2nd Oldest Cat Alive

SPRING GROVE, ILLINOIS (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Spring Grove man's cat just may be the oldest living cat in the world.  Or a close second.  

People learned about him from a post on Reddit showing the orange cat's picture with the words: “This is Tiger. He just turned 31.” 

The post was made by Robert Goldstein’s step-daughter. 

“She goes, 'I can’t get over it but there’s like 150,000 people that have responded about your cat,' and I was like, ‘Well, that’s awesome,'' Goldstein said. 

The cat papa said he recently took Tiger to the veterinarian for a check-up. 

“And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m looking at the teeth here and looking at his eyes and stuff’ and he said, ‘This is a very old cat,’ and he said, ‘You know, the oldest cat in Illinois, I believe, is in his late twenties.  This is the oldest cat that I have ever looked at and it may very well be the oldest cat in the state of Illinois,'' said Goldstein, explaining that the news surpised him. 'And I said, 'Wow, that’s amazing.' I don’t know how long cats are supposed to live but apparently they usually live for 18 to 22 years and Tiger’s well over that stage.'

He said Tiger's nickname is Lincoln and that he acquired the cat in 1996 from his then-girlfriend, who got him in 1989. 

Tiger also lives with a pit bull mix.   

'Tiger doesn’t take any crap from the pit bull.  He’ll slap him upside the head.  Just an incredible animal. He's got more than nine lives,' Goldstein said. 

Tiger has always eaten dry cat food and will only drink out of the bathtub.  He still likes to go outside and sits on top of a car.  

A story from June 2018 with the headline 'World's Oldest Cat Celebrates 30th Birthday' was written about a British woman's cat named Rubble. If Rubble is still alive, that would make him three months older than Tiger.  

The oldest cat on record died in 2005 at the age of 38.

Story re-posted from WBBM News Radio. Written by Mike Krauser