founder and COO of Pet Perennials Lori Davidson said.
The product combines a small portion of your pet's ashes with flower seeds and nutrient rich soil to create seed wafers which in turn can be used to start a memorial garden in honor of your pet.
"It teaches children that although the pet's not here in that form, you're still celebrating the life of the pet so the pet is here in a different form," Davidson said.
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Customers can buy the product online in either custom form or in a kit. The company will make the seed wafers for you when you send in a small portion of your pet's ashes.
Or, you can choose to make the seed wafers yourself when you buy the kit. The wafers are cut into the shape of a heart and paw.
You then place them on top of the dirt in your yard or in a flower pot, and add water.
Perennials take about a year to flower so some annuals were added to the mix for instant gratification.
Sharon Gregory heard about the product and decided to try it out for herself when her 12-and-a-half-year-old old Japanese Chin named Morgan, passed away in October from congestive heart failure.
"He died in my arms. He was peaceful and I was really grateful for that," Sharon Gregory said. "It gave me some comfort to know that even in my mind I know Morgan will always be with me and in my heart he'll never leave that spot.
She already planted the seed wafers and is excited to see them bloom.
"I know he'll be growing and I'll be able to see him grow and I know he loved flowers. He loved to lie in the flowers and play in the flowers," Gregory said.
Groomers work with the same dogs all the time, so it's easy to become attached which is why local businesses are starting to sell pet perennials to their clients.
Annette Heller owns the grooming salon Furever Green in Mars. She's been selling Pet Perennials since December.
Heller says several of her four-legged customers have passed away over the years so she always wanted to do something nice for their owners.
"When I found this product, it was to me the perfect gift I could give them and could help heal from the loss of their dog," Heller said.
And don't worry, Remy Bibaud says, your pet doesn't have to be in ash form like Olive to use Pet Perennials.
"The beauty too is if they haven't cremated their pet, but they buried their pet, these are still lovely things to make or order to actually decorate the place where you buried your pet," Bibaud said.
Bibaud says Pet Perennials is in the process of being patented. The patent process can take two to three years or longer if it's challenged.
Bibaud's attorney doesn't expect it to be challenged and anticipates having a full patent by march of next year.
If you're interested in trying out Pet Perennials for yourself, click here.