Cat Memorial Pillow From Your Favourite Photo

Cats leave a particular kind of gap. Their routines are quieter than a dog's, so the absence shows up in small places: the patch of sun on the landing with nobody in it, no demand for breakfast at six, no weight settling on the end of the bed at night.

Cat owners are also told, more often than dog owners, that the loss must be smaller. It rarely is. Many cats live fifteen or twenty years, through house moves, relationships, children and whole careers. That is a long time to share a home with somebody.

A pillow printed with their photo and cut to their outline gives the empty spot something back. It goes on the windowsill or the bed where they always were, and it is something to hold rather than another photo to look at.

For the broader picture, including dogs and other animals, pet memorial pillows for any animal covers shapes and fabric in more detail.

Curled up, cut to shape

The most ordered version is the pose every owner knows: the tight curl, nose under tail. Cut to that outline, the pillow looks like the cat asleep on the bed again.

Their window

Most cats have a lookout: a windowsill, the back of a sofa, the top of a bookcase. A photo of them in that spot, printed and placed back in it, is the version people describe as the most comforting.

Kitten and senior

The first photo ever taken of them on one side, and one from their last good year on the other. Twenty years of life in one object.

Every cat the household has loved

For families who have had several cats over the decades, nine photos printed on one cushion keeps them all together in a single place.

A small one for a child

Children who grew up with a cat often lose it as their first experience of death. A 20 cm pillow of the cat they slept beside gives the grief somewhere to go at bedtime.

For a friend who lost their cat

Sending one is a kind thing to do and far more personal than flowers. There is more on timing and wording in sympathy gifts that start with a photograph.

Cats are harder to photograph well than almost any other pet, and a few problems come up again and again when choosing a memorial photo.

Black cats

Phone cameras struggle with dark fur, especially indoors at night, and the cat can come out as a flat black shape with two eyes. Look for photos taken in daylight near a window, where the fur keeps its texture.

White and pale cats

The opposite problem. In bright sun, white fur loses its detail. Photos taken in shade or on an overcast day usually hold up best.

Glowing eyes

Flash makes cats' eyes glow green or yellow. Choose photos taken without flash where you can see the real colour of their eyes.

Movement and glass

Cats rarely sit still for a photo, and many of the best ones were taken through a window. Pick the sharpest frame, and avoid photos with reflections across the cat.

Searching your phone for cat usually finds every photo in seconds. Upload a few candidates and compare them in the free preview, which shows how the fur and eyes will look at your chosen size before anything is made.

• In the weeks after the loss, when the house is quietest.
• On the first anniversary, when many owners want to mark the day without making it a big event.
• Before a house move, when leaving the garden where the cat is buried feels like leaving them behind.
• For an elderly parent whose cat was their daily company.
• For a child, to help with a first loss.
• For a friend, as a sympathy gift.

Some people order straight away. Others wait a year or more before they can look through the photos. Both are completely normal, and the pillow means just as much either way.

Cat owners often grieve quietly, partly because people around them underestimate the loss. A gift that takes it seriously can mean a great deal.

• Get an original photo from somebody close to them, such as a partner or family member, rather than saving one from social media.
• Use the cat's name in the card, and mention something particular about them: the way she supervised every phone call, the way he greeted visitors at the door like a dog.
• Avoid suggesting another cat, and avoid anything that compares the loss to a human one, in either direction.
• Have it delivered straight to them so they can open it alone.

A week or two after the loss is often the kindest moment. By then the initial messages have stopped and the routines without the cat have started to feel real. If you are reading this months later and wondering whether it is too late, it is not. A gift that arrives long after everyone else has moved on tells them somebody remembered.

• 40 cm cut to the outline is close to life size for most cats, and the most ordered size.
• 60 cm for a very large breed, or for a grid of several cats.
• 20 cm for a child, a bedside table or a windowsill.
• The back is printed at no extra cost, so a second photo can go there.

Tell us it is a memorial in the order notes and it is handled personally rather than through the usual queue, at no extra cost, and the cheerful automated emails are kept out of the way. You see a free preview before anything is made and can approve it whenever you are ready. The photo is dyed into the fabric, so it can be held, slept with and washed on a cool cycle without cracking or fading.

There is no rush

You can upload a photo, look at the preview, and leave it for as long as you need. Several owners say the photo they finally chose was not the first one they picked.

Look past the last few months

Older cats often spend their final months thinner and less like themselves. A photo from a healthier year is usually the one people are glad they chose.

Keep the whole cat in frame for a cut out

Ears cropped at the top of the photo or a tail cut off at the edge leave a strange outline. For a cut out, the whole cat needs to be visible. If your favourite photo is a close up, choose a square pillow instead.

Watch for other animals overlapping

Cats often sleep piled on other pets. If another animal overlaps them, the outline will include it, so choose a photo where they are on their own, or print square with both.

Think about everyone who loved them

Partners, children and grown up siblings may each want their own. With no bulk price, each costs the same as one, and each can have a different photo.

Other guides that may help.

• the dog version of this guide, for households with both
• Memorial pillows for people, made in exactly the same way
• photo pillows for the pets still at home, for happier occasions
• a family photo gift with the cat in it, for a picture of everybody together