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

A loving pet owner sweetly recreated a 20-year old picture of him with his childhood cat before having to put the animal down.

The man, from the US, took to Reddit to reveal how he wanted to recreate the snap as a final memory with the beloved pet.

'Putting my childhood cat to sleep today, and did my best to recreate a 20 year old picture. I will always love you Gandalf,' he wrote.

Accompanying the post was an adorable 50/50 snap of the user pictured as a child and then again as an adult. In the childhood photo Gandalf is a kitten, while the recent photo he's an elderly cat.

In both images the Redditor is wearing an orange shirt and smiling sweetly into the camera while he cradles Gandalf lovingly. 

People were quick to flood the comments with support, with some sharing personal pet anecdotes, and many praised the late cat's name.

This Redditor, believed to be US-based tragically lost his cat Gandalf, but made sure to share a sweet snap of his childhood cat in a before and after comparison

One shared a quote in an ode to Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: "I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil". Gandalf'.

A different user replied: 'Gandalf quotes always punch me right in the feels'. 

One said: 'I have a dog who is ageing. I think about this quote a lot and the wrecks me every time', in response to the movie reference.

Another penned: 'I found out yesterday that my cat has cancer and I’m wailing from this. I don’t know how my last seven years would have been without her. I am so lucky to have had her'.

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

'Mine passed away in October. I still talk to him or text his number when I’m watching something we would have “together” and texted during. 

'This weekend is going to be tough because we would have been in Miami right now for the Formula 1 race. I couldn’t bring myself to go as much as everyone told me I should'.

And another was fascinated by the cat's name choice: 'Omg love that name. My feelings'.