LONDON – A British man has come forward to claim he owns the world’s oldest cat – at least 36 years old!

Jim Cowell of Burnley, UK, claims he has known his cat Tizzie for at least 36 years. Supposedly his mother Winifred took Tizzie in, after she was found on a train line. Cowell explained, “She’s fantastic. She was found by a couple of girls in a bag on the railway in 1973 and they gave her to my mum to look after. She was known as the Railway Cat.

“She still looks like a kitten and moves around perfectly well. The vet said that her organs are as healthy as they would be in a younger cat.”

Unfortunately, Cowell said Tizzie’s vet records were lost in 1990, so there is no way to verify her age apart from a photo he has.

“There is a photo of the cat with my mother in 1975 and obviously we would like the two girls who found her, if they still live around here, to get in touch to help verify her age. It’s a shame the vet records were lost as that would have definitely proved her age. The photo though shows my mum at the age of 62 holding the cat and that was 36 years ago, so we know she is 36.”

The Guinness World Record for the oldest cat is a female cat called Creme Puff, who died in 2005 in Austin, Texas, at the age of 38 years and 3 days. Many have claimed longer living cats over the years, but without substantial proof, Guinness World Record will not accept their animals.