For the cat who chose you.

Cats hold a particular place in the house, the chair they called theirs, the sunlit patch they always found, the specific shelf from which they surveyed things. A cat memorial isn't a loud grief. It's the quiet kind: a keepsake for the corner of the day they used to occupy. Cat memorials work best when they're particular, when the portrait is painted from a photograph of that specific cat, and the words are drawn from what the household actually knew about them.

A Small Goodbyes portrait is painted from your own photo in oil, watercolour, charcoal, line or pastel, printed to order in the UK.

Specific, not general

What makes a cat memorial land isn't the overall shape of their life, it's the specific detail. The particular meow they used when the tin opener came out. The way they knocked exactly one object off the table and then looked you in the eye. The spot they hid when the door knocked. Our intake asks for that kind of detail, five short prompts, skip whichever don't suit.

The eulogy drafts and the tribute narrative are built around what you share. They won't read as a template because they aren't one.

For old cats and young ones

We've made memorials for elder cats who saw three decades of the same family, and for kittens whose lives were too short. Either way, the intake is the same, and so is the care. Any age, any breed, any temperament.

For a gift

You can commission a cat memorial on behalf of someone else, ship to their address, canvas arrives unbranded. A thoughtful thing to send a friend who's quietly gone quiet.

How delivery works

Canvas: 5–9 working days in the UK, slightly longer internationally. Delivery estimates shown before you pay.

What to do if your cat dies at home in the UK

Cats often die at home, and often quietly, many slip away in their chosen sleeping spot rather than at the vet. The practicalities are mostly the same as for a dog, with a few feline-specific details:

• If they died alone, take a moment. A cat that has hidden away to die has done what cats do. There is nothing you should have caught earlier; cats are, biologically, very good at concealing illness. Sit with them for as long as you'd like before phoning anyone.
• Phone your vet. Even out of hours, the practice's answering service will tell you what to do. They will arrange collection or guide you on bringing your cat in. If you'd rather do nothing for a few hours, that's also fine.
• Garden burial. Burying a cat in your own garden is legal in the UK provided you own the property, the burial is more than 1.25m deep, and the cat had no notifiable disease. Wrap them in cotton or wool, not plastic. Many families wrap them in a favourite blanket they always slept on.
• Cremation. Your vet can arrange a private cremation (your cat's ashes returned, usually 7–14 days) or a communal one. The Association of Private Pet Cemeteries and Crematoria lists members at appcc.org.uk.
• Microchip. If your cat was chipped, contact the database to mark the record deceased. Microchipping became compulsory for pet cats in England in June 2024, so most younger cats will be on a register.
• Outdoor cats that don't come home. If your cat was an outdoor cat and you suspect they've passed away outside, contact local councils, vets, and the chip database, many UK councils log deceased cats found on roadsides and check chips before disposal. It's a hard call to make. People at the other end of those phones are usually kind.

The Blue Cross Pet Bereavement line, 0800 096 6606, is free, UK-based, and specific to pet loss. Calls about cats are taken as seriously as calls about dogs.

Honouring a cat that has passed away

Cats are particular animals, and a cat memorial usually wants to be particular in return. Quieter ideas families have found land well: a small framed photograph on the windowsill they always claimed; the specific cushion they slept on, kept rather than washed and put away; a candle lit on the anniversary of the day they came home (the arrival, not the departure); a charity donation to Cats Protection in their name. The point isn't to fix the loss. It's to give it a place in the household where it doesn't get pretended away.

A small ceremony works for a cat too, even one with only the people who lived with them. Read a short eulogy if it feels right (we have a guide for writing one). Sit briefly in the sunlit patch they always took. Say their name. The cat won't mind. The household will.

The 3-3-3 rule, and what cats sometimes do before they pass

The 3-3-3 rule is a guideline for adopting a new cat, three days to decompress, three weeks to settle, three months to feel at home, and it gets searched alongside cat-loss queries because grieving owners often consider another cat. There is no equivalent rule for the end. What cats do tend to do is hide. Many will take themselves to a quiet spot, under a bed, in a wardrobe, in the corner of the kitchen, and stop eating a day or two before. They are not asking to be left alone; they are asking to be near, but unobserved. Sitting nearby and letting them be is, for most cats, the right thing.

Memorial quotes for a cat

A short borrowed line is sometimes the right size for a card, a tribute caption, or the closing page at the back of a keepsake. A few that hold their shape:

• "The smallest feline is a masterpiece.", Leonardo da Vinci
• "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.", Anatole France
• "In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.", English proverb
• "She wasn't a replaceable kind of cat.", written by us, freely usable. The truest sentence about most cats.

Cat memorials by breed

• British Shorthair memorial
• Maine Coon memorial
• Ragdoll cat memorial
• Persian cat memorial
• Siamese cat memorial
• Bengal cat memorial
• Tabby cat memorial
• Tortoiseshell cat memorial

Related

• Memorial for a dog
• Cat portrait canvas on its own
• As a gift for someone else
• Cat portrait painting, from a photo
• Cat memorial ideas, ways to remember
• Looking for a memorial frame? Something more personal
• Stages of pet loss grief, a plain-spoken guide
• How to write a pet eulogy