Somewhere in a living room in Michigan, Max the German shepherd stands eternal guard.
Not the flesh-and-bone Max, but his ashes, mixed with clay and molded into a lifelike statue.Sound morbid? Maybe to some, but it sounded like a good idea to Susan McNeely, who founded Everlasting Memories 1 1/2 years ago.
"It's so hard to lose a friend," she said. "I'm a real pet lover. My gosh, I've had everything from turtles to goats."
McNeely, 43, moved into entrepreneurship after her cat, Casey, died accidentally in 1987 as exterminators worked at her home. This was to be no shoe-box funeral.
"I wanted something more than the old, flat photograph to remember Casey by," McNeely said.
So under a potted plant and next to the TV set in McNeely's living room rests a small likeness of the deceased calico cat.
Unfortunately, the statue doesn't contain any of Casey's ashes. It wasn't until 1991 that McNeely perfected her process and received a patent.
The statue work is done in Grand Rapids, Mich., where McNeely's sister and the company's co-owner, Patricia McNeely Soechtig, lives and where McNeely has had better luck finding artists.
The company has several artists who take about a month to create the likeness of a small pet and up to twice that long for a full-size reproduction such as Max, the German shepherd.
But it has been slow going for Everlasting Memories. Only two German shepherds, four cats and a raccoon have been immortalized, and a cat named Yum-Yum is now undergoing the process.
The cost may be prohibitive. One everlasting memory can range from $250 to $1,250, depending on the replica's size and how much detail is desired.
But McNeely reasons that attention to detail should help her survive in an increasingly competitive field. Pet owners have plenty of options these days, ranging from a $50 cremation for a small dog to burials at $100 and up.
McNeely's method of pet immortalization was a new one for Carolyn Shea, executive director of the International Association of Pet Cemeteries in Land-O-Lakes, Fla. But she wasn't surprised.
"I honestly believe that people should do whatever makes them feel better, whether it's a human or a pet," said Shea, who owns a pet cemetery herself. "These days, the majority of the people think the pet is a member of a family."
While McNeely's success hasn't been enough to make her quit her job as a parts inspector for Pur-o-la-tor Products, she's optimistically branching out.
She recently formed Timeless Tributes to produce - brace yourself - busts of humans using the same process, for $2,150 each.
For a trial run this summer, her family had a bust made of her father, Virden McNeely, who was cremated after his death 20 years ago.
"Dad had a good sense of humor," McNeely said. "I think he would have enjoyed this."
She's hoping others will, too.