Giving a final farewell to a loved one is one of the hardest things to endure. Whether it’s a family member or close friend, we want to honour their memories and find a way to keep them in our hearts. But it's not only the people in our lives we want this for. Our pets are part of our lives too, but giving them the proper afterlife care has traditionally been challenging.
It’s a problem Jing Huang has thought about since her childhood and something she is changing with Tails Farewell. Founded in 2024, Tails Farewell provides compassionate pet funeral and aquamation services for pet owners across Markham and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). While the business is personal to Huang, launching a pet afterlife care business wasn’t originally in her career plan.
Huang had built a successful career as a financial analyst, and chose to pursue an MBA as the path to grow her career and eventually become a Chief Financial Officer (CFO). She said her expectations about what she would learn from an MBA changed the minute she joined her first class at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
“To my surprise, they spent a lot of time telling us how valuable our time is. Instead of thinking about how much money you can earn, they wanted us to think about how we could create meaningful things,” Huang said.
The message resonated deeply with Huang. And, as fate would have it, something else unexpected would come into Huang’s life and inspire her to create something new. It was the middle of pandemic lockdowns, and Huang received a kitten from a close friend as a birthday gift. It was her first pet, which she named Marshmallow, and he quickly became a part of the family.
“I never wanted a pet because when I was very young I already realized they have a much shorter life span. I couldn’t imagine building up the emotional connection with a pet for years and then having to say goodbye,” she said.
But with Marshmallow in her life, Huang allowed herself to think about life and what happens when it ends. She started to research and saw that there were not many options available in Canada.
“The only option is leaving your pet at the veterinarian and then they call you to come pick up the ashes. I couldn’t do that. I wanted to have some proper closure, so I looked at what is available in other countries to see what I could bring here,” Huang said.
The result is Tails Farewell. Instead of traditional burial or cremation, the company offers aquamation. It’s a sustainable alternative to cremation that uses a water and alkali solution to return a pet to nature. Aquamation uses 90% less energy than cremation and produces zero greenhouse gases.
“As a business owner, sustainability is something you really need to take into consideration because that's a key to business longevity,” she said.
Turning that vision into a business meant navigating early hurdles — something Huang credits the Markham Small Business Centre with helping her bring her vision to life.
“I already knew that Markham Small Business Centre provided a lot of resources,” she said. “Then I learned about the Starter Company Plus program and applied. It wasn’t just the funding that helped, it was the mentorship. It really helped me to navigate the challenges I faced during the first couple months of my entrepreneurship.”
Today, Tails Farewell has locations in Markham and downtown Toronto and has built a reputation for its care, compassion, and focus on giving pet owners the closure they need.
“We constantly have clients coming to us saying they heard about great experiences from their fellow pet owners,” Huang said. “Pet afterlife care is something new, but we’re putting our hearts out there when providing service. I think people can feel it right away when you know there are people that care about you and what’s happening.”
