Britain's Telegraph Newspaper published an article about Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery, in Silver Springs, Maryland:

The final resting place for the cats and dogs of the rich lie beneath imposing headstones and aristocratic tombs, their foibles and qualities commemorated in stone for future generations to marvel at.

The reporter also points out that Aspin Hill is a place for pets of more meager background:

Lot 200 and Lot 202 do not contain the names and dates of the dearly beloved - their bones are covered by mere numbered plates.

The cemetery is now under the care of an environmental group, The Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary, which oddly enough, has allowed the cemetery to go to waste:

She has a point - many areas of the burial ground are overgrown. Bushes have swamped the rows of headstones and dead branches lie across several graves.

I sometimes question the need for people to erect such expensive monuments to their departed loved ones. I think most people, and perhaps animals too, would prefer to just be remembered by the people they loved, rather than immortalized in giant slabs of marble.

In Southern California, near the border with Arizona and Mexico, and near the tiny desert town of Andrade, there is a pet cemetery. Few people know of its existence. You have to know someone in order to find it. I was there several years ago, and all the graves are adorned with handmade artifacts. There are no slabs of marble. Just rocks, wooden signs, flowers, and plenty of favorite pet toys. You can sense there is love here.