THEY gather around the coffin mourning their loss.

The minister hands out an order of service before grieving family members share memories and read poems to say their goodbyes before the body is taken to its final resting place.

It’s exactly like any other funeral when a loved one suddenly dies but today this family are grieving the loss of their pet hamster.

Pet funerals have become big business with owners willing to spend hundreds of pounds to say goodbye to their furry and feathery friends.

Hampshire company Pet Undertakers Ltd carry out 300 pet cremations and burials every year.

Alan Knowlton is the man behind the Fair Oak based business and is on call 24/7 for distraught pet owners.

And he has seen it all.

From hamsters and budgies to pet ducks, cats, dogs, parrots and even pigs, the firm said no animal is too small or exotic.

He said: “You have to remember these pets see boys grow into men and girls grow into women, they are there all the time. Pets are like family members and as far as I’m concerned there isn’t one pet that doesn’t deserve a respectful send off.”

It was eight years ago Alan, a former landscape gardener, came up with the unusual idea – an alternative to burying a pet in the garden or arranging for a cremation at the vets.

Alan said he was horrified how his pet dog Springer Spaniel Skipper was treated when he died. He had requested an individual cremation at the vets but claimed the practice stored him in a freezer before he was taken for a mass cremation in a lorry.

Alan explained: “Skipper followed me everywhere. He would come to work with me, be the first one in the van. He was just my soul mate and then when he got to 14 he was taken ill and passed away.

“I wanted Skipper to have an individual cremation and when I found out what happened it annoyed me because he didn’t deserve that.

“This boy had given me 14 years of his life.

“I feel I let my boy down and I don’t want that to happen to other pet owners.”

Daily Echo:

When Alan’s wife Jenny died from a brain tumour, the pensioner was spurred on to start a business offering an alternative.

Alan added: “I believe you only ever regret the things in life you don’t do so when my wife died it put things into perspective.”

Pet Undertakers Ltd, which is a member of the Association of Private Pet Cemeteries and Crematoria, shares premises with M. Johnson Independent Funeral Directors, run by Alan’s son-inlaw Mark, who owns six British bulldogs, four cats, four chickens, a rabbit, two tortoises and a toad.

Alan, who has a Persian cat called Ralph, collects deceased pets – together with flowers, cards, pet beds and their favourite toys left by their grieving owner – in a specially designed blacked out hearse.

Owners are invited to a chapel of rest called The Jenny Chapel, named after Alan’s wife, where they can spend time alone with their pet.

Most opt for cremation and the ashes are returned to them in a casket or scatter pouch.

But the company also offers a pet burial service at Michael’s Wood on the Cholderton Estate which is licensed for both human and pet burials.

And extras can include full funeral services, balloon releases, carved animal shaped urns, pendants to keep the ashes, and other graveside accessories.

A cremation costs £209 for a cat and £263 for a large dog while small animals are £100.

Alan, said: “Anything can be arranged but I never try to sell anything. It’s not about that for me. I do this for pet people because I know what they are going through and I take what I do very seriously and from the heart.

“I always see if the owners would like to come to the chapel to spend time with their pet or to just sit and talk, there aren’t any clocks in here.

“Some people are programmed and get quite embarrassed by the fact they are crying but I think it’s wonderful showing emotions towards their bundle of love, no one is smirking at them here.

“Of course there are some people who don’t understand, but they are not pet people.”

Alan believes the boom in pet funerals is down to the fact people find the loss of an animal just as heartbreaking as that of a relative.

He said: “You buy your pet Christmas presents, you have conversations with them, you tell your pets your innermost secrets.

“Through life we get into many relationships of different kinds and they change. They go up and they go down.

With a pet, it’s just pure love all the way and that’s what having a pet is about and they deserve to be treated with dignity.”