Caturday felid trifecta: The world’s oldest cat; hero cat saves baby; do stray cats feel gratitude?; and lagniappe

Here, from the Express Tribune in Pakistan, is an article about the world’s oldest cat, who just turned 30 years old. (Also see the story at the New York Post.)

An excerpt (Flossie has had a checkered career):

Flossie, a British domestic short-haired tortoiseshell cat, has turned 30 years old, extending her Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest living cat.

Born on December 29, 1995, Flossie reached the milestone birthday in 2025, further cementing her place in record books. Her age was officially verified by Guinness World Records in November 2022, when she was confirmed to be 26 years and 316 days old. At the time, her age was estimated to be equivalent to around 120 human years.

Flossie’s early life began in a feral colony near St Helens Hospital in Merseyside, England, where she was rescued as a kitten. Over the years, she lived with several owners before eventually coming under the care of the UK animal welfare charity Cats Protection.

In 2022, Cats Protection arranged for Flossie to be adopted by Victoria Green, who lives in Orpington, England. The charity worked closely with veterinarians to verify Flossie’s date of birth using historical records, enabling Guinness World Records to formally certify her age.

At the time of her record confirmation, Guinness World Records noted that Flossie was deaf and had limited eyesight. Despite these age-related conditions, she was otherwise considered to be in good health. The organisation said she maintained a stable daily routine that included regular meals, extended periods of sleep and gentle play.

Flossie is currently recognised as the oldest living cat in the world and ranks among the seven oldest verified cats in recorded history. While other cats, including Creme Puff, are documented to have lived longer in the past, Flossie remains the oldest confirmed feline alive today.

Here’s another tweet:

Flossie, the world’s oldest living cat, will celebrate her 30th birthday on December 29, 2025. pic.twitter.com/NoZ42sBby2

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) December 29, 2025

Of course Flossie is a long way from the offical World’s Oldest Cat Ever, the famous Creme Puff, who lived to an astonishing 38 years and 3 days. This was verified by Guinness, and what amazes me is this:

Creme Puff’s owner, Jake Perry, said her diet consisted of dry cat food and claimed he supplemented it with broccoli, eggs, turkey bacon, coffee with cream, and every two days “an eyedropper full of red wine.” Perry claimed that this diet was key to her longevity, and that the wine “circulated the arteries.

Coffee and wine!

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James Fell’s website says he’s a historian, and he gives some (yes, sweary) history about a heroic moggy. Click the screenshots to read:

Some excerpts:

Plenty of hero dog stories, but what about hero cats? Some say if a house cat was as large as a big dog, no one would want them because they’d death murder the shit you. Not Masha though. She used her body to keep an abandoned baby warm against the Russian winter cold.

. . . .on January 10, 2015, Masha rescued an infant.

It happened in the city of Obninsk, about 50 miles southwest of Moscow. Russia in January is not terribly hospitable. Just ask Napoleon. Or the fucking Nazis. Oh, wait. You can’t. Because most of them froze to death. Anyway, Masha was a “stray” that was beloved by residents of an apartment building where she made her home. They fed Masha well; this was one fat ass cat. Good thing too. The extra padding probably kept the baby alive.

. . . . Late that Saturday, building resident Nadezhda Makhovikova knew something was amiss. Masha was normally a quiet cat, but she sounded like she was being murdered. Nadezhda went to investigate and found Masha lying in a box in the entranceway to the building. The big fluffy cat was lying atop a crying baby to keep it warm and howling S O Fucking S.

The baby boy was dressed in warm clothes and had a pacifier, bottle, and spare diapers. But this was the Russian winter, and it was already late. The child would not have survived the night. So, yeah. Shitty thing to leave a baby out like that. I just googled “abandoned baby freeze to death” and there are plenty of horrific stories. Sometimes I hate my job.

But this story has a happy ending. Masha was a good girl, and she saved the day. An ambulance was called, and Masha tried to jump in the back to continue her vigil. Vera Ivanina, one of the attending paramedics, explained that Masha even chased them. “She was so worried about where we were taking the baby,” Vera said. “She ran right behind us, meowing.”

The boy was about two months old, clean and well fed, with no signs of abuse. Other than being abandoned in the Russian winter, that is. The hospital asserted the little boy was in good health, suffering no ill effects from the cold thanks to Masha keeping him warm. The story made international news and there were many offers to adopt the young boy, as well as to adopt Masha. Masha was all fuck that I like my freedom.

Here’s a video showing Masha, who seems quite fluffy and insulated:

All’s well that ends well!

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This story comes from LifeWise Insights (click headline to read).  I’m not sure that cats are capable of gratitude but of course do prefer some situations more than others. If a rescuer gets purred at and sat on, well, that could simply be the actions of a well-cared-for cat and not what we think of as “gratitude.” But let’s see what the article has to say:

I can’t embed the text but I do append two screenshots from a longer article:

 

The problem is that a change in patterns and a reduction in alertness when a cat learns that food, warmth, and safety is now constant does no mean it’s grateful.  In fact, we have no way of knowing whether a cat feels the same things as a grateful human.  This is equivalent to the vexing and unanswerable question, “What is it like to be a bat?”  Now we can guess, based on some behaviors, that cats do feel emotions similar to humans, like fear, but “gratitude”? I don’t know.

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Lagniappe: This was posted by the Number Ten cat:

Happy #Caturdaypic.twitter.com/nxailj3YEM

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) January 10, 2026

And a Google translation from the Spanish for the video below. But why did they let the cat inside in the first place? Wasn’t this result predictable? Was it staged?

He entered as a customer… he left as a professional thief 😂 They couldn’t catch him 😅 #cat #cats #catpranks #funny moment #supermarket #viral #animals

 

h/t: Ginger K.