Pasan Nanayakkara
As pet lovers, we all know that our furry friends bring us immeasurable joy and companionship. However, it’s not often that we hear of a pet reaching an age that is equivalent to 120 human years. Meet Flossie, a brown-and-black-coated cat who lives with her owner Vicki Green in England, who at 26 years old is officially designated as the oldest cat alive according to Guinness World Records.
Cats are known to have the most extended lives of all animals, but Flossie has exceeded even the typical life expectancy for a cat. Despite her advanced age, Flossie is still in good health and has a healthy appetite. “She doesn’t turn her back up when she has the chance to enjoy eating well,” Vicki told Guinness World Records.
However, Flossie’s life hasn’t always been smooth. She has moved between residences over the years and was even in a filthy situation before being taken in by Vicki. Flossie was a wanderer who was a part of a cat colony close to an animal hospital. In 1995, she was taken in by one of their staff members. After ten years in this happy home, the owner passed away, and the sister admitted her to the owner, who she stayed with for 14 more years until the owner passed away too.
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At the age of 24, Flossie was taken in by the previous owner’s son, who took care of her for three consecutive years until he became in a position to take care of the cat and gave her to Cats Protection, a UK cat shelter. The charity was reportedly “flabbergasted” after scouring the records of Flossie’s vet and found that she was 27 years old.
As older cats aren’t able to be adopted, it was expected that Flossie was likely to spend the rest of her time at Cats Protection. However, Vicki, the executive assistant at the shelter with experience working with older cats and senior cats, decided to help and offer Flossie the opportunity of a new house. “She was quite loud the first couple of nights because she was unable to see at night and was a little lost in her new environment, but sleeping through the night, laying in my bed,” she told Guinness World Records.
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It was only after she discovered that Flossie might become the most senior cat on the planet that Vicki contacted Guinness to confirm this record “I had a feeling from the beginning that Flossie was a unique pet. However, I did not imagine sharing my house with a world record-holder.”
The announcement came shortly after Guinness named the world’s oldest dog living: 22-year-old Chihuahua mix Gino. Although Flossie is the world’s oldest cat, she has a long-way to go before making history. The most senior cat recorded has to be Creme Puff, who lived more than 38 years from 1967 until 2005.
In conclusion, Congrats to Flossie for becoming the oldest cat in the world! we wish her a happy birthday on the 27th of July and many years of great fun!
