Meet Flossie: The World's Oldest Living Cat

     How old is the oldest cat you know? 10 years? Maybe even 15? If you know cats, the chances are that you probably think that that is about the limit for a cat's life, and generally speaking you'd be right. However, Vicki Green, from the United Kingdom has the oldest living cat at 27 years old: Meet Flossie.

Flossie’s Early Life:

     Flossie was born on December 29, 1995, into a colony of stray cats residing near Merseyside Hospital, where she lived for a few months. Some hospital workers found the colony a few months after Flossie’s birth, and took pity on them by adopting a few of the stray cats, one of which was Flossie.

     For 10 years, Flossie lived with that original hospital worker until he died. She then was adopted by the worker’s sister for another 14 years until she also died, and Flossie was once again adopted by another one of the worker’s family members, this time his sister’s brother, for another 3 years until he was unable to care for her at her age and was entrusted to volunteers at Cats Protection, when word started to spread about Flossie’s incredible age.

     Now, Flossie’s story could’ve ended there at Cats Protection. Unfortunately for most old animals in shelters, that’s how their story usually ends. Fortunately for Flossie, Vicki Green found her at Cats Protection and chose to adopt her.

Vicki’s Life With Flossie:

     Despite Flossie being Deaf, poorly sighted, and sometimes needing help with using the litter box or grooming herself, Vicki says that Flossie is still Playful and Affectionate. According to Guinness World Records, Flossie mainly naps next to her owner, lays on her favorite yellow blanket, or is headed for her food bowl.

Flossie officially got her record of the oldest living cat on November 10th, 2022, less than 2 months before her 27th birthday. She will be turning 28 on December 29th, 2023.

My sources: Guinness World Records, USA Today 1, USA Today 2, CNN