“The World’s Oldest Cat” Has Died

Rest in peace, Rosie, queen of leisure.

September 17, 2024

It’s not often that a writer gets to memorialize a cat who saw more of the ’90s than she did, but today this 32-year-old, 1992 baby gets the distinct honor of paying homage to Rosie, who died at the age of 33, or 152 in cat years.

Claimed by her mom, Lila Brissett, to be the “oldest cat in the world,” this tortoiseshell beauty was born in 1991, the year Reese Witherspoon made her film debut in The Man in the Moon and a saxophone enthusiast from Arkansas named William Jefferson Clinton announced he was running for president.

All about Rosie

Brissett, of Norwich, England, adopted Rosie when she was a kitten after her first family brought her to a shelter when they realized their daughter was allergic,” Brisset told The Mirror.

“I miss her so much,” she said. “She wasn’t very well, and one day, she just walked into the hallway of the house, laid down, and passed away. There were lots of good memories, though, and I’m happy we had our time together.”

Rosie lived with Brissett in her ground-floor apartment and was quite used to her lifestyle. Brissett says her kitty slept in the windowsill all day. She ate and used her litter box, and that was pretty much her day. Sounds glorious.

Ahead of her 32nd birthday, The Mirror wrote that Rosie had only been to the vet twice in her life, once to be spayed and once for a cyst. (Although Rosie clearly had very good genes, Kinship’s experts recommend taking your cat to the vet regularly to keep an eye on their health.)

“There’s no need for an alarm clock,” she told The Mirror previously. “All she does is eat, sleep, use the litter tray, and repeat. I often have to check if she’s still alive and breathing. I’m worried about the day she crosses over the rainbow bridge. She’ll leave a big void. I'll miss her when she goes. But I’ll never have her put down.”

Flossie: the official “world’s oldest cat”

Although Rosie’s proud mom has bestowed upon her the title of Oldest Cat in the World, The Guinness Book of World Records has given that distinction (Rosie was never submitted) to another English cat, 27-year-old Flossie, from Kent. In January, her mom, Vicki Green, wrote an essay about adopting Flossie in The Guardian. Green rescued Flossie from U.K. charity Cats Protection when the respective human and cat were the same age: 27.

“When I adopted her, I thought she’d only have a few months left, but felt comforted by the fact that she’d at least spend them in a nice, warm flat, be fed well and get treats as well as a comfy bed,” Green wrote. “I wanted her to roam around and get the attention she deserved.” As of now, Green has had Flossie for two years, and she looks forward to her golden birthday, when she turns 29 on December 29.

Hilary Weaver

Hilary Weaver is the senior editor at Kinship. She has previously been an editor at The Spruce Pets, ELLE, and The Cut. She was a staff writer at Vanity Fair from 2016 to 2019, and her work has been featured in Esquire, Refinery 29, BuzzFeed, Parade, and more. She lives with her herding pups, Georgie and Charlie.