A cat from the United Kingdom named Rubble passed away at 31, according to his owner. Rubble has been considered among the world’s oldest living cats.
Rubble’s owner, Michele Heritage from Exeter, England, confirmed his death to South News Service via People on Friday, July 3. The cat is a ginger and white Maine Coon, a breed known for its long hair.
“He was an amazing companion that I had the pleasure to live with for such a long time,” Heritage said.
She noticed Rubble was deteriorating last December, and one day he disappeared and never returned, as per the People report.
“I said to my husband at Christmas that I think it would be last we spend with Rubble. He had started to stop eating and only drank water. He became very thin,” she said. “I went to work as usual, and when I got home my husband said Rubble had gone over the road as he did every day and never came back, so we believe he went off to die as cats do.”
“He’s a lovely cat, although he has got a little grumpy in his old age,” she told Bored Panda in 2018 when he turned 30. At that time, he had high blood pressure and was taking meds for it.
Heritage, who has had Rubble since her 20th birthday, says his long life was because she “treated him like a child.”
She has no children of her own and pampered Rubble throughout his life; he would have been 32 in May.
Heritage also had a cat named Meg who died at 25. The cat lover said, “If you care about something, no matter what it is, it does last.”
The world’s oldest cat ever, according to the Guinness World Records, is Creme Puff from Texas, United States. She died at 38 years old in 2005. JB
RELATED STORIES:
LOOK: Security guard earns praise after shielding dog from the rain
LOOK: 20-year-old dog sets record as oldest living Golden Retriever