Fine line black tattoo on the inner forearm of a person in a white vest top, showing a cat silhouette and small heart joined by a heartbeat trace.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Cat and heartbeat line on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black fine line tattoo on the inner forearm shows a heartbeat trace that rises into the outline of a seated cat with its tail curling up on the left, then ends in a small open heart on the right. The lines are thin and even on light skin, with no shading. The photo is taken at arm level against a plain white top, with a blurred indoor background.

Fine line Forearm Cat Heartbeat Heart Ecg line Outline

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

Keep reading

The vet came out on Thursday in the sleet with her monitor in a plastic box, and she set it on the feed bin in the lean-to while the cat sat on the bale above us like she owned the parish. Marrow is seventeen now and has stopped coming down for the mouse traps. I didn't tell you that on the phone, because you would have driven up on the Friday with a casserole.

The wire pads went on her side, under the grey fur at the ribs, and the little screen started drawing its green line across. Vet Okonkwo leaned close and said the line was the heart's own handwriting. I thought she was joking until she tapped the peaks one by one. Each beat rose to a point and fell back, steady as the gate chain when the wind is up. Marrow tucked her tail round her feet and watched us both with the look she keeps for the hens.

Then the line went rough for a moment, a stutter like a pen catching on paper, and my stomach went with it. Vet Okonkwo did not hurry. She counted under her breath, pressed her palm flat against the cat's flank, and the trace settled back into its rhythm. Marrow yawned enormously and stood up to wash her back leg, as if the whole thing had been arranged for our benefit.

Before she packed up, the vet drew a small heart on the back of the feed receipt and folded it into my coat pocket. It's still there, creased, with mud from the lane on one corner. The cat is asleep by the range cooker now, and I have decided to stop pretending I don't count her breaths at night. Come up at Easter. Bring the good tea.

Love, Jean