Nutmeg will be sadly missed by his owners Liz and Ian Finley, but Nutmeg certainly had a long life. He has recently passed away aged 32–that’s 144 in cat years!
Ian and Liz didn’t adopt Nutmeg, he adopted them. He turned up in their garden back in 1990 and just never left! When he arrived with the Finleys he was in a bad way. He had a nasty abscess on his neck. They took him to their local Cats Protection who checked him over. They checked his teeth and based on their observations pronounced that he was at least five years old.
It was believed that Nutmeg had been abandoned, so Ian and Liz adopted him. Little did they know they would have him with them for the next 27 years! To say Nutmeg was part of the family is an understatement. Nutmeg lived with the Finleys longer than most kids live at home with their parents!
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Back in 2015, things were looking bad for Nutmeg when he had a stroke, but lifesaving treatment at a Newcastle veterinary hospital saw him make a good recovery. Sadly however, this time there was nothing that could be done for Nutmeg. He was having trouble breathing and suffered heart failure. In the end, he had to be put to sleep.
The Finleys say that a huge hole has been left in their lives now Nutmeg is no longer with them.
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With improvements in veterinary treatments and cat nutrition, cats are living longer than ever before, which is great news for all cat owners. Nowadays the average lifespan of a cat is 15 years, with many living to 18 or 19 years. Only a decade ago it would have been considered quite unusual to have a cat of 15 years old, but now it’s the norm, and many more go on to live much longer. Perhaps not to 32 like Nutmeg though! If Nutmeg were a human, that would have made him 144 years old!
The oldest cat ever was Creme Puff of Texas who died 3 days after her 38th birthday.
[Source: Daily Mail]
