Thanks for all the kind words about Riot yesterday. You guys are the best.
As a follow-up to last weekend’s quiz, and because Mr. A and I were trying to figure out if Riot or Fox was our longest-lived ferret (I think Fox was six and a half, and Riot had just turned seven): How long did your longest-lived pet last?
Ferrets are a racket. They live just long enough for you to get super-attached.
A.
I saw your posting yesterday and couldn’t face it. Damn I’m sorry. Ferrets are physically small but psychically huge. Like a gas they fill up all the available space, and then they are gone and you can’t breathe. Thinking of you.
My first cat, who I had from the day she was born, Sash, lived a long and happy 17 years. She left me in 2003. I have 4 others that will no doubt break my heart over the coming years, the oldest, 15.
We adopted a farm kitten in 1988, an orange tabby we named Hobbes. We had to put him to sleep in 2005 because he was dying of kidney failure. So, 17 years. My youngest, now 12, still misses him. The good news: We have another orange tabby, Tracy Lee Kelly (a rescue kitty my wife found at a rest area on the Natchez Trace Parkway, whence the first name), who is 4, happy and healthy. He’s upstairs sleeping with my daughter at the moment.
I hope Riot has left you good memories for the rest of *your* life.
I’m like Garbo – couldn’t face Riot being gone. So sorry A.
My adored Hippy cat was 17-18 when we lost him right before Christmas. Because he was a stray, Mr. L was never quite sure about his age, but we know it was in that range. I still miss him to this day. I didn’t get the full 17 with him, but what a cat.
My precious Cissy dog was 19 when we lost her to kidney failure in June 2012. Her littermate Buffy was 15 when we lost her after back surgery in April 2008. We got them as a pair from the shelter when they were 1 1/2. We went in for one dog and came out with two because we couldn’t bear the idea of separating them. I wish I had a video of them reuniting (they came home one at a time after they were spayed on the same day). The pure love they had for each other was amazing.
We now have our sweet Gabby that we adopted as a companion for Cissy. They never became “sisters” like Cissy and Buffy, but they did keep each other company. Gabby is 7 now and feisty as ever. She doesn’t mind being an only child so we’re content with one baby for now.
My parents had long-lived cats and dogs (one of each made it to almost 20 if I remember), my first OC (orange cat) was my buddy for 7 years (don’t know how old he was when he arrived, but was full grown), my present best pal is another OC whom I adopted at six months…coming on six years ago.
It seems as if 15 is the longest I can have a pet. Several of my most favorite cats have made it to 15. 14 for a JRT. Even has a huge plecostomus in a fish tank make it to 15. Our oldest JRT now is 8, the next one is 5 and our son’s border collie mix is 3. Our cat is 1.5. Glad that we shouldn’t have to face this again for awhile.
Our black cat Manet lived to be 19 1/2 and was never sick a day in her life until she was 19. When she was 14 or 15, she stopped trying to jump on surfaces higher than a couch or bed. She was one smart kitty.
When our chinchilla was two years old, we started wondering just how much longer we’d have the fluffy lil’ guy. With hearts heavy and expectations of great sadness, we went to the Google machine. In voices of horrified outrage, we screamed in unison:
“FIFTEEN YEARS?!!”
He’s almost twelve now and had his first real veterinary experience (outside of some routine checkups; this was a minor infection of the mouth, easily treated). Still hopping strong, chewing on anything that carries electrical current we forget to adequately safeguard, and showing strange attraction to my partner’s nipples. NIP!
But re-reading, I’ll answer the original question: my childhood cat Angie lived to be almost 21.
i grew up with my 1st pair of cats. i was about 5 when we picked out 2 kittens from my dad’s cat’s 5. tabby made it to about 18 or so. whiskers(he had 1 white whisker as a kitten) made it on failing kidneys to 21 when crytosporidium did him in. my next pair did not live as long. hoping for longer w/ current 2.
Ah, man, I am so sorry to hear about Riot Chicken. Which isn’t a bad name for a band, by the way. Oldest pet I have had was Norton, who died at 15. But Omar, who I only had five years might have been older–the vets were just guessing at his age.
Are we sent these fur packages of love to teach us to appreciate every moment we are given with our loved ones?
So sorry for your loss of a friend and companion. My cat Sassafrass was the longest lived pet I’ve had – so far. She died just shy of 20 of hyperthyroidism, she couldn’t take in enough calories to keep from burning herself out. She was stone deaf but still tried to hunt. On the day it was her time to go she ate a half a chipmunk that I had trapped for her.
She was part Maine Coon and in her younger days would fur out majorly in the winter. She had a magnificent ruff and would get masses of underfur behind her back legs, hence her nickname “Fuzzy Buns”.