Man recreates 20-year-old photo  cuddling his cat before putting him to sleep

A loving pet owner lovingly recreated a 20-year-old childhood photo of him with his cat before having to put the animal to sleep.

The man, from the US, started working on it Reddit to reveal how he wanted to recreate the photo as a final memory with the beloved pet.

“I put my childhood cat to sleep today and did my best to recreate a 20 year old photo. I will always love you Gandalf,” he wrote.

The post included an adorable 50/50 photo of the user, depicted as a child and then again as an adult. In the childhood photo, Gandalf is a kitten, while in the recent photo he is an older cat.

In both images, the Redditor wears an orange shirt and smiles sweetly into the camera while lovingly cradling Gandalf.

People quickly flooded the comments with support, with some sharing personal pet anecdotes, and many praising the name of the deceased cat.

One shared a quote from an ode to Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: “I will not say, weep not; for not all tears are evil.” Gandalf’.

Another user replied: ‘Gandalf quotes always hit me right in the feels’.

One said: ‘I have a dog that is getting older. I think about this quote a lot and it destroys me every time,” in response to the movie reference.

Another wrote: ‘I found out yesterday that my cat has cancer and I’m crying about it. I don’t know what my last seven years would have been like without her. I’m so lucky to have had her.”

Meanwhile, others were asked to share personal stories about their loved ones.

“Mine died in October. I still talk to him or text his number when I look at something we would have ‘together’ and text.

‘This weekend will be tough because we would have been in Miami for the Formula 1 race. I couldn’t bring myself to go as often as everyone told me to.’

And another was fascinated by the cat’s choice of name: ‘Omg I love that name. My feelings’.