Mickey doesn’t need nine lives. He’s squeezed 28 years from his first.

The average life expectancy for male indoor cats at birth is 12 to 14 years.

Females usually live a year or two longer.

Crème Puff (Aug. 3, 1967-Aug. 6, 2005) was a female cat, which lived to 38.

She was the oldest cat ever recorded, according to the 2010 edition of Guinness World Records.

The Texas cat’s owner had another, which lived to a ripe old 34.

They were fed an unusual diet of bacon, eggs, asparagus and broccoli.

Mickey, a steel point Siamese, came to Dorothy White of West High Street as a kitten in 1984.

“My son’s girlfriend didn’t want him, and it was winter time,” White said Thursday. “She said I could have him. He was skinny, so my husband told me to take him to a vet to be checked out. I took him to a woman vet in Edwardsburg. She neutered him and declawed him.”

At one time, she had another Siamese cat, but it got outside, bit by a bat, developed rabies and died.

“(Mickey) gets around very slowly, and he’s lost weight because of his age,” she said, proffering a photo of her heavier cat at 17, “but he eats a lot. I love all animals. They’re my babies. He was a good mouser when he was younger.”

Mickey gets along with her dog, Penny, 12, whose brother died two months ago of a heart attack.

“She’s got heart problems and is on medication.”

White also has a “feisty Chihuahua.”

Mickey got his name from Disney’s Mickey Mouse, a favorite of her children, Jay Jr. and Dorothy, who grew up to fight fires and work at Cass County Transit and Harding’s, respectively. Her husband and son raced cars and drove in demolition derbies.

“I’ve lived here since ’74,” she said.

There’s apparently no secret to Mickey’s longevity.

“Take care of animals, give them a lot of love and take them to the vet when they need it — same as a kid,” White said.

 

 

 

By JOHN EBY

john.eby@leaderpub.com

 

Mickey doesn’t need nine lives. He’s squeezed 28 years from his first.

The average life expectancy for male indoor cats at birth is 12 to 14 years.

Females usually live a year or two longer.

Crème Puff (Aug. 3, 1967-Aug. 6, 2005) was a female cat, which lived to 38.

She was the oldest cat ever recorded, according to the 2010 edition of Guinness World Records.

The Texas cat’s owner had another, which lived to a ripe old 34.

They were fed an unusual diet of bacon, eggs, asparagus and broccoli.

Mickey, a steel point Siamese, came to Dorothy White of West High Street as a kitten in 1984.

“My son’s girlfriend didn’t want him, and it was winter time,” White said Thursday. “She said I could have him. He was skinny, so my husband told me to take him to a vet to be checked out. I took him to a woman vet in Edwardsburg. She neutered him and declawed him.”

At one time, she had another Siamese cat, but it got outside, bit by a bat, developed rabies and died.

“(Mickey) gets around very slowly, and he’s lost weight because of his age,” she said, proffering a photo of her heavier cat at 17, “but he eats a lot. I love all animals. They’re my babies. He was a good mouser when he was younger.”

Mickey gets along with her dog, Penny, 12, whose brother died two months ago of a heart attack.

“She’s got heart problems and is on medication.”

White also has a “feisty Chihuahua.”

Mickey got his name from Disney’s Mickey Mouse, a favorite of her children, Jay Jr. and Dorothy, who grew up to fight fires and work at Cass County Transit and Harding’s, respectively. Her husband and son raced cars and drove in demolition derbies.

“I’ve lived here since ’74,” she said.

There’s apparently no secret to Mickey’s longevity.

“Take care of animals, give them a lot of love and take them to the vet when they need it — same as a kid,” White said.