Back in 2008, my wife and I opened Paws & Reflect Pet Cremation because we understood something simple but undeniable: pets are family. Not “almost family”—completely, fully, heart-and-soul family.

Kristi Lehman has been thinking a lot about how she’ll eventually spend a final day with Piper, her 14-year-old Shih Tzu. “As I watch her eat her favorite human food, or when I took her out on the ...