First off, please don't flame me for this. Yes this was taken a year ago when Merl was fatter and weighed more than 5 pounds.He was about 13 pounds here. And yes he does have a tail, but it's curled around his body where you can't see it.

This is just hard on me. I'm sure those of you that have lost a pet understand what I'm going through. He was the sweetest cat though. He always slept with me and waited for me to come home from work.