The internet is fascinated by a cat that died over 30 years ago, but still looks like it's sleeping—in the middle of the family living room.

Jamey Camerer, 73, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, lives in Missouri, and recently showed off her home to her online followers on her TikTok account @mats.ma.lyls.gran. One thing in particular caught followers' eyes: a cat, curled up as though asleep, in a glass cabinet. It was her pet cat, Kitty Kitty, who died in 1992.

"Kitty was the closest pet I've ever had and when it was his time to leave, I just couldn't put him in the ground and then someday move away and leave him," Camerer, who has lived across Texas and Missouri, told Newsweek. "I didn't know about cremation, but that wouldn't have worked for us either," she said.

"We found a company in Missouri that freeze-dried pets. It was a new thing at that time. We had to position Kitty the way that we wanted him and put him in the freezer until we got instructions on sending him to the company. Nowadays, you can have them with their eyes open. You can have them standing up, but back then it was a new technology."

Despite being new, the technology worked incredibly well, and Camerer's video, shared on October 23 and with almost 11 million views, shows the cat—18 years old when he died—looking as though he really could be sleeping.

In the clip, she tells viewers: "I don't regret doing it at all," adding that it cost $400, which at the time was "a lot of money."

But it came with challenges, she revealed, as they had to keep Kitty Kitty in their freezer before it was time to send him to the company — and "someone at the party wanted ice. They went to the freezer. They got kind of scared."

According to Second Life Freeze Dry, the means of preservation removes all moisture from body tissues leaving the animal virtually intact, and retains the pet's natural features for a realistic look. Preserving a cat may take three or four months, while a large dog could take over a year.

Camerer told Newsweek the family were "so happy" when Kitty Kitty came home, as "he looked exactly like he did when he was alive and sleeping."

Now, they see their freeze-dried cat as "just another part of the family."

"He's always just sat on the floor in the living room in the case. The glass does come off and you can pet him or take him out and sit anywhere you want," she said, but admitted: "I prefer he stay in the case."

TikTok users were fascinated by Camerer's video, with plenty commenting, asking questions or sharing their stories. One admitted: "I would cry every day, seeing my baby in that case."

Another wrote: "I respect it but personally this would send me into a sobbing mess every day."

But one taxidermist commented: "This is actually a really great preservation method very similar to mummification. Sweet buddy was memorialized beautifully."

Camerer told Newsweek the cat had been "by my side" during some of the most difficult parts of her life, including the devastating loss of her youngest daughter, Mandi Lew, who was born premature in 1980.

Camerer made the difficult decision to have tubal ligation to avoid the same heartache in the future. But, she told Newsweek, there was a "happy ending to the story," as years later medicine had advanced enough for her to have another, healthy child.

As she put it: "Kitty was there for me from the beginning to the end of this whole ordeal."

"A lot of people commented on TikTok about what's gonna happen when I leave, and I guarantee you Kitty Kitty is the only heirloom my kids will want," she said. "He will stay in the family for generations."