Petatree Inc.

Petatree transforms the ashes of pets into the lives of trees. It does this by offering pet owners the Petatree Memorial Kit which contains the Petatree Urn, conditioned soil, a specially developed pH buffer and a native tree sapling. As a green-tech company operating in the green-tech space of MaRS in Toronto, it has developed a compostable urn and planter which completely break down within 30 to 60 days after planting. Petatree has also formulated a pH buffer which activates the cremated remains of the pet (ashes) which neutralizes its alkalinity. This action both protects the roots of the tree sapling and releases the nutrients in the ashes. Trees need 23 essential nutrients to grow most healthfully; cat and dog ashes have 22 of these. Without Petatree’s unique burial and planting system, the ashes of pets remains inert and their alkaline properties can and will burn plant life. In effect Petatree really does transform the ashes of your pet into the life of a tree. Finally, the cremation process of the average pet produces 235 lbs of CO2 into our atmosphere; each of our saplings recaptures that CO2 within the first 4 years of life, producing a net zero carbon pawprint. What’s not to love?

Company History

Petatree was formed in 2019 just in time to be sidelined by COVID. But that didn’t stop us. It gave us more time to sharpen our edges, and to understand the pet professional side of the business. We realized that veterinarians have the highest rate of suicide of anyone in Canada (and the U.S.) This, we learned is caused primarily by “compassion fatigue” which occurs as a result of repeated exposure to the end-of-life process, including euthanization. As a result Petatree has developed the Petatree Wellness Program which takes the burden of this process of the shoulders of vets and vet techs by providing their clients a professional process that makes sense of mourning, the necessity of finding closure and learning to embrace the next stage of their pet’s life. As well, Petatree has joined forces with MindBeacon to provide a truly customized therapy program based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for veterinary professionals; and the best part: the base program is free in Ontario thanks to an agreement with the Province of Ontario.

Company Facts

Finding a completely Canadian manufacturer of our urn and planter products was a big task and we are very proud to be able to be a completely Canadian company with all-Canadian products. We also believe in the importance and value of strategic partnerships like those we have cultivated with MaRS, Innovation Guelph, OVC, Veterinarians, Vet techs, the OSPCA, UofT, the RVTTC World Tree, the OFA and the CFA. We also work with the only purely carbon-neutral aqua-cremation company in Ontario which allows Petatree to proudly claim a completely closed enviromentally clean system.