Britain's Oldest Cat

[ChrisH]

Sorry, no pictures.

In October 1999, Spike, a 29 year old ginger and white tom was named Britain's oldest living cat and given a Guiness Book of Records certificate. Spike's owner, Mo Elkington, an aromatherapist from Bridport, Dorset, UK attributed his good age to being fed aloe vera gel each day. His diet also consists of fresh fish, trout, pink salmon and ordinary cat food. Spike spends his days in his quarter acre garden in his countryside home. Spike is still in good health today now at 31.

[moosmom]

ChrisH,

I was just talking to someone at work the other day about how old cats can live to be. We were wondering the age of the world's oldest cat. I figured it was around 29. That's great to know. Salmon, aloe, fresh fish? No WONDER he's lived to a ripe old age!!

[Catty1]

Spike made it just past his 31st birthday. A pic is here - what a beautiful long-haired orangie!

RIP, Lovely lucky Spike.


http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1430000/images/_1433749_spikeoldcat300bbc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/1433749.stm&h=180&w=300&sz=14&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=ck03TZTEj9FdFM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3DWorld%
(Chris - you might want to post Update in the thread title? Just an idea)

As a side note, this was supposed to be the world's new oldest cat in 2004 - 33 years old!

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://xo.typepad.com/blog/oldestcat.jpg&imgrefurl=http://xo.typepad.com/blog/2004/03/is_this_the_wor.html&h=260&w=200&sz=10&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=YkF3GKmNvpABRM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=86&prev=/images%3Fq%3DWorld%2527s%2BOldest%2BCat%26svnum%3D 10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

[Lori Jordan]

That truly is amazing,You have to wonder though sometimes,I have never had a cat live past 15,It must be the food,Maybe we all should change our cats to that diet.

31 years is amazing truly is.

What a beautiful cat he was!

[Whisk_Luva]

Heres a pic of Spike
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39900000/jpg/_39900774_catb150.jpg
Spike was Britain's oldest cat, but died in 2001 is what the BBC say. Poor Kitty cat!

RIP Spike.

[buttercup132]

Wow thats really old. I've just started giving Ducky Salmon and Sardienes but umm I'm not sure about giving him aloe :confused: Do you tihnk it wuold hurt him?

[smokey the elder]

Today's calendar cat on my 365 day cat calendar is 26 years old, and also an orangie! Maybe the orange gene also codes for longevity. ;)

[catmandu]

I Wish That The Found Cats Could Live That Long As Long As They Age As Gracefully As That English Cat.
That Would Pretty Well Guarantee That We Would Be Together Furrever.

[Miss Z]

Whew, 31 and 33 years old, what special cats they were! I suppose it shows how important a good diet is for longevity!

[Catty1]

Seems that living in the British Isles is a factor! :)

[Catty1]

Other oldest cats:

It’s official. In mid-August, the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that
Granpa, who appeared in the March 1997 Cat Fancy centerfold, was the world's longest-living catTEXAS . Granpa, who died on April 1, 1998, lived to be 34 years, two months and four hours. The previous record was 34 years and one day and had been set in 1957 by a tabby from England.

June 2006: A SCOTTISH cat is set to be crowned the oldest in the world, having barely survived birth.

Gloria, 26 - about 97 in human years - has claimed the title after a cat in Texas died aged 37 two years ago.

Now the Guinness Book of World Records is to recognise Gloria's claim as the oldest of the cat world. Her owner, Maggie McQuilkin, said: "She's in perfect health.

"You would never know what age she was and she is still as active as ever. I don't think she is going anywhere."

Gloria started life as a feral cat, born in an abandoned car in her home town of Gourock, Inverclyde. Mrs McQuilkin took in Gloria and her brother, Inky, who died some time ago.

Gloria had an eye infection, which left her blind in one eye, heart and lung problems, as well as a gum infection, which led to the loss of her teeth.

Despite her early bad health, Mrs McQuilkin's care as well as a special diet of pureed food, including ordinary cat food and the occasional treat of cooked fish, has left Gloria in fine fettle.

Mrs McQuilkin admitted: "I really didn't think she was going to survive because she was so sickly and in such a mess."

I include a link from April 27 here, as there is a cute pic of the cat.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004121997,00.html

Interesting how many were sick rescues/bottle babies!

[Killearn Kitties]

How sweet! For some reason I always remember Spike being a brown tabby, not a ginger and white. Maybe I haven't seen him in glorious technicolour before!

I must say, I have never heard of Gloria from Gourock. Did the article say whether she was still with us, Catty?

[kb2yjx]

That is just so amazing that a cat could live that long!!!! Thanks for the links to see Spike's photo! Such a handsome ORANGEMAN!! Sleep softly, Spike....

[DonGato's Person]

a 29-year-old cat?! Holy cow... :eek:

[Logan]

Scott has always sworn that Butter will be the world's oldest cat, just because he doesn't like him so much. LOL!!!! :p Butter has a long, long way to go, and I certainly hope he will keep going and going. :) I love my Butter.

Logan

[Lizzie]

I'm wondering about orange cats also now that I've read this and my Ginger, who will turn 21 late next month, is also orange. Her mother (a calico) died at 15 as did her brother (tuxi), and her sisters (a white and a calico) both died at 19. Perhaps the three females got their unknown father's long-life genes. She also has most of her teeth and her blood work keeps coming back with normal values. She's the cheapest cat I've ever had because she's only had to see the vet twice in her life, apart from shots and check-ups, and she uses newspaper as her preferred litter. I've been thinking since she turned 19 that I surely can't have her much longer, but after reading about the other cats I realize that's she's still relatively young.