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The Pet Cemetery of Tucson has a new investor looking to breathe life into the business of helping bereaved pet owners.

Seasoned Tucson entrepreneur Slivy Edmonds Cotton and her right-hand woman, Patricia Taylor, officially teamed up last month with the cemetery's longtime owner, Darla Norrish.

The trio are looking at ways to raise community awareness of the options available to pet owners on the loss of a beloved companion. Edmonds Cotton was moved to get involved in the business after seeing what Taylor went through when her cat died.

With the death, Taylor was grieving but felt awkward expressing that, and she had to wait three weeks to get her cat's remains back from a crematorium, she said.

Edmonds Cotton's Tucson-based company, Portico LLM Enterprises, has operated funeral homes for humans in Illinois, Indiana, New York and Missouri for the last 10 years. Before that, Portico ran an auto emissions testing company.

Edmonds Cotton's specialty, she said, is to acquire or invest in companies and then put together infrastructure to support the business more efficiently. Witnessing Taylor's experience convinced Edmonds Cotton that there was a large untapped market in helping people with the grieving process when an animal dies.

That caused her to turn her attention to Norrish's operation.

Norrish has been the heart and soul of the pet cemetery for about 20 years, working with countless families after all kinds of pets died. With no pet too big or too small — there's even a special area for fish — Norrish will do pretty much anything a grieving client wishes, if it's within her power.

She's known to frequently go to private homes in the middle of the night to pick up newly departed pets.

With the new alliance, she will be able to focus more completely on the service end of the business, while Edmonds Cotton and Taylor manage the business end and work on establishing more of a presence in the Tucson area.

"Their presence gives The Pet Cemetery of Tucson the ability to increase our services," Norrish said.

The pet cemetery takes up about four acres just north of the East Lawn Palms Mortuary & Cemetery. A wall separates the two, but at one time the pet cemetery was part of East Lawn.

About 20 percent of the pet cemetery property is developed, with small gardens and tiny headstones bearing pet names and life dates. Colorful flowers are abundant throughout.

Edmonds Cotton said she envisions adding a sacred garden or a meditation labyrinth. At the moment, she's watching and learning how things work on the premises, so any changes she makes will be subtle and will only add to clients' experiences there, she said.

A few headstones have people's names and life dates — some people prefer to be buried near their pets, and Norrish allows it as long as the human is cremated.

For pets, however, Norrish offers cremation or caskets. She also conducts memorial services and bestows blessings on living pets in times of celebration and times of worry.

All three women are very proud of the cemetery's private cremations. One pet at a time is cremated, offering owners the guarantee of receiving the remains of their pets alone and nobody else's.

Possibly the most basic service offered at the pet cemetery, a private cremation, costs $85.

"It's important for folks to know that they have choices," Norrish said. "When people have choices, peace of mind comes a bit easier."

A miniature horse and several potbellied pigs roam the grounds, adding a touch of life that enables parents to talk with their children about the circle of life, she said.

East Side resident Jamie Johnston, 52, has buried three dogs at the pet cemetery since 1994.

"You feel like you're giving them the same dignity you would a human being," she said.

Making arrangements to hold services for her pets and then have them buried helped her move along in the grieving process each time, she said.

"If you don't go through it, it messes you up," she said.

She plans to be buried there eventually herself.

"Why in the hell do I want to be buried by people that I don't even know? I want to be next to my animals," she said, laughing.

Her children and husband have accepted that, she said.

Susan Goss had a cat die unexpectedly in February, and she lost a colt on June 10.

When the cat died, "Darla found me outside sobbing," she said.

And when the colt died last week, Norrish went out to Vail, where Goss keeps her horses, to pick him up.

"She was very nice. I was a blubbering mess when she got there," Goss said.

Goss uses the pet cemetery's private cremation service and then keeps the cremains at her home.

"I like to know that's my pet," she said.