If you need cremation or burial service for your beloved pet alligator, Patrick Vereb is the guy to call.

While Vereb, a funeral director for almost 50 years, has been providing funeral services for people for most of his career, providing after-life care for pets is a growing part of his business.

“They call us crying and they’re devastated. No matter if it’s a small cat or it’s a 220-pound Irish wolfhound, they still have a dead family member, and it’s the same devastating effect,” said Vereb, who operates Vereb Funeral Home iin what formerly was the Krynicki Funeral Home on Freeport Road in Harrison.

The location, open for only a month and a half, has attracted 31 clients so far — with only two clients wanting services for humans. The other 29 were for pets.

His experience has shown the loss of a pet can be just as serious as losing a human family member for some people, and he treats his clients accordingly.

“It’s the same principle when folks call and their pets die: It’s like losing a young family member, like one of your children,” Vereb said.

The Harrison location is the second for Vereb, who has operated a funeral home in Pittsburgh for decades.

Human services

His loss of a family member drove him to become a funeral director.

While Vereb was still a teenager, his uncle died in a car crash that severely disfigured his body.

His casket was closed for two of the three days of viewing while the funeral director worked on his body. This is when Vereb realized he didn’t want other families to endure the pain of not seeing their loved ones.

“I decided I did not want other families suffering that out with closed caskets,” Vereb said. “At age 16, I vowed I wanted to be a funeral director.”

Since then, Vereb’s only jobs have been managing cemeteries and working at funeral homes. He has managed his Pittsburgh location since he was 21.

“Our services don’t end the day of the funeral,” Vereb said.

Helping people through a loss is what he says brings joy in a business that deals with families going through the worst times of their lives.

“Each individual family has that need for support, and I get that great joy of being able to help them with that need,” Vereb said. “We give every family our undivided attention. I’ve learned over the years, if a family is coming to ask you for something, you’re already too late. We’re the professionals; we’re supposed to understand what they need before they need it.”

Vereb’s location in Natrona Heights is a branch of its Pittsburgh operation. Services include visitation chapels, service chapels, a family lounge for receptions, funerals, celebration of life services, photo memorial tributes and pet services.

The family lounge has two full kitchenettes, tables, chairs, two full-size refrigerators and a TV screen that displays the lives of lost loved ones.

“This funeral home in Natrona Heights by far is the nicest funeral home I have ever been in,” Vereb said.

Vereb is confident every client will walk in content with their decision to have their loved one’s or a beloved pet’s service there.

“We think they are going to be satisfied with the service that we provide. No matter what that service is, we know that they truly will admire it,” Vereb said.

Complete separation for pets

Just don’t expect to hold a viewing there for your pet. The two lines of service are separate, and the amenities are reserved exclusively for humans.

“Pets have never come into the funeral home parlor,” Vereb said.

While the funeral home can provide cremations or burials for pets, it never lays out a pet for viewings.

What it can do is provide an urn complete with a photo of the pet included in a remembrance package. It also can arrange for a pet’s burial in one of the pet-only cemeteries in the region.

Vereb has performed cremations for a variety of pets, including dogs, cats, alligators, pigs, snakes and mice.

“I have been in (the pet services) business for 10 years, and I have never had an alligator until now,” Vereb said.

In fact, he’s handled three alligators — and a 220-pound pig — in his time servicing pets.

Private cremation services for pets range from $125 to $600, and the common burial ranges from $25 to $200 depending on the weight of the pet.

A full human service can be at least $5,100, depending on the casket the family purchases. A three-hour service begins at $3,600.

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