By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—Losing a furry friend is one of the hardest moments in every pet parent’s life. Julie Bland, co-owner of Pets at Peace, knows this from experience as a pet owner and animal lover.

Pets at Peace is a family business owned by Bland and her husband Troy. It offers pet cremation services carried out with privacy, sensitivity and understanding during what Bland knows is challenging and emotional time for pet parents.

“You would want someone who loves animals doing this job,” Bland said. “I have that perspective… it’s very personal.”

To Bland, Pets at Peace is more than a job. Each owner receives individualized attention and each pet is treated with care.

“Every private cremation receives a paw print, a (hair) clipping, and a wood urn,” Bland said, adding these keepsakes are things pet parents keep forever to memorialize their lost friend.

This individual care is what sets Pets at Peace apart from other pet cremation businesses. Bland noted cremation businesses have received bad press in the past, but Pets at Peace works to ensure mistakes do not happen.

“The number one concern is ‘am I going to get my pet back?’” Bland said, explaining Pets at Peace uses a unique identification system to ensure “without a shadow of a doubt” that each pet is returned to their owner.

After months of searching for a new location, Pets at Peace will be moving to Pelham from Argo, Ala., where it has been for the past 14 years.

“Nothing felt warm, inviting and private, all of the things I envisioned us being,” Bland said of the locations she and her husband visited before finding the location on McDaniel Street in Pelham.

Located near U.S. 31, the McDaniel Street location offers convenience, but also privacy, something Bland feels is very important in this “very personal” line of business.

Pets at Peace will offer continued service and support to their customers, operating out of the Argo location until the doors of the new Pelham location are ready to open in between 30 and 60 days, Bland said.