The average house cat lives for around 15 years, but for a few special cats, life stretches on far beyond that. These are the world’s oldest cats — and they’ve got a thing or two to teach us about aging gracefully!
Let’s meet a few of the oldest cats in recorded history and learn their secrets to long, happy lives.
Three of the Oldest Cats in History
Creme Puff the Tabby: 38 Years, 3 Days
Born on August 3, 1967, in Austin, Texas, Creme Puff seemed destined to live a remarkable life. But only time would tell just how remarkable her life would be.
Creme Puff’s owner, Jake Perry, was truly committed to providing his cats with full, enriching lives. He outfitted his home with wooden steps on the walls for the cats to climb on and built a screened enclosure in his yard so the cats could play outdoors safely.
Perry even converted his garage into a movie theater for his pets, where he screened nature documentaries and other feline-friendly films.
This royal treatment extended to Creme Puff’s diet. She ate dry cat food like millions of other cats, but she also ate broccoli, turkey bacon and eggs regularly, and routinely drank coffee with cream.
And every two days, Perry gave Creme Puff an eyedropper of red wine, believing that it improved blood circulation. In fact, Perry has stated that Creme Puff’s diet was key to her health and longevity.
It sounds crazy, but he may have had a point: Creme Puff turned 38 on August 3, 2005, outliving all other cats in recorded history. She passed away three days later and has since been crowned the “World’s Oldest Cat” by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Baby the Black Domestic Shorthair: 38 Years
Baby the cat’s earliest days were not suggestive of the long life he would lead. Born on an unknown day in 1970 in Duluth, Minnesota, he was just a kitten when he was tossed into a trashcan along with firecrackers by a group of children.
Thankfully, a young man named Al Palusky and his mother, Mabel, found him and rescued him from his torture chamber. After an hour in Mabel’s loving arms, the kitten stopped shaking and the Paluskys welcomed him into their family.
Baby didn’t give the Paluskys any indication that he’d live so long. He seemed like a normal indoor cat, swatting flies, meowing for attention and fetching toys that Al threw for him.
Baby adjusted well when Al married his wife, Mary, in 1998 — no small feat for a then-28-year-old cat! However, Baby never recovered from the trauma of his kittenhood and remained fearful of children throughout his life.
Even in his later years, Baby got plenty of exercise thanks to the 14 basement steps he had to descend to reach his litter box. He ate regular cat food and enjoyed table scraps, especially steak, macaroni, cheese, peas and corn.
Sadly, Baby passed away in March of 2008 at the age of 38. It just goes to show what a loving family and a warm home can do for a cat!
Sasha the Tortoiseshell: 34 Years and Counting!
In 1991, Beth O’Neill from Newtonabbey, Ireland, was walking past a stable near her home when she heard the cries of a cat. When she approached the stables, she found a tortoiseshell cat with a dent in its side, barely able to move and about to be mauled by a Jack Russell terrier.
Beth rushed the cat to a vet, who found nothing wrong with the cat despite its panicked and weary state. The dent, the vet said, was from an old injury, and there were no signs of illness.
That vet estimated the cat’s age to be about five years old and gave Beth the all-clear to bring the cat home. She and her daughter named the cat Sasha — which, coincidentally, was the name of the vet who examined her.
Sasha’s life with the O’Neills was filled with love and adventure. She enjoyed exploring and would often disappear for days at a time, but always returned home to her beloved owners.
As she aged, Sasha began sticking closer to home. She lost her hearing and stopped roaming the neighborhood, preferring to lounge in the sunny garden and soak up attention from her human housemates.
Today, Sasha is 34 years old and shares her home with another long-lived cat, Nico, who is 25 and belongs to Beth’s daughter. The O’Neills believe that both Sasha and Nico still have many years ahead of them, and Beth hopes that Sasha will one day earn the title of the world’s oldest cat.
"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this."
-- Terry Pratchett
