Many of the world’s oldest living people are Japanese. Whether it’s down to a healthy diet, good healthcare, or simply the support of friends and family, we can’t say for sure, but all those things certainly help. And now it turns out that even Japan’s kitties are living long lives—Japan’s oldest cat, Ai-chan, has recently celebrated her 27th birthday, and she did it in style!

As a lifelong cat owner, I’ve been lucky enough that three of my beloved feline friends have made it to the big 2-0. But it’s still a really sad fact of life that our treasured pets have much shorter lives than we do. All we can do is hope for as much time together as possible and that they’re happy, but Ai’s owners must be delighted that their puss is now pushing 30!

Ai’s owner posted a tweet in celebration of her birthday, stating that Ai was born in Showa 63 (1988) on September 15. And it appears Ai-chan’s had a happy and healthy life, as their owner also reports that she’s never suffered with any major illnesses or injuries.

So let’s take a look at what life is like for 27-year-old Ai, and perhaps we can get some clues as to how she’s managed to reach such a positively ancient age!

Since loneliness is said to be detrimental to a long life, we’re not surprised to see that Ai has a little doggy pal, Char-kun, to keep her company at all times.

Char-kun and Ai-chan are long-time cuddle buddies!

Plenty of strokes also help to keep cats feeling safe and loved.

Ai also gets lots of shut-eye, since napping is basically essential to feline health and happiness.

In fact, since cats sleep around two-thirds of their lives away, doesn’t that mean that Ai-chan’s really only around nine years old? That’s positively sprightly!

The oldest cat who ever lived was Creme Puff, who passed at the positively ancient age of 38 years. Ai still has a way to go before she hits that number, but we reckon she’s done well to get this far. The current Guinness World Record-holding oldest cat alive, however, is Corduroy who only just turned 26, so doesn’t this make Japan’s Ai-chan the oldest kitty in the world?

Source: Hamusoku
Main Image: Twitter/@charkun9