Paws Corner by Sam Mazzotta
DEAR PAW’S CORNER:
I’m extremely curious about the average lifespan of cats. Years ago my husband found a stray kitten about 6 weeks old. Skeezix lived to be 26 years old until he passed away one night after two strokes. We also rescued a stray we named Sheba, and we had her for 25 years (the vet couldn’t believe she’d lived so long), so she was at least 26 or 27 when congestive heart failure took her. My two remaining cats, Mama and Baby, are about 16 and 19 years old, respectively.
We’ve never done anything special in terms of care and feeding. They all have been spayed or neutered, gotten regular veterinary care and lived indoors exclusively. I feed them Dad’s dry cat food, split a can of wet food between them occasionally, and of course a few Whiskas treats every day. Is it normal for cats to have such longevity? – Fay, via email
DEAR FAY: Those are amazingly long-lived cats! The average life span of a common housecat is about 15 years, so it’s safe to say that all of your cats have made it well past that mark.
Is there a magic formula to help your cats live longer? No one has that, but there are some things that will improve a cat’s life over the long term, and you have done all of them. Regular vet care, keeping cats indoors (away from many dangers and stressors), routine feeding and, of course, lots of TLC can all contribute to long life.
So, who is the oldest cat ever documented? That would be Creme Puff, a cat in Austin, Texas, who made the Guinness Book of World Records in 2005 at the spry age of 38!
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