The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Pets & Working Animals => Cats => Topic started by: shygirl on July 11, 2013, 12:08:18 am

Title: How old is old?
Post by: shygirl on July 11, 2013, 12:08:18 am: So how old is old for a cat?
two of ours are 18 and 16. both in fine condition, just a bit deaf. we had them since kittens tho one was a cats home kitten.
how old do cats normally live for? :eyelashes:
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: bigchicken on July 11, 2013, 12:22:48 am: I had a neighbour once who had two cats one was 26 and the youngster was 22 the older was a manx and the younger a cross Persian type. Guinness world record is 37 I think.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Brucklay on July 11, 2013, 06:46:53 am: My original three from before I was married Tequila lived to 22. Tia 19 and Bourbon 21 which I though was a pretty good inning
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Rosemary on July 11, 2013, 07:40:36 am: Our oldest was a week short of her 18th birthday.

Homer and Cassius were strays, so age was just a guesstimate; Felix is 14 this year.

I suspect 18+ is pretty old but is starting to be unusual as a % of the cat population, bit like being 90 or 100 in humans. An awful lot of cats don't see 2 due to accidents.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Brucklay on July 11, 2013, 08:43:55 am: Yes I think your right Rosemary - mine were lucky that we've always lived a fare way from roads so they had a good chance of not getting injured.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: in the hills on July 11, 2013, 08:51:06 am: Our old boy lived until 18 plus. He was a stray so not exact. When we first took him in he needed a bit of treatment and vet told us that he probably wouldn't have a very long life due to his bad start and the fact that he looked as though he had been that way for quite a long time.

He was a star. :love: Always a bit grumpy, stayed a bit on the wild side but a special old lad.

Long live your mogs. ;D
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: SallyintNorth on July 11, 2013, 11:29:44 am: Mine have mostly lived 4 or less - accidents or shot - or to about 15 / 16. Anything over that's a bonus, I'd say.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Roxy on July 11, 2013, 04:42:51 pm: Two house cats got to 15 and 16. Farm cats tend to get run over, or something else happens and they never return. But lost one last year who lived round the farm and she was in her early teens, so that was good.
Usually, its the old cats teeth that cause problems, and they tend to lose weight, although friend has a few toothless cats, and they are all ok!! And my two old house cats both had to be pts because of kidney failure - symptoms include drinking lots of water.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Pedwardine on July 25, 2013, 01:14:11 am: I have Maddie, a deaf old yowly girl who is in her 20th year.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Roxy on July 25, 2013, 11:38:37 am: Wow!! Maddie is an old lady then!!
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: sokel on July 25, 2013, 11:39:52 am: We had a white cat who was still alive at 20 yrs old and was killed by a stray Jack russel even though she was sat on our own door step with the door open
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: shygirl on July 25, 2013, 07:43:54 pm: Quote from: sokel on July 25, 2013, 11:39:52 am
We had a white cat who was still alive at 20 yrs old and was killed by a stray Jack russel even though she was sat on our own door step with the door open

thats terrible, poor cat.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: lokismum on September 09, 2013, 08:10:19 pm: I have 2
mother and 3 legged son
mum is 20
son is 18 he was 8 months old when we got him and leg was well healed by then
both still fat and happy
they like to be in more now than when they were younger but that's about it
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: sabrina on October 02, 2013, 11:23:58 am: I got 2 kittens from the CP and they lived to 17 and 19. My Burmese died age 18 she went a bit senile .
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: shygirl on October 02, 2013, 11:28:43 am: the old girl is blooming at the moment, put on alot of weight over summer. shes not looking like shes on her last legs at all.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: devonlad on October 02, 2013, 11:59:07 am: we had 2 old cats (well they became old) mother and daughter Gubbins and Junior Gubbins a.k.a Jubbins, who now are buried next to each other in our orchard, each with a little stone. Gubbins died two years ago this month at the age of 24 and Jubbins died about a year ago at the age of 23. Both lived outside all their lives, were totally devoted to each other and apart from spaying, neither ever went to the vet in all that time until the very end in jubbin's case. Gubbins was found "fast asleep" under her favourite bush and Jubbins was PTS after her teeth became so bad and infected that she couldn't be treated and it was kinder to let her go.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Hamish Crofter on October 08, 2013, 08:27:53 pm: We had a lovely black and white who made it just past 21 without a trip to the vets for ill health. My wife found her in a bush when she was new born. She was a great cat and eventually had a stroke and was gone in 24 hrs.
Title: Re: How old is old?
Post by: Alistair on October 08, 2013, 11:05:39 pm: Our cat history is..

Betty, 1st cat, moggy, now 19 and a half &still going strong
Karina, white chinchilla Persian, 17, lost to mouth cancer (just before we took over the world)
Lola, tortoiseshell , 5, liver cancer, 2weeks after big deer hound x greyhound lost to same thing
Marley, big black cat, 4, went out never came back, miss him

I think anything last 18 is amazing, Betty is a bit senile these days, I'm sure she's decided she's a dog, but hey, dogs are good