This article deals with multilingualism in five German pet cemeteries located 
in di!erent cultural regions of Germany. It focuses on the languages found on the grave 
markers (known as gravestones in human cemeteries) of the animal graves and their 
functions. Our relationship to animals has changed over time. Animals are no longer 
perceived as objects, but as individuals. Pets, formerly known as domestic animals, are 
therefore increasingly buried in pet cemeteries. For this reason, animal cemeteries are 
increasingly the focus of research. The language used on the gravestones has been little 
studied. A total of 11 foreign languages, including dialects, were found in the pet cemeteries examined here. 16 of the grave markers examined are monolingual, 20 are bilingual 
and one is trilingual. On some of the multilingual gravestones, for example, standard 
German is written in addition to the foreign language in order to create an emotional 
distance or to enable native German speakers to understand some of the texts. This 
article is to be seen as a pilot study in which multilingualism in German pet cemeteries 
was systematically analysed for the first time. Due to the limited material base, the study 
does not claim to be universally applicable.