The world’s oldest cat has died at the age of 31. The ruble, a magnificent Maine coon, was given to her owner Michelle Heritage as a 20th birthday present and has been with her ever since.
Michelle, 52, has paid tribute to her beloved fur baby, who became the world’s oldest cat after reaching her 31st birthday. It is almost 150 years old in cat years!
The old cat was healthy, with no health problems. The gentle cat died of old age on July 3, 2020, after becoming very frail.
Michelle, from Exeter, said Moggie sadly died before she turned 32. She said her beloved cat “went across the street” and “never came back.”
Michelle puts Rubel’s incredible age down to the fact that she’s never had children, so she points at him as if he were a child.
“He would have been 32 in May, so that was such an achievement. He was an amazing partner that I’ve had the pleasure of being with for so long,” Michelle said.
“I got him just before my 20th birthday when he was a kitten.”
Ruble managed to break the record for the oldest living cat, previously held by a Texas Siamese named Scotter, who was 30 years old before he died in 2016.
The oldest cat ever lived is Cream Puff, who lived to be 38 years and 3 days.
“We never went down the Guinness Book of Records route. I didn’t want to, given his age. The record was not something we were interested in,” says Michelle.
“He grew old very quickly towards the end, I said to my husband at Christmas that I think it would be the last we spend with Rubble. He had started to stop eating and only drank water.”
“He had become very thin. I went to work as usual and when I got home my husband said that the debris had fallen on the road like every day and never came back, so we think the cats. gone to die.”
“He was a creature of habit, had his favorite places to sleep, and liked his food so when that stopped happening, we knew.”
Michele remembers the moment she first met Rubble on her 20th birthday, saying, “He was part of a litter cat that my sister’s friend had, and I had just left home.”
“I was lonely living on my own, so got him in as a kitten. It was in May 1988.”
“I have always treated him like a child – I don’t have any children and had another cat called Meg – who passed at the age of 25. If you care about something, no matter what it is, it does last.”
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