Main image via UNILAD + Daily Star
Rubble, a great big fluffy Maine Coon and the World’s Oldest Cat has unfortunately passed away at the age of 31.
Image via Daily Star
When Rubble’s owner Michele Heritage first got him as a kitten for her 20th birthday, she didn’t think that he would become the world’s oldest cat at the age of 31 – that’s almost 150 in human years!
Michele and Rubble were inseparable and his owner pampered him constantly, paid all attention to him and treated him like her child.
Now at 52-years-old, Michele believes that her love and care for the feline helped him achieve his old age.
"I have always treated him like a child," she explained. "I don't have any children and had another cat called Meg, who passed at the age of 25. If you care about something, no matter what it is, it does last."
Image via Daily Star
Rubble became the “oldest feline in the world” when he turned 31-years-old in May, and beat Scooter - a Siamese cat from Texas who was named the world’s oldest living cat in 2016 by the Guinness Book of World Records, who passed away at the age of 30.
Rubble however, was never officially identified by the Guinness Book of Records as being the world’s oldest living cat. His owner noted that she did not have any interest in records.
“We never went down the route of Guinness Book of Records,” Michele said. “I didn’t want to do that given his age. The record wasn’t of interest to us.”
The record for the “oldest cat ever” however is still held by Crème Puff who was 38-years-old when she passed away.
Unfortunately, after becoming sick at the end of last year, Rubble passed away before he could reach his 32nd birthday in May.
Image via People
“He grew old very quickly towards the end,” Michele noted. “I said to my husband at Christmas that I think it wold be [the] last we spend with Rubble. He had started to stop eating and only drank water.”
“He became very thin,” she explained. “I went to work as usual and when I got home my husband said Rubble had gone over the road as he did every day and never came back, so we believe he went off to die as cats do.”
“He was a creature of habit, had his favourite places to sleep and liked his food so when that stopped happening, we knew,” she added.
BRB, crying.
Image via UNILAD
Michele can still remember the exact moment that she met the Maine Coon.
“He was part of a litter of cats that my sister’s friend had and I had just left home,” she reminisced. “I was lonely living on my own, so I got him in as a kitten.”
“He would have been 32 in May so it was such an achievement,” Michele said. “He was an amazing companion that I had the pleasure to live with for such a long time.”
Image via UNILAD
Rest in peace Rubble. We hope your happy up there in cat heaven!
Info via UNILAD + People