Prices and lead times checked October 2026.
There is no correct interval. Some people order straight away, in the same week. Some order before the loss, when they know their pet is going to be put down, so that something is waiting for them to wear when they come home. Others wait months, or a year. How sudden the loss was makes a difference, and so does the person. If you are choosing for someone else, ask them.
Most advice about pet loss stops at the words. You say the right thing, you send the card, and then a week or a month later a different question arrives: whether to do anything else, and when. That question has no settled etiquette, which is why people look for one. Below is the honest version.
Key takeaways
- There is no correct interval. Anyone offering you a rule has invented it.
- Some people order before the loss, so something is waiting when they come home.
- How sudden the loss was matters more than how many weeks have passed.
- A halo above the portrait costs £5 and can be added to any product.
- The halo is subtle, so nobody has to explain the loss to a stranger.
- Artwork proof within 3 days of ordering. The item itself takes 2 to 3 weeks.
- One photo to order. Send more at the edit stage, before anything is stitched.
- If they need it this week, send a card. A gift card hands them the timing.
When is the right time to give a pet sympathy gift?
Whenever it feels right for the person it is for. That is unsatisfying only until you look at what people actually do. Orders arrive the same week as a loss, and orders arrive on a fifth anniversary. Neither one is early or late.
What matters is not the number of weeks but the shape of the loss. A sudden death leaves people in shock, and shock is not a state in which anyone wants to sit down and choose a photograph. A long illness often means the opposite: the person has had months to think and already knows which picture they want. Those two situations look identical on a calendar and feel nothing alike.
| When people order | What is usually going on | What makes it work |
|---|---|---|
| Before the loss | The appointment is known, and deciding now is easier than deciding later | Nothing is stitched until the design is approved, so the pace is theirs |
| The same week | Often a long illness, and the photo was chosen weeks ago | They already know which picture it is |
| Two to six weeks on | The messages have stopped and the house has gone quiet | Enough distance to look at photos without it being unbearable |
| Months later | A sudden loss, or simply not being ready before | Nobody else is acknowledging it by then, which is why it lands |
| An anniversary or birthday | A date the person has been dreading on their own | It marks the day rather than the death |
If you are buying for yourself, the only test is whether you want it. You are not behind. If you are buying for somebody else, the test is whether you are confident you know what they would want, and where you are not confident, asking beats guessing.
For the words that go with it, our guides to what to say when someone's pet dies and what to write in a pet sympathy card cover that part. This page is only about the decision that comes after.
Can you order something before a pet has been put to sleep?
Yes, and people do. When someone knows their pet is going to be put down, they sometimes order beforehand so that something is waiting for them to wear when they come home. If that is what you are doing, you can send the photo and approve the design at whatever pace suits you, and nothing is stitched until you say the design is right.
This is the part of the timing question nobody writes about, and it comes up often enough to be said plainly. It is not a strange thing to want. Coming back to an empty house is one of the hardest hours of the whole thing, and some people would rather have the decision already made.
There is a practical side too. While a pet is still here you can take a photograph on a good day, which you cannot do afterwards. Our guide to what to say when someone's dog is dying is the gentler place to start if that is the stage you are at.
If you are considering it for someone else, this is the one case where we would say do not. Ordering ahead on another person's behalf means assuming they want it and assuming you have the right photograph, and both assumptions are heavy at that moment. A gift card does the same job without making the choices for them.
Why do so many people ask for a halo?
Because it is quiet. A halo costs £5 and can be added above the portrait on any of our products. The detail asked for most often is a halo above the portrait, with the dates on the sleeve. The point of it is not decorative. It is small enough that people recognise it as a memorial without the owner having to announce the loss.
This is the most useful thing we know about memorial pieces, and it is not obvious from outside. When someone wears a portrait of their pet out of the house, other people comment. That is usually lovely. It stops being lovely when the pet has recently died, because every comment becomes a conversation the owner did not choose to have, with a stranger in a park or a shop queue. Saying it out loud to someone who was only being friendly is painful in itself.
A halo solves that without a word. People who notice it tend to understand what it means, and the ones who do not simply see a nice jumper. The owner keeps control of when they talk about it, which is a lot of help for £5.
If you are buying for somebody else you have no real way of knowing any of that, which is the only reason we spell it out. It is also why a halo can be left off and added to a later piece, if you are unsure whether they would want the loss marked at all. The other common request is the sleeve, usually the name and the dates. Some people want both, some the name only, some nothing written anywhere.
Does it change anything if the gift is for someone else?
It changes one thing: you have to work with the photographs you happen to have rather than the ones you would choose. That is less of a problem than people assume, because of the order in which things happen.
You order with one photo per pet, and that is what the portrait is first designed from. A blurry photo is usually fine, because the portrait is designed from the photo and then edited, so a soft picture is a starting point rather than a verdict. Every photo is reviewed before any design work starts, and about 1 in 25 need a retake, so if one will not work you hear that early rather than late.
Then the proof arrives, and this is the part worth knowing. At the edit stage you can send as many further photos as you like, and our team in Cambridge works from them to get the final portrait right. If a marking shows in one picture and not in the one you ordered with, that is where it gets added in. You have unlimited revisions before anything is stitched, and roughly 70% of designs are approved with no edits at all.
Designed from one photo, then edited with you until it is right, and only then stitched.
Before you order one for someone else
- Check you have the pet's name spelled the way they spell it
- Pick the one photo you would order with, then keep the others for the edit stage
- Save the original files, not screenshots, which lose detail
- Decide whether to ask about dates, or leave the sleeve plain
- Think about whether they would wear it, or would rather have something for the house
- If you are unsure about any of the above, a gift card answers all of them
How long does it take, and what does that mean for timing?
Two things to keep separate. The artwork proof is sent within 3 days of the order, so you see the design quickly. The finished item then takes 2 to 3 weeks to make, and that lead time is shown at checkout. So nothing arrives this week, and you see what it will look like long before it is made.
That matters in a specific way. Because the proof comes first, you are not committing to something unseen. You can order, look at the design, ask for changes, and still stop. For a gift where getting the face wrong would be worse than sending nothing, that is the whole point.
- You order with one photo per petThat is what the portrait is designed from. Every photo is reviewed before any design work begins.
- Within 3 daysThe artwork proof arrives. About 70% are approved as they are.
- The edit stageSend as many further photos as you like and the team works from them. Unlimited revisions, and nothing stitched yet.
- When you approve itOnly then does anything get stitched.
- 2 to 3 weeksMade to order in our Cambridge studio. The current lead time is shown at checkout.
So work backwards. For something to arrive around an anniversary, allow the proof time and the lead time together. If the date you have in mind is already inside three weeks, it will not happen, and a card is the better answer.
Everything is embroidered rather than printed, so the portrait is thread worked into the fabric rather than an image sitting on top of it. We stitch dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, hamsters, birds and reptiles, and multi-pet designs are available, so a pet who has died can be stitched alongside one who is still here.
When is this the wrong thing to give?
Three clear cases. If they need something within the week, nothing we make will arrive in time. If they want something for the house rather than to wear, a cushion is the closest we come, and a garden memorial or a framed piece suits them better. And if the person is a private griever, anything visible is the wrong direction entirely.
Those are not hedges. They are the three reasons we most often tell someone not to order. The 2 to 3 week lead time is real, so if the date has already arrived, send the card. Our portraits go onto things people wear and use, not things they hang, so if what they want is a rose in the garden, an engraved stone, a paw print cast or ashes jewellery, none of that is us. Our guide to pet memorial ideas beyond an urn covers those honestly. And for a private griever, a donation to a rescue in the pet's name beats anything on our site.
There is a fourth case worth naming, which is simply not being sure. That is a real answer rather than a failure to decide, and it has a correct response: wait, or hand the choice over. None of this gets worse by being left a month.
People often tell us about their pet when they order, and Lucy reads every one of those messages. When the story is about a pet who has died, the studio gathers round the computer and reads it together. It is why this page is written the way it is, rather than as a list of products.
If and when the time feels right, the remembrance pieces are in one place, with the halo, the sleeve and the photo all decided by you before anything is made.
See pet memorial giftsLucy and Andy started Lucy & Lola in 2021 with one embroidery machine and a rescue dachshund called Lola. There are 29 machines now, more than 75,000 customers, and 4.9 from over 10,000 reviews. For options around a specific animal, what to get someone whose dog has died and what to get someone whose cat has died put the free ideas before ours.
Frequently asked questions
When should you give someone a pet sympathy gift?
There is no correct interval. Some order in the same week, some before the loss when they know their pet is going to be put down, and some a year later. How sudden the loss was matters more than the number of weeks. If you are unsure, ask them, or give a gift card.
Can you order a pet portrait before a pet is put to sleep?
Yes. Some people order while their pet is still here, because they know the appointment is coming and would rather have something waiting for them to wear when they come home. You can send the photo and approve the design at your own pace, and nothing is stitched until you say it is right.
How much does it cost to add a halo?
A halo costs £5 and can be added above the portrait on any of our products, not only the clothing. With the name and dates on the sleeve it is the detail asked for most often. It is deliberately small, so it reads as a memorial without the owner having to explain anything.
Is it too late to give a pet sympathy gift a year later?
No, and a year on is often better received than a week on. By then almost nobody else is mentioning the pet, which is the part owners find hardest. An anniversary marks the date they were already dreading rather than the loss itself. There is no window that closes.
What if the photo I have is not good enough?
One photo per pet is all you need to order, and the portrait is designed from it and then edited, so a blurry picture is a starting point rather than a verdict. Once the proof arrives you can send as many further photos as you like, and the team works from them, so a marking that shows in one and not the other gets added in. Nothing is stitched until you approve the design.
How quickly will it arrive?
Not this week. The artwork proof is sent within 3 days of the order, but the finished item takes 2 to 3 weeks to make and that lead time is shown at checkout. Everything is made to order. If you need something in hand within the week, a card is the honest answer.
What if they would not want to wear something?
Then it is probably not the right gift, and that is worth taking seriously. Some people do not want their grief visible, on their chest or in their living room. A cushion is quieter, but for a private griever a donation to a rescue in the pet's name is better than anything we make.
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