Cat cremation in Oakdale
By our estimate, about 4,750 households in Oakdale share their home with a cat, and roughly 430 cats are lost there each year. You're not alone in this, and you don't have to sort it out by yourself.
- Help for multi-cat households
- Private cremation confirmed in writing
- Options for community cats too
Oakdale, Minnesota
Cat aftercare in Oakdale: the local picture
The Oakdale Nature Preserve, with its trails through prairie, woods and wetland, and Tanners Lake on the southwest edge are well-loved local places, and the Gateway State Trail cuts across the north side. Scattering on public land needs permission. Families here often plant something in their own yard, perhaps a small tree over a biodegradable urn, or keep the ashes indoors near a sunny spot where a cat or bird once spent its afternoons.
Oakdale is a Washington County suburb about seven miles east of Saint Paul, bounded and crossed by I-694, I-94 and Highway 36. Most homes date from the 1970s onward, with curving subdivisions, townhouse developments and some apartments. Aftercare services covering the east metro routinely include Oakdale, and a few that work out of Saint Paul or Woodbury are close enough to compare side by side.
Many vets around Oakdale run mixed practices, caring for cattle, horses and dogs as well as cats, and in calving or lambing season they can be out on farms for long stretches. They still arrange cat cremation routinely. Call ahead so someone is at the clinic when you arrive, and if your vet is out on a call, ask the front desk to take the details and ring you back.
Oakdale is home to about 30,588 people, the 34th-largest of the 67 Minnesota communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Saint Paul, about 7 miles (11 km) away, which is where some providers serving Oakdale are based.
Oakdale sits within easy reach of Maplewood (4 miles), White Bear Lake (6 miles) and Woodbury (6 miles, a larger centre). A provider based in any of them will usually collect from Oakdale; ask what the mileage adds to the bill.
Our estimate
4,750
How many cat-owning households Oakdale has (estimate)
How we calculated this
30,588 ÷ 2.5 = 12,235 households; × 39% (cat) = 4,750. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
430
Oakdale families who lose a cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
4,750 cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 430 a year. Treat it as a minimum.
39%[1]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[2]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
68.5%[3]
The NFDA projected Minnesota's cremation rate at 68.5% for 2024.
clinic $158; home $359; cremation $180; burial $566[4]
CareCredit's 2025 study put US cat euthanasia at $158 in clinic and $359 at home, cat cremation at $180 and cat cemetery burial at $566.
We built the this numbers from Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science and American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, and both are worth a look if you want the detail.
How Minnesota thinks about cremation
Cremation is now the majority choice for people in Minnesota, at about 68.5%[3], but burial still has deep roots here. You'll see both among cat owners. A cat's small size makes a garden burial easy where it's allowed, and a cat's small amount of ash makes cremation easy to live with. Neither is more proper than the other.
For the Minnesota figure we rely on NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Read it as a picture of local custom around death and remembrance in Oakdale rather than as pet data.
Seasons, collection and burial in Oakdale
If your cat died outdoors during Oakdale's cold spell and wasn't found for a while, they may be stiff or frozen. Don't try to warm or straighten them. Lay them on a blanket in a box, keep them in a cold garage or porch, and tell the vet or crematory what happened. They see this every winter and will know what to do, and you can still choose private cremation with the ashes returned.
With average lows at or below freezing for about 5 months a year, Oakdale has a long stretch when the ground is too hard to dig, and frost can heave a shallow grave. A cat's grave needs to be deep enough to keep foxes and other animals away, which is hard work in frozen soil. Cremating now and burying the ashes later means a much smaller hole, almost anywhere you like, once the ground softens.
How much to budget for your cat
Expect the total to depend on four things: private or communal, how your cat is collected, what the ashes come back in and whether you add a keepsake. The weight of a cat barely moves the price. The ranges below are typical US figures; ask any Oakdale provider for a written total before you agree.
By our math, Oakdale loses roughly 430 cats a year. At the national private-cremation average of clinic $158; home $359; cremation $180; burial $566[4], that's a market of about $0.1 million, big enough that asking two providers for a quote usually pays off.
For a line-by-line price table, see the Minnesota overview; for what's included in each option, see our services.
Free tool
Cremation cost calculator
Estimate a realistic price range for your pet's size, location and the type of cremation.
Burial and scattering rules for Minnesota
One rule matters more than any other if your cat bit or scratched someone in the last couple of weeks, or died after sudden changes in behavior: tell your vet before anything else. Where rabies occurs, public health rules may require testing, and that has to happen before cremation. In almost every other case, the rules below only come into play once you choose what to do with the ashes or the body.
Not sure which office covers Oakdale? The Minnesota local government directory is the official list.
We keep Minnesota's burial and scattering rules in one place: the Minnesota rules summary. Before a home burial in Oakdale, also ask the city whether local ordinances add anything.
What to do first, and what can wait
- Say goodbye in your own way. Nobody is waiting on you. Plenty of people spend an hour or two beside their cat, and holding them is perfectly fine.
- Let your other cats see the body if you have them. Some sniff and walk away, some lie down beside their companion. Either is normal.
- Make a keepsake if you'd like one. A paw print must be taken before cremation, and fur is easier to clip now too.
- Contact a provider through your vet or directly. We can also send you local options.
- Choose private or communal, and ask for written confirmation of which one it is.
- Plan where the ashes will go. You don't have to decide now; a cat's ashes fit in a small container that can sit on a shelf for as long as you need.
Keeping your cat's memory close in Oakdale
January lows around 6F and a long freezing season mean an unheated garage will hold a pet's body at a safely cold temperature overnight; seal it in a plastic tote or covered box. In July, when highs reach about 81F, the job is to cool the body quickly: a basement floor, a folded towel, and ice packs wrapped in cloth tucked around the torso.
run the numbers with the free planning tools, or see how other readers answered in our polls, look through our guides and the blog, For a plain comparison of the choices, open services. Close to Oakdale we also cover Duluth, Rochester, Minneapolis and Bloomington; the full list for Minnesota and for the United States is a click away.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
Which small keepsake would mean the most from your cat?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
For your cat, would you want their own ashes returned?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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Free tools to help you plan
Cremation cost calculator
Estimate a realistic price range for your pet's size, location and the type of cremation.
Urn size calculator
Find the urn volume you need from your pet's weight, plus keepsake and sharing options.
Ashes weight estimator
See roughly how much ash to expect back, by species and body weight.
Questions people ask
Does the Oakdale climate change what I should do first?
Only the timing. In July, with highs near 81°F, cool the body and book collection the same day. In January, February, March, November and December, when lows sit below freezing, a home burial may have to wait for a thaw, so cremation with ashes returned keeps your options open.
Roughly how many cats die in Oakdale each year?
Our estimate is around 430. It comes from Oakdale's population (about 30,588), the average household size, the share of homes with a cat (about 4,750 households here) and the average lifespan. It is arithmetic, not a count, so read it as a rough floor.
Will I have to travel to Saint Paul to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Saint Paul (roughly 7 miles from Oakdale) collect from here as a matter of routine, and the paperwork is done by email or phone. If you want to be present for a witnessed cremation, that is when the drive matters.
Is cremation common in Minnesota?
For people, yes: about 68.5%[3] of Minnesota deaths end in cremation, according to NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in Oakdale follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Can I take my cat to the crematory myself?
Usually, yes, and with a cat it's easy. Call first to agree a time, then place your cat in a carrier or a box lined with a blanket, on the floor or back seat of the car, and drive straight there. Many families find this last drive meaningful. It also saves the collection fee, which for a cat can be a large part of the total.
My local vet in Oakdale is small. Can they still arrange cremation?
Almost certainly. Small practices usually work with a crematory in a larger centre and have a regular collection day, and your cat is kept in a cold room at the clinic until then. Ask which crematory they use, whether private cremation is available, what it costs for a cat and roughly how long the ashes take to come back.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] The NFDA projected Minnesota's cremation rate at 68.5% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [4] CareCredit's 2025 study put US cat euthanasia at $158 in clinic and $359 at home, cat cremation at $180 and cat cemetery burial at $566. CareCredit (Synchrony) - Cat Euthanasia: Understanding Your Options and Costs (2025 ASQ360 procedural cost study), 2025.
- [5] A 12 lb cat would be expected to return about 6.7 oz (0.42 lb) of cremated remains. Our estimate: 12 lb x 3.5% x 16 oz/lb. How we calculate.
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