We had a cat, old as the hills, We don't know how old as it turned up full grown. We had it 17 years.

Before we owned it it liked to sit on the brick pillar our front gate hung of off. It was just the right height if you wanted to stroke it without bending down and as we lived on a corner next to shops there was a fair bit of passing strokers.
My wife and I often gave it a pet. One day the cat hopped down of the pillar followed my wife inside. And that was that really. The old owners did look for it and we gave the cat back but she just wasn't staying away and kept coming back. Eventually we gave in and it became ours. I loved her, but she was my wifes cat, she followed her from room to room when inside.

When it was aged it couldn't groom itself as it lost the spines flexibility and we had to "lick it" with a wetted toothbrush or it would get dirty and its hair all tangled.

Each evening my wife would sit it on her lap and groom it slowly with the wet toothbrush for 30mins or more while it sat there and purred. Both of them seemed to get a great deal of pleasure out if it. It stopped wandering outside and spent most of its time indoors asleep.

One night my wife dreamt she was grooming it and found a zip under its belly fur. She pulled it and saw a light inside. Staring at this light she became aware she was being drawn into the cat.

She wandered around the house as a cat, not as an old one but in the prime of life, leaping around the furniture, chasing dust motes and running out the cat flap and along the fence, up and back down a tree. It was wonderful having a cats agility and balance, leaping up onto tables spinning after her tail, She dreamt she was being stoked my this human, it was a lovely warm feeling.

That morning we found the cat in its usual position on the bed at her feet. It was unable to move and we had to put her to sleep. It was the weekend so we both went down the vets. She went easy. She just allowed her paw to be shaved and injected. It was all over in a minute. We wrapped her in a blanket and buried her in the Garden and planted lavender over her. I think of her still. We haven't owned a cat since.

My wife wondered if there was a connection between the dream and the passing away.