Owner of world's TRUE oldest cat didn't bother to apply to Guinness World Records

The true oldest domestic cat in the world (probably) has, according to a report in The Times today, just passed over the rainbow bridge at the age of 33. Her name was Rosie and she lived with her owner, Lila Brissett, in a ground floor flat. 

Lila Brissett and Rosie. Image: The Mirror newspaper.

Rosie turned 33 on June 1 this year which made her 152 years old in human terms. The interesting story for me about Rosie is that Guinness World Records sent Rosie's owner an application form to apply for the world's oldest cat but she never completed it. 🙄😃

Lila Brissett, a widower, said she was heartbroken about losing Rosie. She added that she misses her "so much". Lila says she never wanted to have Rosie euthanised and therefore Rosie died of natural causes. Lila said this about her death: "She wasn't very well and one day she just walked into the hallway of the house, laid it down and passed away."

She added that: "There were lots of good memories though and I'm happy we had our time together."

As you might expect in her old age Rosie became very particular and had a very set routine which was to eat and go to her favourite spot by the window where she would stay all day and sleep and snooze. She insisted on eating Purina One cat food. If she didn't get it she kicked up a fuss.

Lila was naturally concerned about Rosie's passing over the rainbow bridge because she had lived with her for 33 years and "She'll leave a big void".

Rosie was adopted as a shelter kitten from a rescue centre because the family who own Rosie had a cat allergy we are told.

She was approached by the rescue centre because she had previously rescued an abuse cat and dog from them.

Rosie's mother was a grey Ragdoll according to this report (The Times) who mated with a ginger tom. Rosie was a longhaired cat with a very fluffy coat.

The oldest domestic cat ever was called Creme Puff from Austin, Texas, USA. She was born in 1967 and died in August 2005 having lived an impressive 38 years and three days.

The story implies that the Guinness World Records reports of the oldest cat are not necessarily the true oldest cats because it does rely upon an application being made by the owner. There will probably be thousands of very old cats out there right now who could be in the Guinness World Records book but are not. The current oldest cat is 28 years old. Her name is Flossie. It's probably true that another cat somewhere is older than that.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.