Idea Exchange: Honoring beloved pets

When the pet of a long-time client passes away, in addition to the clay paw that we offer to all our clients, we will often have a stone engraved with the pet's name and a special epitaph such as "Always in our hearts." (We order these from artisticetching.com.) We then bubble wrap the stone and mail it with a condolence letter taped to the flap—so the letter is the first thing the owner sees when he or she opens the package. Our clients find these engraved stones to be a really special way of remembering their pets.

Dr. Thomas A. Polehinke

East Meadow, N.Y.