I am so sorry to hear about your little kitty, Merryheart. I know how much it hurts to lose a beloved pet. I worry a lot about urinary tract problems in my cat since my best friend lost her cat to it years ago. I think it's fairly prevalent in cats. I feed my cat Purina One 'Urinary Tract' formula. I don't know that it helps, but it makes me feel better, and she likes it. I've made stepping stones for my dogs that have died, and they are nice additions to my garden. I had a pet cemetery at my old house where I planted plants with the same names as my pets. I had grave markers, and stepping stones, and also had a bird bath set up there. For cats I have seen very precious little grave statues that are cat angels. They look very nice in your garden. If you know of a shop that has a laser engraver, they can make a marker with a picture of your cat with her name on a rock, a stepping stone, on granite, glass, or nearly anything. My brother's company has a laser engraver and they sometimes make pet grave markers. Another thing I like to do is plant trees in memory of my dogs that have died. I have a weeping willow that I planted for my all time favorite dog, Star. I hated to leave it when I moved, so I am taking cuttings of that tree to plant at my new house in memory of Star. That sounds crazy, I know, but I can't take the dogs' graves with me but I can take a cutting of "their" memorial tree. I have one tree still in a pot from when my dog Maggie died that I'm going to plant here. It's a corkscrew willow that I call "Maggie's tree". I also have a pine tree I brought here that belonged to my grandmother before she died, and it's "Grandma's tree". I realize you don't have an acreage like I have so maybe don't have enough room to plant a tree for your kitty. But it's my very favorite living memorial I do in memory of my pets. I also have a Southern Bottle Tree I made in memory of my friend Larry when he died. I found the cedar tree in his back yard with all the branches cut off fairly close to the trunk. I have no idea what Larry had planned for it, but I brought it home and "planted" it in my garden to remember him by. Eventually I covered all the limbs with cobalt blue bottles, and made it into a bottle tree. I think it's beautiful. :) But it's still "Larry's Tree" and reminds me of him in my garden. He was a gardener too and I think he would have liked it. I could send you a picture of it if you're interested. Here is a link for a kitty memorial stepping stone. If you'll see the seller's other items further down the page, she has some nice cat memorial items. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know planting a memorial garden for you kitty will help you in your grief. Dawna Here is a link that might be useful: cat memorial stone

Yup! Dustin is my 3-4 year old boy and Muffin is my 6 month old kitten. Oddly enough Muffin doesn't sleep on the bed with me and Dustin. I spent a week or so with my mom while she recuperated from surgery and since I go over days to help out so I haven't begun to taper off their food to timed meals. For Xmas I'll be spending the night with mom as well and New Year's so I wanted to wait until this was all over then cut back on how long the food is out and encourage them not to eat all day long. Muffin was only fed once a day so she'll be easy to train back to 2 times a day but Dustin's used to having food out all the time. Dustin is usually most affectionate when he's just woken up from a long nap. So he's not asking for food but love which is why I'm reluctant to punish him for wanting love but at 5 am I want sleep, lol.

I wouldn't do it yourself. If it gets infected or if you do some other damage (having a needle or razor around an ear and a scared cat could be disastrous if she moves suddenly), it could end up costing you far more than $300. My cat also had a hemotoma a few years ago. It was a giant swelling on his ear and my vet said he probably scratched some of the blood vessels there and it swelled. She told me to just leave it alone and his body would reabsorb the blood, and it did over a week or so. His ear is crinkly now but I think it's kind of cute and gives him character. :) I would just leave it alone if it were me but please don't try to do it yourself. Cats don't understand how to stand still and it can be very difficult to restrain them properly. Not to mention traumatic for the cat to have that done with no anesthetic.

That's cute, janey. Reminds me of when we rescued a dog and brought him into our home with two firmly established cats. It was pretty uneasy for several weeks; the dog was fine but the cats had decided to hate his nasty, filthy dog guts, lol. Then, one day during a chilly rain I opened up the back door to call for Banjo to come inside...I could see him in his snuggly doghouse. Not only did he come running out of the doghouse, but so did both cats! Funnily, the cats could come and go whenever they wanted (I don't do that anymore.), but had opted to stay with Banjo, the object of their utter disdain. Poor dog couldn't get away from them after that; they wanted to be near him at all times. They would even take long walks with us, keeping so close to him that it looked like all three were on the same leash. He didn't much like the kneading that went on at bedtime, lol. I've always wished I knew what happened in the doghouse that day.