TYLER, A CAT OF MANY BIRTHDATES

First birthdate: May 12, 1999

When I adopted Tyler from the Oregon Humane Society in 2017, he was listed as being 18 years old. A stray who had been living on the streets for an untold amount of time, Tyler required some care after a good Samaritan brought him in to the shelter. This included a complete dental extraction because his teeth were so bad. Teeth are often a gage of a cat’s age, and before the extraction, the OHS doctors assessed him to be quite senior. They gave him a tentative birthdate of May 12, 1999—May 12 for the date he was relinquished to OHS, and 1999 as an educated guess of a year born. How could I leave an 18-year-old cat in the shelter when I had room at my home?

 

Birthdate #2: June 2, 2003

Shortly after I adopted Tyler, I took him to my vet for his initial visit. My doctor was amazed at Tyler’s good health! Despite being underweight and having a chronic non-progressive eye condition, his lab work was amazingly normal with no sign of kidney disease or any of the other issues an older cat can have. He ran and played like a kitten, so no arthritis either. With no teeth to look at for clues to his age, Dr. Leon thought him to be closer to 14 and revised his birthday to June 2, 2003.

Birthdate #3: January 1, 2004

A few years ago, I changed vets to the one I have now for both Clarence and Tyler. I don’t know why my new clinic decided to revise Tyler’s date of birth to 01/01/2004, but that’s what they have on record and that’s what I will stick to, unless someone can come up with a better idea. Since Tyler’s had a full Basepaws DNA panel run, I imagine only a cat psychic could furnish a more accurate date.

Bottom line: My Cat Is Twenty!

Tyler may not be running as fast or jumping as high as he did seven years ago, but he’s still going strong. His good health has continued so far, and after his next bi-yearly wellness check in April, we will be able to see if anything has changed. The Basepaws DNA profile was done for a study on longevity in cats, and they said he was a perfect specimen. But to me, he’s just wonderful Tyler, the love of our lives, as we grow older too.

Read the award-winning poem I wrote when I first adopted Tyler HERE: