| By Gabriel Killian, U.S. Navy Certified Instructor and Course Supervisor, founder of Memorial Merits. Featured on CBS, ABC, Fox, AP. Cited by Google AI Overviews. ORCID 0009-0008-0751-6129. |
Last updated May 28, 2026.
Inside Lonité: A Swiss Diamond Grown From Your Pet’s Ashes or Fur
The container came back smaller than you expected. Maybe someone near you called it just a dog, just a cat, told you that you would be back to normal in a week, and part of you has been carrying that correction ever since. The bond you lost was real. The grief you feel is the size of that bond, and there is nothing about loving an animal that makes the loss any less a loss.
If you have landed here, you are likely turning a single question over in your hands: is there a way to keep something of them that lasts, something more permanent than a shelf urn and more present than a photograph. A memorial diamond is one answer, and our Swiss memorial-diamond partner Lonité is one of a small number of laboratories that can grow a real, certified diamond from the carbon inside your companion’s remains. This is our honest review of what they do, what it costs, who they fit, and where another path may serve you better.
One reassurance before anything else, because it is the fear that stops most people at the door. You do not need much. Lonité can work from your pet’s ashes or, for a small companion where ashes are limited, from a small amount of fur or hair instead. The size of your animal does not decide whether this is possible for you. If grief has you reaching for support tonight, the Tufts Pet Loss Support Helpline at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is free, staffed, and made for exactly this.
What Lonité Does With Your Pet’s Ashes or Fur
A memorial diamond is not a symbol of your pet. It is made from your pet. Every living thing is built largely from carbon, and a diamond is pure carbon arranged under enormous pressure and heat. Lonité extracts the carbon from the ashes or fur you send, purifies it to 99.99 percent, validated by the testing firm Intertek, then grows a diamond in a Swiss laboratory using the same high-pressure, high-temperature process that forms a diamond underground over millennia, compressed into months instead of ages.
When the stone finishes growing, it is graded and certified by the International Gemological Institute, an independent third party, not by Lonité itself. That distinction matters. The certificate is your proof that the diamond is real, that its color and carat and cut are what you were told, and that an outside authority signed off on it. Each Lonité diamond ships with a Certificate of Origin and a Material Analysis Report.
Will There Be Enough of My Pet?
This is the question that keeps people from starting, especially after losing a small dog, a cat, a rabbit, or a bird. The honest answer is that you almost certainly have enough. Carbon is in every part of the remains, and where ashes are limited, Lonité accepts fur or hair as the carbon source instead. A lock of fur you saved, or a clipping taken at the end, can become the diamond. You are not required to send the entire cremation. Most families send a portion and keep the rest.
What a Lonité Pet Diamond Costs
Lonité pet diamonds start at $1,400 for a naturally amber stone at the smallest carat weight, and rise from there based on color, cut, and carat. Most pet families land in the lower-to-middle range rather than the top, because a smaller, sentimental stone set into something wearable is what the majority are after. The price climbs toward the higher tiers only as the carat weight and the rarer colors increase.
Lonité also sells finished pet jewelry built around the diamond, so you are not left to find a jeweler on your own. Two pieces from their pet line: the Pet Portrait Bezel Setting Memorial Diamond Pendant at $3,280, and the Little Paw Solitaire Bezel Set Diamond Pendant at $2,480. Both hold the certified diamond grown from your companion in a setting made to be worn, not stored.
As our partner, Lonité honors a Memorial Merits discount. Your code saves you $100 at checkout. The full coupon treatment lives in the offer section below.
Memorial Merits Partner A Swiss Diamond Grown From Your Pet, From $1,400See Lonité’s pet diamond colors, cuts, and finished jewelry, and start from your pet’s ashes or fur whenever you are ready. Use code MEMORIALMERITS for $100 off See Lonité Pet Diamonds · From $1,400IGI certified and independently graded. Your $100 discount applies at checkout with the code. |
Colors, Cuts, and the Keepsake Itself
Lonité offers a real range, which matters when the diamond is meant to carry a specific animal’s memory rather than sit as a generic stone. You can choose from naturally amber, colorless, blue, black, pink, and red, across ten cuts including brilliant, princess, heart, oval, pear, and cushion, in carat weights from 0.25 up to 3.00. A heart cut in amber for a golden retriever (aff) reads differently than a brilliant colorless for a black cat, and that is the point. The keepsake should feel like them.
Whether the finished diamond becomes a pendant worn close, a ring, or a loose certified stone you keep, that choice is yours. Pet families tend toward pendants and rings over loose stones, because the desire underneath this purchase is closeness, the sense of carrying them with you.
The 12-Month Wait, Explained
This is the hardest part to hear when grief is fresh, so we will be straight about it. A Lonité pet diamond takes roughly 12 months from start to finish, including the carbon extraction, the growth, the certification, the setting, and delivery. That is not a delay or a backlog. It is the physical time a diamond needs to grow. If you need something to hold within weeks, this is not the right path, and we will point you to one that is, further down. If you can carry the waiting, what arrives at the end is permanent in a way nothing rushed can be.
How Lonité Compares to Eterneva, EverDear, and Algordanza
Lonité is not the only laboratory that grows diamonds from pets, and an honest review names the alternatives plainly. Here is where each one fits.
Eterneva starts around $2,999 and offers monthly financing, with an experiential model that sends you video updates through the growth. Families who want a guided, narrated journey and a payment plan often prefer it. It is the higher entry price, and the running updates feel intrusive to some grievers rather than comforting. Eterneva is not a Memorial Merits partner.
EverDear has the lowest entry price in the market, near $995, and accepts ashes or hair. The trade is that the lab is based in Hong Kong, and some United States families weigh that against a Swiss laboratory when the stone matters this much. EverDear is not a Memorial Merits partner.
Algordanza is the other genuinely Swiss option, specializing in blue diamonds, with pricing by inquiry. If a blue stone is specifically what you want, it is worth a look, though the color range is narrow compared to Lonité’s.
Labrilliante markets GIA-certified pet diamonds, and that single letter, GIA versus IGI, confuses many buyers into thinking IGI is somehow lesser. It is not. Both are established, independent gemological institutes, and both certify lab-grown diamonds to a documented standard. Lonité’s IGI certification is real third-party validation, full stop.
The Swiss Option Compared the Labs? Lonité Is Where We LandA Swiss laboratory, IGI certification, and a real color and cut range, grown from your companion’s own carbon. If permanence is what you want, this is the one. Use code MEMORIALMERITS for $100 off Explore Lonité Pet Diamonds · From $1,400No pressure and no rush. The remains stay yours, and only a small portion is ever needed. |
Who Lonité Best Fits
Lonité fits the pet family who wants permanence above speed: a real, Swiss-laboratory, independently certified diamond grown from their companion’s own carbon, and who can carry the roughly 12-month wait to get it. If that is you, with the $100 Memorial Merits discount in hand, Lonité is a strong and honest choice.
If a different desire is pulling at you, follow it, because the right keepsake is the one that matches what you actually need. If you would rather wear a portion of your companion’s ashes or fur inside heirloom precious-metal jewelry that arrives in weeks rather than a year, see our Lee Alexander & Co. heirloom pet memorial jewelry review. And if you are here for a person rather than a pet, our Lonité memorial diamonds review covers the same process for human loss.
Why We Chose Lonité for Pet Memorial DiamondsThere are a few reasons I am fond of Lonité, and why Memorial Merits pursued a partnership with them. The first was their warmth. I met Tracy Tout, their Senior Customer Service and Compassionate Care Representative for the USA and UK, over email, and I noticed right away how professional and kind her responses were and how easy she was to work with. Through Tracy I was introduced to Patrik Spirig, their Swiss authorized representative and operational manager for Lonité AG, and we sat down for a meeting where I learned what Lonité is really about. Patrik was just as warm and professional, and a genuine pleasure to talk with. What stayed with me was how dedicated they are to caring for their customers, paired with a quality of product that sells itself. I was glad to learn that a good portion of the families they serve are pet owners creating a memorial for a companion they loved, and that Lonité keeps offices in New York, Singapore, the UK, and other locations around the world. Their product, their service, and the way they communicate made Lonité an easy choice for us, and it lined up with what we are trying to do at Memorial Merits: bring quality, non-predatory resources to the people who need them. Gabriel Killian, Founder of Memorial Merits |
Getting Started With Lonité
The path is simpler than the year-long timeline makes it sound. First, set aside a portion of your pet’s ashes, or a lock of fur or hair, and reach out to Lonité to begin an order and choose your color, cut, and carat. Second, send your carbon source using the materials Lonité provides, and the laboratory confirms the amount it needs for the stone you chose. Third, the diamond grows, earns its independent IGI certification, and is set into the pendant, ring, or loose stone you selected, then delivered to you with its certificate.
What you carry at the end is not a stand-in for your companion. It is them, the actual carbon of a life you loved, made permanent and made to be worn. Memorial Merits exists so that the families who outlive the animals who loved them best have a calm place to make this decision, without pressure and without anyone telling them their grief was ever too much.
Take the Questions to the Family ConversationA free one-page sheet with the answers families ask most, made to print and bring to a conversation with whoever shares the decision. Download the Free FAQ Sheet |
Looking for a Memorial Diamond for a Person?
If you are here for a person rather than a pet, the same Swiss laboratory and the same process apply. See our Lonité Memorial Diamonds Review for human memorial diamonds, pricing, and how the IGI certification works.
Memorial Merits Partner Make Something Permanent From the Pet You LovedSet aside a portion of their ashes or a lock of fur, choose your color and cut, and Lonité grows a real, IGI-certified diamond from their carbon. When you are ready, it begins with one step. Use code MEMORIALMERITS for $100 off Start Your Pet’s Diamond · From $1,400Independently IGI certified. You keep the rest of the remains, and the $100 discount applies at checkout. |
Frequently Asked Questions About Lonite Diamonds for Pets
Can Lonité make a diamond from a small pet like a cat or rabbit?
Yes. The size of your pet does not decide whether this is possible. Lonité grows the diamond from the carbon in your companion’s remains, and where ashes are limited, it accepts fur or hair as the carbon source instead. Small dogs, cats, rabbits, and birds are all candidates.
Does Lonité use the entire cremation?
No. A portion of the ashes is enough, and most families send a small amount and keep the rest. You are never required to give up the entire cremation to make one diamond.
Can I use fur or hair instead of ashes?
Yes. If you saved a lock of fur, or took a clipping at the end, that can become the diamond. Fur and hair carry the same carbon a diamond needs, which is what makes this work even when ashes are limited.
How much does a Lonité pet memorial diamond cost?
Lonité pet diamonds start at $1,400 for a naturally amber stone at the smallest carat weight and rise from there based on color, cut, and carat. Finished pet jewelry runs higher, such as the Little Paw Solitaire pendant at $2,480. You can see current pricing and the full range at Lonité, and the code MEMORIALMERITS saves you $100.
How long does a Lonité pet diamond take to make?
Roughly 12 months from start to finish, including carbon extraction, growth, certification, setting, and delivery. That is the physical time a diamond needs to form, not a backlog. If you need a keepsake within weeks, a different option will serve you better.
Is a Lonité pet diamond a real diamond?
Yes. It is a real diamond grown from carbon purified to 99.99 percent, validated by the testing firm Intertek. It is physically, chemically, and optically identical to a mined diamond, and it is graded by an independent institute, not by Lonité itself.
What is IGI certification, and is it as good as GIA?
IGI is the International Gemological Institute, an established independent gemological authority that certifies lab-grown diamonds to a documented standard. IGI and GIA are both legitimate third-party institutes. An IGI certificate is real, independent validation of your diamond’s color, carat, and cut.
What colors and cuts can I choose for my pet’s diamond?
Lonité offers naturally amber, colorless, blue, black, pink, and red, across ten cuts including brilliant, princess, heart, oval, pear, and cushion, in carat weights from 0.25 up to 3.00. The range lets the keepsake feel like your specific companion rather than a generic stone.
What happens to the remaining ashes after the carbon is extracted?
You keep them. Only a portion of the remains is needed for the carbon, so the rest stays with you, which means you can also create more than one diamond or keep ashes for another keepsake.
How do I get the Memorial Merits discount?
Enter the code MEMORIALMERITS at checkout with Lonité to take $100 off your order. The code is our partnership discount and is what credits Memorial Merits, so it needs to be entered at checkout to apply.
 | About the Author Gabriel Killian, Founder of Memorial MeritsGabriel Killian is the founder of Memorial Merits, a platform built to help people through grief, legacy, and end-of-life protection. He is a U.S. Navy Certified Radar Instructor and Course Supervisor with twelve years of active duty service and triple warfare designations across surface, air, and information warfare. Memorial Merits has been featured on CBS, ABC, Fox, AP, Business Life Magazine, NY Observer, and Benzinga, cited by Google AI Overviews as a trusted authority in the end-of-life space, recognized in the Home Funeral Alliance Member Spotlight, and adopted by U.S. Army CENTCOM as an official family resource for service members and their loved ones facing loss. Gabriel is a published author with Sociology Group, the Animal Hospice Group, and Memoria Sky, and a verified researcher (ORCID: 0009-0008-0751-6129) with cross-published guides on Zenodo, Internet Archive, and Academia.edu. His work is grounded in the experiences he writes about, including the unexpected loss of his father in 2019 and his own survival of a deep vein thrombosis crisis. He has a Psychology background from Norfolk State University and writes on family-led end-of-life decision-making, the family advocacy work that follows a loss, and the small dignities that carry families through it. He is also the author of Should Tomorrow Never Come, a Legacy Journal designed to help families capture what matters before it is too late. More: Read the full founder story · View the Legacy Journal · Author profile |
