- Sasha is believed to be 31 – that’s 141 in human years!
- She’s survived being poisoned, had tumours removed from her mouth and nose and broken several ribs.
- Owner Beth O’Neill says plenty of water and fresh air, eating her favourite chicken and mince and being free to roam as she chooses is the secret to her long and happy life.
- Guinness World Records believe she could be the oldest living cat in the world!
Meet Sasha – believed to be the oldest cat in the world.
The cute kitty has already used up many of her nine lives.
She’s suffered several broken ribs and has a dent in her side, a broken jaw, had a tumour removed, been poisoned and is completely deaf.
But her owner Beth O’Neil, 65, says she lives a happy life, hanging out with her fellow senior moggy Nico, who is 21, and her four dogs.
She said: “People say to me ‘Bloody hell is Sasha still alive?’
“The secret to her living for so long is just letting her be a cat, eating what she feels like and plenty of fresh air and ensuring she drinks lots and lots of water.
“Sasha loves wandering around and exploring, and comes and goes as she pleases.”
The average cat lives for 15 years and the last feline to hold the Guinness World Record for being the oldest living cat was 30-year-old Scooter, a kitty from Texas.
Sadly he died last May, just days after winning the title so currently there is no record holder.
Beth who lives in Newtonabbey in Ireland, said: “Sasha has had a hard life. I found her 26 years ago when she turned up at my riding stables.
“She was skin and bones and starving, the poor thing. We fed her for a few days, thinking her owner might turn up but no-one did.
“She had a huge dent in her side where we suspect she’d been hit by a car or kicked. I fell in love with her and decided to take her home.”
Beth took her to the vets and they said she was at least five, and she was advised to leave the dent in her side as the injury had healed and operating could do more harm.
Soon Sasha settled in with Beth’s four children, Stephanie, now 40, Michelle, 39, Jonathan, 35, and Emma, 33, and their other pets.
When she was younger, Sasha would roam for days but now she is happy just to lie out in the sun in Beth’s back garden, or next to the radiator in the winter.
And she picks and chooses what she eats too. “She used to love mince, but now she turns her nose up at it,” Beth explained.
“I try her with different meats like chicken, turkey or pork and just give her whatever she likes to keep her strength up.
“When Sasha was young she’d vanish for up to four days at a time.
“She jump over fences and walls and forever be visiting the neighbours and getting treats.
“I wouldn’t worry about her as she’d always come home.”
But the feline had a feisty side too.
Beth said: “She doesn’t stand for any messing with the other animals, even now. She picks up her paw and bats them away if they’re annoying her.
“You can’t blame her for being a bit grumpy at her age though!”
Sasha has had many scrapes over the years and went under the knife last month at Vets4Pets in Newtonabbey for a growth on her nose that was affecting her breathing, where she was treated by a vet who shared her name, Sasha Fraser.
Vet Sasha said: “We felt the best option was to remove the growth and hoped she had the strength to recover.
“If we had left her, the growth around her nose eventually would have stopped her from being able to breathe.
“She’s the oldest cat we’ve operated on so we were all so pleased to see her go home knowing we’d helped such a remarkable animal continue with her life.”
Beth said: “Since she’s been home she’s been healthier than she has been for a long time. She really is our little miracle.”
A spokeswoman for Guinness World Records said they would love to hear Sasha’s story and urged her owners to apply for the title.
She said: “We don’t currently have a record holder for the Oldest Cat Living as our previous holder sadly passed away last year.
“This is one of our iconic record categories and we’re always excited to hear about new potential record holders.”
Do you know of a cat who is even older than Sasha? We’ve love to hear about them so please click here to contact us.
