Today.com reports that Corduroy, who’s just turned 26, has been declared by the Guinness Book of World Records (now a website) as the world’s oldest cat.
Guinness announced the news Thursday, when Corduroy was 26 years and 13 days old. Born August 1, 1989, in Oregon, he’s lived with Ashley Reed Okura since she picked him from a litter when she was 6 years old.
“We are thrilled!” she told Guinness, according to Thursday’s press release. “I bought Corduroy a mouse [JAC: WTF?] to celebrate. He is such a mellow, cool old cat and it is wonderful to share him with the world. … Corduroy has been through all of my life’s major events and I feel blessed he is still healthy and enjoying life. We hope to continue to give him a good life for years to come.”
Here’s the Guinness video:
Okura said the secret to his longevity is “allowing him to be a cat: hunting and getting plenty of love!” She added, “Growing up on 160 acres in Oregon, I allowed Corduroy to roam the ranch freely, so he always gets lots of exercise.”
. . . Corduroy’s interests include “sharp cheddar and mice,” the latter of which he only gets “on special occasions or if he catches them,” Guinness reported. The cat also spends the bulk of his days “roaming the outdoors, getting pet [sic], eating and taking catnaps.”
You can see more pictures of Corduroy at the oldestlivingcat Instagram site.
Do remember, though, that Corduroy is a long way from attaining the record held by the oldest cat ever recorded, Creme Puff, who lived to the astounding age of 38 years and 3 days! Creme Puff’s owner was the crusty but soft-hearted Texan Jake Perry, who raised many record holders, attributing their longevity to his giving them bacon, eggs, and asparagus for breakfast. I’ve posted about Perry here, and if you go to the great video at the bottom of that post, you’ll see Creme Puff, at age 35, appear around 7:17 in the video.
Our Lulu only made 20.5 years. But then, we did not feed her bacon, eggs and asparagus for breakfast.
Asparagus???
I’m surprised that a cat would eat asparagus.
Freddie loved avocado and papaya…
No kidding? I thought cats hated fruits and veg.
Interestingly, just about every cat I’ve knows has had an unlikely food fetish.
An abyssinian I once had was bonkers for honey dew melon. Our current mistress is nuts for Cheerios. She’ll open the bifold door to the pantry, pull out the box of Cheerios, open it, pull a nice pile of them out of the box and onto the floor, eat some and then leave the mess lying there on the kitchen floor for us servants to clean up. No respect.
LOL.
Two of my cats have loved pizza. With Garfield, that makes three.
I love cats but I hate free roaming cats. They are a major threat to the environment and devastate the populations of small mammals and reptiles. Pet cats should always be kept indoors in controlled exterior pens.
Maybe it depends on where you are. Here, we have lots of feral cats, and they keep the rodent population down. We have Project Spay Neuter volunteers who prevent them from having kittens, and periodically check their health. Three of the black feral cats that hang out along our block have adopted me because I give them treats (they’ve adopted other neighbors, too). The biggest one, Larry, is very friendly, and likes to be petted. The other two, Moe and Curly, keep their distance.
In the UK there are something like 100 million birds. Assuming an average clutch of four eggs, that means that 200 million have to die each year to maintain the population level. It is estimated that about 55 million are taken by cats, but the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reckons that these are predominately the weaker ones, which would not survive anyway. In fact, the RSPB’s official position is that there is no evidence that cats cause any decline in the bird population. From their web site:
In the spring after my last cat died, my vegetable garden was a disaster. Bank voles damaged overwintering potatoes, short-tailed voles destroyed my vegetable seedlings, and rabbits ate a complete row of young peas in a single night. I am seriously thinking of getting another couple of cats, and they will definitely be allowed to keep their claws and roam.
I live in a Melbourne (Australia) suburb. The vast majority of birds around here are Indian Minors, sparrows, pigeons, and starlings, all of which are introduced and a menace. The possums are natives, but few of them fall to even the most aggressive of cats; they’re just too big. Chairman Meow also does an excellent job of keeping the rat and mouse population down.
I’ve toyed with the idea of buying the same sorts of feeder mice as pet snakes get fed. Only, I’m not quite sure that I’m hard-core enough to keep whole mice in the freezer and then defrost (or maybe even warm) them.
b&
We use to keep mice in the freezer to go fishing with. Good way to keep them.
When I had a snake the cat I had at the time tried very hard to convince me to give him the mice instead.
Well, I’ll keep an open mind…but not today, I don’t think….
b&
That’s great. Always glad to hear a good cat story. Lighten up on the cats going outside. They have as much right to the outdoors as you do. Good grief.
The great cat debate periodically heats up here in NZ too.
Many proclaim that cats are a major threat to native wildlife, others that they help keep down introduced predators. We have always had cats and though they have brought home the occasional bird (usually introduced species) they have presented us with many more rats and mice. They do like to go after lizards though. Bad cat!!!
🐾🐾
Our cat, Andra, lived to age 24. Our vet said she was the oldest cat he’d ever seen during his years of practice.
My Timba almost made it to 23.
He’s looking in great shape for a cat half his age!