What is the longest living cat

Poppy the moggy is purring with delight after scooping the world’s oldest cat crown at the age of 24. The pretty pet was born in February 1990, the same month Nelson Mandela was released from prison. She has lived through five British Prime Ministers but is now a frail old lady and spends most of her time inside relaxing. At the grand old age of 24, she has been officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest living cat. Poppy, from Bournemouth, has picked up the title following the death of Pinky, a cat from Kansas who passed away at the age of 23 last year. The ‘Top Cat’ Poppy was originally called Popsy and had two owners in her early days.

Índice Show

Top 5 oldest cats
Creme Puff (38 years and 3 days)
Baby (38 years)
Puss (36 years and 1 day)
Granpa Rexs Allen (34 years, 2 months)

Then, aged five, she was adopted by Marguerite Corner and her daughter Jacqui. At the age of ten, Poppy went with Jacqui who had moved in with future husband Andy West.

Poppy with current owner Jacqui West and her two sons Joe (left), and Toby (right)

The couple now have two sons (Joe,11 and Toby, eight) and Poppy lives with four other cats, two rabbits and a hamster. Despite her age and frailty, Poppy is still the boss of the house and if the other cats try their luck with her they are swiftly dealt with. Jacqui said: “People always ask what we put Poppy’s longevity down to and I guess she has a good diet and lots of exercise. “She keeps herself fit by walking around and she eats a lot. She has biscuits in the morning and tinned food later on. She’s never been a big cat though. “She is partial to the odd takeaway. We sometimes give her a bit of KFC chicken, Fish and chips and even the odd bit of kebab meat.”

Jacqui, an accountant, has four other cats along with two rabbits and a hamster.

She wrote to Guinness World Records in February after Poppy turned 24, submitting her into the category of “Oldest Cat Currently Living”. Guinness World Records investigated the West’s claims and have now confirmed Poppy as the world’s oldest living cat. Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed with claims for the ‘oldest living cat’, with owners from across the globe making applications on behalf of their cats. Today, though, I’m pleased to confirm that we’re recognising Poppy from Bournemouth in the UK as the world’s oldest living cat, at the age of 24 years. If anyone thinks their cat beats this, and can prove it, then we’d encourage them to get in touch with us.” The oldest cat in history was a feline called Creme Puff who was born on 3 August 1967 and lived until 6 August 2005 - an amazing 38 years and 3 days.

Creme Puff lived with her owner, Jake Perry, in Austin, Texas, USA.

Poppy, left, with previous Marguerite

But the crown is now in Bournemouth with Poppy.

Jacqui added: “Poppy is definitely the top cat and she is still quite feisty. If one of the other cats tries to eat her food she will bite them on the ear.

“She’s deaf and blind and meows for everything. We call her stroppy Poppy sometimes.

“She can get up the stairs but we won’t let her walk down. Over the last year her health has gone down and we know the end is near. “Poppy does seem to be out-living all our other pets too. We unfortunately had a hamster and bunny die on us last year.

“Each time we tell the grandparents we’ve lost an animal, they all assume its Poppy. I’ve said goodbye to her a few times but she keeps on going.”

Pics:David Hedges / SWNS.com

While it's not uncommon for cats to reach 15 years old, some cat breeds stand out as long-lived companions. There's no guarantee that your cat will live into its 20s, as nature and nurture both are determining factors. But picking a cat breed with a longer lifespan and taking great care of your cat improves your odds of having a loving feline for many years.

Since the cat's diet is such an important factor for longevity, choosing a higher quality food from the beginning can set up your kitty for a longer lifespan. The cat food label should say "Complete and Balanced" on it. In the list of ingredients, make sure the protein source comes first on the ingredient list and is named, such as "chicken, turkey, lamb, or beef," rather than "meat."

Quality nutrition, adequate exercise, and regular wellness checks will maximize a cat's lifespan. There aren't breed-specific characteristics about one breed or another that make them longer-living cats. Some breeds may have a higher prevalence for disease or health concerns, which could shorten a cat's life. Quite the opposite, mixed breeds could have a greater chance of longevity for broadening the gene pool.

However, all experts agree that the No. 1 commonality that all long-lived cats have is they are indoor cats. Cats allowed to roam outside are at higher risk of run-ins with cars, catfights, and disease. Domestic cats that are allowed outdoors have the shortest lifespan of only two to five years on average.

Here are 10 of the longest-living cat breeds.

The lifespan of a domestic cat – the maximum length an individual can expect to live – is around 30 years. However, this doesn't mean that the average cat will live this long: the real length of a feline's life is influenced by genetics, environment and lifestyle, as well as injury and illness.

Cats tend to live around 15 years, on average.

As in humans, female cats tend to live for longer than male cats. Neutered cats are also likely to live for longer than intact ones, and pure breed cats are less likely to live as long as crossbreeds.

Top 5 oldest cats

Creme Puff (38 years and 3 days)

3 August 1967 – 6 August 2005

Guinness World Records lists Creme Puff, a tabby mix, as the oldest cat ever to live. She was owned by Jake Perry of Austin, Texas.

Baby (38 years)

1970 – March 2008

In second place is Baby, a black domestic shorthair who lived in the USA and also reached 38 years old.

Puss (36 years and 1 day)

28 November 1903 – 29 November 1939

The 1990 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records listed Puss as the oldest cat ever recorded. The tabby was owned by Mrs T Holway of Devon, and died the day after his 36th birthday.

May-June 1923 – 5 November 1957

In the same edition, Guinness features Ma, a female tabby owned by Mrs Alice St George Moore, also of Devon.

Granpa Rexs Allen (34 years, 2 months)

Also owned by Jake Perry, Granpa Rexa Allen was a Sphynx-Devon Rex who lived to the age of 34. Perry claims that the cat's diet was the secret to its long life: eggs, broccoli, bacon and coffee with cream.

This is a list of the oldest cats in the world, listed by reported age, all of whom have attained the minimum age of 25 years. Aging in cats depends on breed, size and diet.

Some of the ages reported here are approximate. Others are based on estimates or hearsay. Few of them have been confirmed by any authoritative agency.

Rank	Name	Birth date	Death date	Age reported in most recent source	Description	Sex	Country	Ref	Notes
1	Creme Puff	August 3, 1967	August 6, 2005	38 years, 3 days	Tabby mix	female	United States	[1][2][3]	Same owner as Granpa Rexs Allen
2	Baby	1970	March 2008	38 years	Black DSH	male	United States	[4][5]
3	Puss	November 28, 1903	November 29, 1939	36 years, 1 day	Tabby	male	United Kingdom	[6]
4	Great Grandma Wad	1987		35 years	Wichien Maat	female	Thailand	[7]
5	Ma	May–June 1923	November 5, 1957	34 years, 5 months	Tabby DSH	female	United Kingdom	[8][9]
6	Granpa Rexs Allen	February 1, 1964	April 1, 1998	34 years, 2 months	Sphynx-Devon Rex	male	United States	[10][11][12]	Age reported as 26 in 1996 newspaper article, then as 33 at death in 1998. Owner later claimed to have "miscalculated" age[13]
7	Sarah	March 1982	September 2015	33 years, 6 months		female	New Zealand	[14][15]
8	Miez Maz	c. 1979	February 2012	33 years		male	Switzerland	[16]
9	Sasha	1986	2019	33 years	Tortoiseshell cat	female	Northern Ireland	[17]
10	Rubble	May 1988	July 3, 2020	32 years, 2 months	Maine Coon	male	United Kingdom	[18]	Reference indicates the cat died just before reaching his 32nd birthday.
11	Tiger	July 1988	July 22, 2020	32 years	Ginger tabby	male	United States	[19]
12	Kitty	June/July 1957	June 1989	Just short of 32 years		female	United Kingdom	[20]	Oldest recorded feline mother; gave birth to a litter of 2 kittens at the age of 30.
13	Spike	May 1970	July 2001	31 years, 2 months	Longhair (Ginger and white)	male	United Kingdom	[21][22]
14	Nutmeg	1986	August 29, 2017	31 years	Tabby	male	United Kingdom	[23][24]
15	Whiskey	August 1, 1985	September 11, 2015	30 years, 41 days	Black and white DSH	male	United Kingdom	[25]
16	Henry	March 1986		30 years	Tabby	male	United Kingdom	[26]
17	Scooter	March 26, 1986	April 2016	30 years	Siamese cat	male	United States	[27]
18	Missan	1985		29 years		female	Sweden	[28]
19	Squeak	1987		29 years	Calico cat	female	United States	[29][30]
20	Cola	November 1985		28 years	Black cat	female	United Kingdom	[31]
21	Soot	1987		28 years	Black cat	male	Canada	[32]
22	Minky	1994	August 19, 2021	27 years	Persian cat	female	South Korea	[33]	Oldest cat recorded in South Korea
23	Tiffany Two	March 13, 1988	May 22, 2015	27 years, 70 days	Tortoiseshell cat	female	United States	[34]
24	Wadsworth	March 6, 1986		27 years	Black and white DSH	male	United Kingdom	[35]
25	Banjo	1989		27 years		male	United Kingdom	[36]	Reference indicates year of birth could be as late as 1991.
26	Kataleena Lady	March 11, 1977		27 years	Burmese cat		Australia	[37][38]
27	Corduroy	August 1, 1989	October 2016	27 years	Tabby	male	United States	[39][40][41]
28	Marduk	1995		27 years	Black DSH	male	New Zealand	[42]
29	Hobo	1986	October 2012	26 years	White DSH	female	United States	[43]

List of individual cats
List of oldest dogs
List of longest-living organisms

^ Guinness World Records 2010. Bantam; Reprint edition. 2010. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-553-59337-2. The oldest cat ever was Creme Puff, who was born on August 3, 1967 and lived until August 6, 2005–38 years 3 days in total.
^ Oldest cat ever, Guinness World Records Corporate, retrieved 20 April 2012
^ Warren, Jessica (Oct 23, 2009). "Caterack Dies – World's Oldest Cat Was 30!". The National Ledger. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2018. A report from MSNBC News notes that the oldest cat ever recorded was a 38-year-old feline named Creme Puff, according to a rep from Guinness World Records.
^ "37-Year Old Cat Still Going Strong". Farm Show. 31 (5): 24. 2007. Baby won the oldest cat entry in a recent contest held by Cat Fancy magazine. Palusky's main evidence of Baby's age is a photo of him when he was 3; the photo is dated 1973
^ "The Feline Fountain of Youth". Cat Fancy. 51 (8): 10. 2008.
^ McWhirter, Norris (1990). Guinness 1990 Book of World Records. Bantam Books. p. 65. ISBN 0553284525. The oldest cat ever recorded was probably the tabby "Puss," owned by Mrs T. Holway of Clayhidon, Devon, England, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Nov 28, 1939 and died the next day
^ "ทวดหวาด แมววิเชียรมาศที่จันทบุรี อายุ 34 ปี เท่ากับคน 160 ปี". 19 March 2021.
^ McWhirter, Norris (1990). Guinness 1990 Book of World Records. Bantam Books. p. 65. ISBN 0553284525.
^ Wood, Gerald (March 1985). Guinness Book of Pet Records. Sterling. p. 78. ISBN 0851122957. The greatest reliable age recorded for a cat is 34 years 5 months for a female tabby named 'Ma' owned by Mrs Alice St George Moore
^ Maggitti, Phil (April–May 2009). "Owners/History: Granpa Rexs Allen". Sphynx Breeders / Enthusiast Newsletter. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013.
^ "Granpa Rexs Allen - 32 Year old Sphynx cat - 1999 Cat of the Year". CNN News. 1999. CNN. He's often mistaken for a Chihuahua but this is the nation's oldest known cat who has well outlived his nine lives. Meet Granpa Rexs Allen - part Rex, part Sphynx - celebrating his 32nd birthday. That's 32 in human years, 165 in cat years.
^ Couch, Christina (December 15, 2015). "How to Raise a 165-Year-Old Cat". Atlas Obscura.
^ Maggitti, Phil (April–May 2009). "Owners/History: Granpa Rexs Allen". Sphynx Breeders / Enthusiast Newsletter. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. In noting his passing, the Austin American-Statesman began, “Grandpa Rexs Allen, possibly the oldest cat in the United States at 33, died Wednesday morning at his Austin home. His owner said the cause of death was pneumonia.” The article also mentioned that “Perry had hoped to get Grandpa into the Guinness Book of Records. The oldest cat in that book is an English feline that died at 34. Perry still thinks Grandpa may get into the book - he said he might have miscalculated the cat's age, and Grandpa may have been 34 already.” Eager to learn how Granpa, who had been a reported 26 and an estimated 31 in 1996, had gotten to be 33 just two years later, Cats & Kittens spoke with Jake Perry last spring.
^ O'Callaghan, Jody (June 13, 2013). "Plucky Sarah may be NZ's oldest cat". Stuff.co.nz.
^ O'Callaghan, Jody (September 9, 2015). "Kiwi cat vying for oldest moggy record dies". Stuff.co.nz.
^ "One of world's oldest cats mistakenly put down by vet". February 14, 2012.
^ Deeney, Donna (July 21, 2017). "Northern Ireland cat Sasha could be world's oldest at 31". Belfast Telegraph.
^ "World's oldest cat celebrates 30th birthday". Fox News. June 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
^ Krauser, Mike (August 3, 2019). "Meet Tiger, 31, The Oldest Living Cat in Illinois". Radio.com.
^ McWhirter, Norris (1995). The Guinness Book of Records 1996. Random House. p. 63. ISBN 0553542273.
^ Allred, Alexandra Powe (2005). Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities. Potomac Books, Inc. p. 218. ISBN 1-57488-858-7.
^ "World's oldest cat dies". BBC News. July 11, 2001.
^ Jeeves, Paul (January 28, 2016). "Meet the world's OLDEST cat: Nutmeg the grumpy tabby who is going strong at 31-years-old". Daily Express.
^ World’s oldest cat dies at the age of 32 (that’s 144 in cat years), Metro, retrieved September 15, 2017
^ "Whiskey, 'world's oldest' cat, dies aged 30 in Buckinghamshire". The Daily Telegraph. September 14, 2015.
^ Anderson, Stuart (May 30, 2016). "Could this Norwich cat be the oldest feline in the world?". Eastern Daily Press.
^ "Oldest cat in the world, Scooter, dies aged 30". British Broadcasting Corporation. 2016-05-14. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
^ "Meet the world's oldest cat, Missan, who turns 30 this year". WGN-TV. February 23, 2013.
^ Smolka, Maggie (January 23, 2016). "Johnson City could be the home of the world's oldest cat". WCYB-TV.
^ "World's oldest cat could live in Tennessee". WTHR. June 24, 2016.
^ Grafton-Green, Patrick (August 28, 2013). "World's oldest cat is living in Orpington – and is same age as Dizzee Rascal". News Shopper.
^ Brown, Audra (August 17, 2015). "Toronto feline claiming to be oldest cat in the world". CityNews.
^ Kim, Jisook (August 20, 2021). "South Korea's longest living cat, Minky passed away". The Hankyoreh.
^ Thorne, Dan (6 February 2015). "Oldest cat living: Tiffany Two from California claims world record". GuinnessWorldRecords.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
^ "Wadsworth, 27-Year-Old British Cat, May Be The World's Oldest". Huffington Post. March 14, 2013.
^ Jamieson, Amy (September 27, 2016). "Twentysomething Shelter Kitty Dubbed 'Britain's Oldest Cat' Finds Forever Home". People.
^ Whitlark, Kevin; Regan, Patrick (2005). The Red Cat Society: Keeping Life Frisky, Fun, and Fabulous!. Andrews McMeel Publishing. According to Guinness World Records, the oldest living cat is a Burmese called Kataleena Lady who lives in Melbourne, Australia. Kataleena Lady was born on March 11, 1977. Roll on, you saucy Aussie!
^ Allred, Alexandra Powe (2011). Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities. Potomac Books. ISBN 978-1612342931. As of 2004 Guinness recognizes Kataleena Lady of Victoria, Australia, as the oldest living cat, born on March 1, 1977.
^ Swatman, Rachel (13 August 2015). "Spotlight: Corduroy is crowned the oldest living cat". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
^ Hetter, Katia (13 August 2015). "Corduroy, 26, named oldest living cat". Cable News Network. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
^ "Cat believed to be world's oldest is missing, presumed dead". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
^ "pg 2 Kaipara's Elder Feline". Kaipara Lifestyler. September 14, 2021.
^ Ray, Debbie (March 26, 2012). "Oldest Cat in Louisiana Celebrated 26th Birthday". KTDY.