h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Topsy lived to 27, a remarkable age for a cat. A classic case of hybrid vigour: she was a good old-fashioned moggy.

My two cats are currently 11 and 9 years old, or 61 / 54 according to the chart. A third cat died of kidney failure, aged 4 (35), which the vet reckoned was a very young age for a cat to suffer this condition.

According to one book I have, cats generally live for 10 - 15 years. 20 years is good, 27 is exceptional. 'Moggies' live longer than pedigree cats. As JZG said, it's the hybrid vigour. However, it can be harder to give the exact age of a moggy, unless you've owned it from a kitten, because accurate birth records aren't kept for moggies.

My two cats are currently 11 and 9 years old, or 61 / 54 according to the chart. A third cat died of kidney failure, aged 4 (35), which the vet reckoned was a very young age for a cat to suffer this condition.

According to one book I have, cats generally live for 10 - 15 years. 20 years is good, 27 is exceptional. 'Moggies' live longer than pedigree cats. As JZG said, it's the hybrid vigour. However, it can be harder to give the exact age of a moggy, unless you've owned it from a kitten, because accurate birth records aren't kept for moggies.

My previous cat was 23 years old. That put her into the hundreds didn't it? Where was her telegram from the queen I'd like to know!!

Scary to think that my two babies are the *same age* as me now!!

Next thing you know they'll be older than you, and start calling you "kid"...

telegrams for cats.. i like that

vets can often make an educated estimate at a cats age by looking at the condition of their teeth...

i have a cat called scully who the vet estimates to be about 12 years old (in her 60's) and willow a cat teenager of 16 months, both were rescue cats so we cant be absolutely sure.

>^..^<

yay for rescue cats, and yay for cat smilies !
*does a little cat-dance*

Louis was my beloved tuxido kitty weighing in at 16 US lbs, when I took him in (thinking he was an abandoned pregnent kitty in the middle of winter) I took him to my vet and got his shots (and correct gender identification. My Vet estimated Louis at 7 people years according to Louis' teeth. I had him another 7 years and I believe he succumbed to a heart attack while out on patrol. I recovered him from a neighborhood sidewalk. That was in January 2001 and I still very much miss him.

Louis was exceptional. He would wake me from a deep slumber several times during the night by tapping my forehead with his enormous white paw. Only later did I learn that I suffured from sleep apnea, and discovered that Louis had been waking me when I stopped breathing.

My grandparents had a female ginger cat, who died at 18, shortly after they moved into a villa after living on a large (5 acre) block in Cherrybrook, a formerly semi rural area in Sydney. They were only allowed to take her to live there because she was almost immobile, and not up to chasing birds, etc. anymore.
Annie

Don't quote me on this, but years ago I read somewhere that the oldest cat on record (who lived in the UK, if I remember correctly) died one day after its thirty-sixth birthday. It may just be a legend, though. Has anyone else heard about that cat, so they can verify (or correct, or even disprove) my recollection?

Egoboy, quite a cat you had there - duly impressed! We have two cats (currently at age 68.5 - or about as old as I often feel in the mornings . They're sibling moggys & we had them from 8 weeks old so we're quite confident about the age...

The only thing Diva, the female of them & about the dumbest cat I've ever known, has ever done to me in my sleep was to try to wake me up by biting my nose, however gently. I must duly inform you that waking up by feeling something furry yet sharpish surrounding your nose is *not* a pleasant way to wake up...

Not for the cat either - she "apparated" very suddenly to the corner of the room...

!

I have 'Catwatching' by Desmond Morris. According to this book, some amazing claims have been made (one of a cat living to 43 years old), but the longest accepted lifespan is 36 years. It doesn't say that it died on the day after its 36th birthday. The relevant chapter also says that the average lifespan of a cat is 10 - 12 years, with 'moggies' living up to 15 years. So we *should* have Joey (11 years old) for at least another 4 years and Bonnington (9 years old) for at least another 6. Being 'moggies' that are loved and well cared-for, it could be even longer.

thought i would share some cat quotes i love:

Cats whiskers are so sensitive, they can find their way through the narrowest crack in a broken heart . - Author Unknown

Purring would seem to be, in her case, an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow. - MONICA EDWARDS

Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance. - DAN GREENBURG

A cat knows your every thought. It doesn't care, but it knows. - Author Unknown

There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person . - DAN GREENBERG

Only cat lovers know the luxury of fur coated musical hot water bottles that never grow cold. - Author Unknown

A cat is an attitude with fur. - Author Unknown

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little they become its visible soul. - JEAN COCTEAU

>^..^<

I first saw "attitude with fur" in Garfield many years back.

Ah, I love the smell of little tuna breaths in the early morning darkness!

Thank you for the very kind words. By the way, the word 'moggie' is new to me, by context, I suspect it means 'heinz 57' variety. Please enlighten!

Egoboy, I guess you're not British, 'cos 'moggy' or 'moggie' is a British slang word for a cat - any cat. It's usually used for cats of 'indeterminate breeding', just as a mongrel dog is a 'mutt'. According to 'Catlore', another cat book by Desmond Morris, it derives from the name 'Maggie', which in some areas was a name for a dishevelled old woman and hence for anything scruffy. By the start of the 20th century, it had come to be used as a word for alley-cats, and 'Maggie' had changed to 'moggie'.

PS. Just to confuse you, there's another meaning of the word 'moggie'. It's used as an affectionate term for Morris Minor cars, which were built between 1948 and 1972 (or thereabouts). But that is *definitely* a British thing - probably just an English thing.

I met that Desmond Morris once. Unlikely-looking chap.

Unlikely-looking!!! He is walking proof of Darwin's evolution theory alright!

What I didn't realise about this guy though was that he is an exceptionally good surrealist painter! (very much a la Dali)

Love his cat watching books - he certainly has studied them quite carefully. Mind you - I think anybody who has a cat (and loves them to pieces!) could write volumes about their behaviour. I know that I have spent many hours watching my two when I should have been working!

I am Anishinabeg, or 'chippewa' to British ears. (As Monty Python would say,Ze filthy France heard it as 'Ojibway'. Did I mention my dad was a royalist to the core?) I live in Seattle, where Minor Morris' have a determined cult following and I know of several that tool about town on the lone sunny day of our year.

I have never seen even a sketch of Desmond Morris. My suspicion is that I would be entertained by it.

Thanks for the Moggie-Maggie history! Louis was a mog, marked in black and white in the style we call 'tuxedo kittie' with a black hood and very white chest and lower legs. In fact Louis was named in honor of my ancestors, Louis Oshawawano and his son in law Louis Shaganaby.