- July 13, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
Entrepreneur Jaclyn Toale grew up in the funeral industry. Her parents worked for the family business, Toale Brothers Funeral Home & Crematory in Sarasota.
But, she says, she was not cut out for that — at least not the staid and serious nature of posthumous care.
“I never thought I wanted to be in the funeral space,” Toale says. “I'm just loud and boisterous and giggly.”
But post-death care for animals? That's another story, given another element of Toale's personality is hard-core animal lover.
“I’ve always had pets,” says Toale. While raising her now-adult children, the family had a “whole bunch of interesting pets,” from sugar gliders to a blue-tongued skink, an Australian lizard. Her current brood includes a 16-year-old mutt she adopted from Bishop Animal Shelter, whom she describes as a chihuahua, dachshund, miniature pinscher and Boston terrier mix.
After deciding she wanted her own body to be composted, Toale says, she began thinking: “Well, what options are there for pets?” She found it is difficult for chemicals to break down naturally when a pet has been euthanized, so the primary options are traditional cremation, aquamation or burial in a sealed box.
“I don't think there's anything wrong with fire, but for me, it just wasn't the last image I wanted to have,” Toale says. She began exploring aquamation, a process that uses water rather than fire for cremation.
She has since gone from exploring to opening an aquamation business.
Last summer, she flew to Indiana to meet with an aquamation machine manufacturer. In August 2025 she ordered the machine, which had a 16-week lead time, and registered her pet aquamation business, Comforting Currents, with the state.
Comforting Currents, at 6471 Parkland Drive, near US 301 and State Road 70 in Manatee County, opened in May, five months after Toale signed the lease.
Startup costs for the business were about $300,000, says Toale, who expects to break even by August or September.
The aquamation process is also known as alkaline hydrolysis. Essentially, water is mixed with an alkaline solution in a machine that provides circulation and a “little bit of heat,” Toale says.
Inside the machine, it “looks like bubbles coming up,” she says, like a fish tank with a bubbler would. “It gently moves, and it does what would happen if you were buried in the ground, just a lot faster.”
The aquamation process at Comforting Currents takes 22 hours.
“Basically, you have bone remains that come out, and then they go into what's called a cremulator [that] pulverizes everything into a fine powder,” Toale says.
“Some people want the bone remains back in their original form,” she adds. “Some people want a tooth or two back, so that they can have jewelry made out of it, or things like that.” Otherwise, the remains are processed into powder and returned to the owner.
Aquamation is considered more eco-friendly than flame-based cremation because it does not produce greenhouse gases and requires less energy.
“That's kind of always been a passion of mine — what are we doing, and can we just make it a little more gentle, a little easier on the planet, on ourselves,” Toale says.
Currently, the pet aquamation industry is fairly small; there are a handful of aquamation providers for pet owners around the state. Comforting Currents is the only aquamation business in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
It provides private aquamation — with one pet in the machine at a time — starting at $185 for a “pocket pet,” weighing up to 5 pounds. Private aquamation for an extra-large pet, over 75 pounds, tops out at $340. Communal aquamation for pets up to 25 pounds costs $110.
So far, about 60% of clients have chosen private aquamation, Toale says.
The aquamation machine is in the back of Comforting Currents' 2,000-square-foot space.
When clients enter, they are greeted by calming nature photos. Nearby is a memorial room with comfortable seats and a fountain where people can honor their pets and reflect.
“People see their pets as like family members,” Toale says. “I wanted to create something that was a place where families could come and provide that sort of high-touch service.”
The personalized service frequently begins over the phone, when people call because they need help figuring out what the options are for their pets.
"We always try to learn their pet's name early on in the conversation and refer to their pet by name and remind them that we're here to help support you," Toale says.
Sometimes she will drive to meet the owners and pick up the pet, traveling up and down the Gulf Coast. Other times, people bring their creatures to Comforting Currents.
The business offers a selection of mementos like urns that can be engraved with pet pictures and works with clients to bring their ideas for remembrances to life.
“We really wanted to have something where people could find the thing that really spoke to them, so that they could memorialize and honor their pet, because grief is grief,” Toale says. “It makes me really sad when that's not quite recognized by people. Just because it's an animal doesn't mean that your feelings are any less valid.”
On the staff of four at Comforting Currents is a professional graphic designer — Scott Bacon, whose title is director of operations and marketing. He creates mockups for clients to show them options for products he can design, from jewelry to boxes and other mementos. Remembrances are included with private aquamations.
In its first 45 days of operations, the company has served 50 clients, Bacon says.
So far, he adds, Comforting Currents has received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
“I hear it all the time — ’We really appreciate what you're doing for the environment. We really appreciate what you're doing because it's gentle,’” Bacon says. People tell him: “‘You pick up the phone and talk to us. You are empathetic.’ We have a lot of comments in our systems, our messages and our reviews that absolutely back up what we're saying.”
Clients hear about Comforting Currents primarily online, through sites like Google, Yelp and Nextdoor.
“Our conversion rate is super high,” Bacon says, noting the percentage is from the high 60s to low 70s. “When they call us and they hear what we do and how we do it, they’re sold.”
Toale is also working to get Comforting Currents’ name out in the veterinary community. One of the challenges, she says, is most local vets use a “high-volume crematory” in town and are hesitant to offer an alternative.
“I think what they're most concerned about is, they don't want you to have a bad experience … and then not want to use them as their vet,” Toale says, adding anything new could be seen as a risk. “The other thing, too, is a lot of the vets are corporately owned now, and those decisions don't even get made here.”
In the longer-term, Toale says she would like to expand geographically and hire more people.
For now, she is networking in the community and holding lunch-and-learns to educate those interested in learning more about aquamation.
“We’re raising awareness of alternatives for people and growing our business," Toale says. "This makes sense, it's price-comparable, it's better for the environment, it's gentle, and we can offer — I think — a better level of service."
