Although many, many cats are living to ages in the high teens and early 20s, that’s still considered really old for a cat. Veterinarians start calling cats “geriatric” between ages 8 and 10. The average lifespan of cats is 10 to 14 years. Our first cat lived to be 22. Based on this chart, that would have put her off the chart, easily over the 100 year mark in human-equivalent years.
My first two cats lived to 18 and 20+. Both were quite healthy and active until the last couple months for the 18y.o. and about the last 6 months for the 20 y.o.
I’ve got a 16 year old orange cat (pee wee). He bagged himself over 50 mice this summer and one squirrel. Ate most of them and left the choice cuts on our doorstep.
My darling Murphy lived to be 22, altho the last few months probably wasn’t the kindest to him, and for that I blame myself: kidney issues. I just couldn’t bear to part with him, altho I eventually had him put down. I held him as he went. Gods, but I don’t want to ***ever ***do that again… 
Other than that, he had a happy, healthy life.
I was a lot happier 6 months ago when I started this thread.
Bunn E. died today.
We were getting ready to go shopping and he trotted into the living room and did the figure 8 thing on our legs as if to ask for attention. I leaned down and petted him for a moment. He was purring up a storm like he usually did. He was lying on the carpet when we left. Looked and acted fine.
We came home about 2 hours later, and he was still lying there. And he was gone.
After the initial freak out I picked him up, held him for a bit, then put him in a makeshift casket. I’ll bury him in the yard tomorrow.
This will be the first time in 30 years we haven’t had any cats in the house. After having Bunn E. around for over 19 and a half years it is going to be very strange not having him around the house. He was a really nice kitty. One of the very best we ever had.
I was a lot happier 6 months ago when I started this thread.
Poor old Bunn E. sniff
Still, sounds like he had a good life, and a long one.
My last cat lived to be 20. He began to slow down only in the last 6 months.
Oh! I’m so sorry for you that he’s gone, pkbites.
What a lovely way to go though - a big purry farewell to you, and then a lovely sleep, inside. Bunn E Kitty. Such a cool name for clearly, a cool, cool cat.
Rest with the bunnies, B.E.K.
All youngsters compared to Creme Puff.
ETA: Sorry for your loss, pkbites.
I’m sorry, I know how tough it is to have a pet pass on, and to come home to a house without any furry little creatures in it. It sounds like his passing was peaceful.
Sorry for your loss. Sounds like your cat had a long and comfortable life - which is about all anyone can wish for.
Sorry to hear he passed.
It sounds like he had a very good, long life and died in peace, which is really the best any of us can hope for.
though my Aeron Arianeira only lived to be 12 years, 8 months… she went to sleep happily in a warm soft place and never awakened. Going gently is good! but I still miss her. I have known no sweeter cat in all the world… though my tender Night Kitty is trying to live to her example.
(obligatory pics:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1044654411155.6678.1669472258#!/photo.php?fbid=1046873026619&set=a.1044654411155.6678.1669472258&type=1&theater Aeron improving desk
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1044654411155.6678.1669472258#!/photo.php?fbid=1044721412830&set=a.1044654411155.6678.1669472258&type=1&theater) Night in the sunny spot
I’m sorry for your loss, pkbites. Bunn E. Kitty sounds like he was a really cool little furry buddy. I’m glad you got to have so long with him and that it sounds like his passing was easy.
That’s how I hope both of my cats go - healthy right to the end, then just go to sleep and not wake up again.
Sorry for your loss, pkbites.
I’m also very sorry for your loss, pkbites. I know that day is not far off for our Sal.
Alas, one has to log on to Facebook to see those pics.
Sorry to hear it. Count yourself lucky, though, that there was no long, sad, downhill period. Having a cat who stays happy and healthy right up to the end, especially such a late end, is a real joy.
I was trying to write something but I got a little choked up because I also have a 18 year old feisty little bastard of a cat, and, also I lost a horse suddenly like that (bright and perky at breakfast, dead before lunchtime).
So… um, before I get choked up again, let me just say, I am very sorry for your loss pkbites and I enjoyed the kitty pix.
Damn too late.
sniffle
I’m sorry about your kitty, pkbites.
I had two cats when I was growing up named Morris and Mitten. We got them at the same time from family who couldn’t keep them. Morris was a kitten and Mitten was about 2. Mitten went deaf about age 16, but was still going strong until she had a stroke at age 21. Dad found her one morning trying to get to her feet but unable to stand up. He took her to the vet to put her to sleep, that was the only time I ever saw Dad cry.
Morris was about 18 at the time, and we think he just lost his will to live after Mitten was gone. Wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t play, just laid around. Vet said nothing was wrong, he was just old. I think he only lasted a few more months before we lost him too.
Lucy seems to have Creme Puff beat. And still looks pretty good.
I wonder: most of these “cat to human age” converters use some fixed conversion, maybe with a non-linearity in the beginning. But I think the only proper conversion is to look at percentiles. Suppose that 1% of humans live to 100 (these numbers are made up; looking online, I see an incredible range of estimates). And suppose that 99% of cats died before age 20. This would make 20 cat years equivalent to 100 human years.
But because of nonlinearities, you couldn’t just say that 5 cat years are 1 human year; it may well be that the 22-year percentile for a cat is 99.5%, while the 110-year percentile for a human is 99.99% (again: made up numbers). The numbers look close but in terns of survival rates they are very different.
Another way of looking at it is that cats seem to have a long tail (er…) in their lifespan curve. There’s really no other way to explain these outliers–although the 20yo cat/100yo human seems like a reasonable approximation, the fact is that there are no humans that have lived to 130, let alone 190+. Cats must have a much shallower dropoff in this range.