Process of death

Question
My cat died yesterday morning at home.  We were holding her when she died.  All day she was very weak and slept a lot and would meow occasionally while looking at us. Just prior to her death she began breathing shallow and more often. As she died she stretched her 4 legs straight and arched her head back for about 5 to 10 seconds then relaxed.  She wasn't breathing any longer and her heart was still beating faintly then stopped.  Within 1 minute she seemed to sneeze 3 or 4 times.  What I'd like to know is:
1) the stiffening, was that an involuntary action? Was she already dead?
2) how do we know at what point she was gone? (before she stopped breathing and heart beat?)
3) what was the sneezing? we didn't see her trying to breath so was that an involuntary action?

Thanks for any insight you can give us. Kim

Answer
Kim,

I'm sorry about your kitty. It's never easy to go through. Here is an EXCELLENT site for pet loss emotional support, and where you can make a memorial for your cat:
(copy and paste, or type the whole link into your address bar)
http://rainbowsbridge.com/hello.htm

The sneezing I have never heard of, and I've gone through the death process with quite a few cats and kittens. Usually a cat will get a burst of energy, or in your case the stiffening, but they have already died. It is a reflex action.

Cats do not have any concept of death so the cat did not know it was going to die. It just knew that it didn't feel good. Your being with the cat was a comfort to it.

Again, I'm sorry.

Tabbi