The World’s Oldest Cat Is Revealed

For years cats have been making the news. The internet has hailed felines like Grumpy cat, Maru, and Lil Bub as mascots of the GIFs and Youtube videos. Cat fans have spent hours looking at videos and hearting Tumblr posts by the millions. It goes without saying that the internet is the holy grail of cats and their fans.

Now the internet has unveiled the oldest cat alive. According to the Guinness World Records, a certain feline named Poppy now holds the record of being the oldest cat alive.

At 24-years-old Poppy is the world’s oldest cat. Described as a tortoiseshell cat from Bournemouth, Poppy was born in 1990, which if you’re counting in human years, this makes her 114 years old.

Through most of her life Poppy the cat has lived with Marguerite Corner and her daughter Jacqui, Marguerite adopted the cat when Poppy was five years old.

According to Poppy’s owner, her old age is simple:

“People always ask what we put Poppy’s longevity down to and I guess she has a good diet and lots of exercise. She keeps herself fit by walking around and she eats a lot. She has biscuits in the morning and tinned food later on. She’s never been a big cat though.”

Although Poppy is in shape, the cat is deaf and blind, but despite all of that Poppy is a cat that rules the roost. According to Jacqui, who has four other cats, Poppy shows them who’s boss on a daily basis.

As for her diet, sometimes Poppy likes to indulge:

“She is partial to the odd takeaway. We sometimes give her a bit of KFC chicken, fish and chips and even the odd bit of kebab meat.”

When the cat turned 24, her owner submitted the cat to the Guinness World Records. Prior to Poppy, Pinky, a cat from Kansas, was the oldest, but she passed away last year at the age of 23.

Craig Glenday, the editor in chief of the Guinness World Records said of Poppy:

“We’ve been overwhelmed with claims for the ‘oldest living cat’, with owners from across the globe making applications on behalf of their cats. Today, though, I’m pleased to confirm that we’re recognizing Poppy from Bournemouth in the UK as the world’s oldest living cat, at the age of 24 years. “

In human years Poppy is a year younger than the oldest person in the world. Misao Okawa of Japan is 116 years old.

[Image via Guinness Officials]