A cat that I had through much of my childhood was a long hair black cat who lived to be 20 years old. His name was Pierre. He had no health problems but one night he went to sleep and that was it. He died peacefully in his sleep. The only problems he had were that he forgot to groom his beautiful hair so it would mat if we did not brush him often. Also, once in awhile he forgot to go to the bathroom in his litter box, twice he peed on the dining room table.