World’s oldest cat is a ginger moggy aged 24 YEARS OLD

This cantankerous moggy is in a cat fight to be crowned the world’s oldest living feline at 24 YEARS OLD.

The elderly ginger cat called Maddie was born in 1990, according to her former owner Lee Sullivan, 35.

At the age of 11 Lee was brought Maddie as a kitten by his parents who kept her up until three years ago at their home in Lincoln.

The Guinness Book of Records has a cat from Bournemouth called Poppy as the world’s oldest – but she died earlier this month aged 24.

The death has now paved the way for Maddie’s new owners, Amanda and Barry Gray to lay claim to the title.

The couple’s theory behind the feline’s extraordinary longevity is the raw egg she enjoys for her breakfast every day – along with plenty of cat treats.

Amanda, 46, a sheepherder, said: “She’s pretty feisty for her age but she moves like an old mechanical thing.

“Sometimes we have to poke her to check she’s still alive because she sleeps so deeply and we start panicking, but she always wakes up eventually.

“She has a bit of a poorly eye at the moment because it got scratched – we think it might have been a feral cat that did it.

“Last winter she even had pneumonia. We were very worried about it – we really expected the worst.

“But she just sat in front of the fire and we gave her tuna and lots of other treats and she pulled through.

“She’s a fighter, she doesn’t give up.”

Her owners say Maddie still enjoys sitting by the fire but she occasionally accidentally gets too close and singes her whiskers.

Amanda added: “She loves the fire and she meows at us to light it for her.

“She’s got the loudest meow I’ve ever heard.”

Maddie now shares her home with five dogs, two other moggies and a cockerel at Barry and Amanda’s home in Sleaford, Lincs.

Barry, 67, added: “She’s quite fearless.

“Rather than walking round the dogs she’ll just walk right over them. And she’ll curl up with the other animals, even the cockerel.

“She loves to be warm.

She’s incredible. She’s very affectionate. But she doesn’t know how to retract her claws. I think she just forgets.”

Former owner Lee said: “We got her as a kitten and we actually thought she was a boy for quite some years and she was known as Braddie.

“I can’t believe she’s still going strong.”

* The oldest cat in history was called Creme Puff, came from Austin, Texas, and lived to the age of 38 years and three days.