# Amazing: cat lives to 12 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 2, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052 "2009-08-02T13:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/1 "2009-08-02T13:11:41Z")
I thought my brother-in-law’s cat was a miracle at 10-1/2 years, but this one takes the cake. Do you know that 12 cat years equals 111 people years? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/2 "2009-08-02T13:13:19Z")
Uh, I have 2 cats that are fifteen. I have a friend whose cat lived to 22. 12 is not an unusual age for a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/3 "2009-08-02T13:19:18Z")
Yes my neighbors’ cat lived to be 21. I think veterinarians are now telling us that the correct way to calculate a cat’s age in ‘cat years’ is [fifteen years for the first year, nine for the second, and four for each successive year](http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/agechart.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/4 "2009-08-02T13:20:21Z")
Am I missing something here? A cat’s average lifespan is about 14 years, and the [oldest cat on record](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creme_Puff) lived to 38… ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/5 "2009-08-02T13:30:07Z")
12 seems short to me 😕 When I saw the headline “12-year-old cat commutes by bus”, it was the second half of the sentence that I found remarkable, not the first. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/6 "2009-08-02T13:30:36Z")
My cat can vote. Born Jan 1, 1991 (according to adoption papers). Still not dead. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/7 "2009-08-02T13:33:12Z")
The oldest cat we had lived to about 19yrs. And even we knew that wasn’t so unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/8 "2009-08-02T13:38:04Z")
Is this a woosh or something? ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/9 "2009-08-02T13:40:24Z")
My cats are 11, 12, and 14 years old. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/10 "2009-08-02T13:50:22Z")
Schrödinger’s cat still isn’t dead. Or is it? Someone want to look in the box and check? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/11 "2009-08-02T13:50:49Z")
Gotta admit, there’s something missing here. Of the cats we’ve had over the last twenty years two have passed 18 years old. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/12 "2009-08-02T13:52:57Z")
The Siamese my mom grew up with lived to be nearly 22. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/13 "2009-08-02T14:07:55Z")
I am 48 years old, with no intentions of dying any time soon. I am a cat. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/14 "2009-08-02T15:02:00Z")
While I was still volunteering at a vet clinics (before entering vet school), I saw a couple of cats that were older than me, and I was about 19-21 by that time. I’m sure they may have died by now, otherwise they’d be almost 30. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/15 "2009-08-02T15:04:09Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I am 48 years old, with no intentions of dying any time soon. I am a cat. This is the best post in a very repetitive thread. I laughed! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/16 "2009-08-02T15:10:59Z")
My beloved Mao was over 14 years old when she passed. I’ve known many 20+ year old cats. I liked this bit from the OP’s link: > [@](#): > > “In the U.K., people over the age of 65 travel on the bus for free,” says Baxter. “So we worked out that the cat was about 111 years old in cat years, therefore it was fine. He can travel for free.” That just strikes me as so very _British_ to come up with a justification so that no1 is breaking any rules, done with tongue firmly planted in cheek and as straight a face as can be managed. It’s awesome. > [@](#): > > Several weeks ago, she wrote a letter to the First Bus Company. “[Finden wanted] drivers just be aware of it so if they either saw the cat coming that they’d not let it on the bus, or once it was on the bus, not to kick it off in the city center because it would be miles away from home,” says Baxter. > > Though First UK Bus staff spread the word about Casper on posters at the bus depot, many of the drivers were already well-acquainted with the commuter kitty. I think it’s terrific that the management at the bus company, instead of worrying about liability if the cat got lost or killed or something, instead went out of their way to make sure their drivers knew about Casper, with instructions to accomodate him. I mean, fuckin’ A, that rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/17 "2009-08-02T15:57:10Z")
I like the bus ridin’ cat. I knew someone whose cat would go hang out at the neighborhood laundromat every day. She was quite a fixture there. We had a cat that lived to be 21 years and a couple more that were in the 18 year range. What’s nice about old cats is that they aren’t as prone joint, eye and ear and bladder problems like old dogs are. I don’t think I’ll ever own a dog again knowing what many of them go through in their twilight years. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/18 "2009-08-02T16:02:59Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I am 48 years old, with no intentions of dying any time soon. I am a cat. Agreed- very funny! I saw a tv news report the other day about these wolves in Russia that ride the train into the city every morning and back out into the country at night. They commute! How weird. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/19 "2009-08-02T16:05:55Z")
That is an amusing article. I would never let my cats roam like that because I would be worried they would wind up getting run over by a bus one day, but I hope that kitty continues to travel without any trouble. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052/20 "2009-08-02T16:39:42Z")
My current furball is 13, my last cat lived to 14 but died from kidney issues [male himalayan, apparently they have kidney issues] and I have previous cats that lived variously to 21, 19 and 18. Shortest lifespan was 4 years, got hit by a car when a jackass roomie didnt close the front door and she got out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-cat-lives-to-12-years/505052.md?page=2)