With advances in modern medicine, many of our feline friends can live well into their teens. For one super senior cat named Charlie the Ginger, he was adopted by his forever family at Cats Protection, the UK’s largest cat welfare charity. For nearly two decades, Charlie has been loved, adored, and spoiled—just like any cat should be! I came across him on Instagram and reached out to his owner, hoping to share his sweet story with all the Cattitude Daily readers. Thankfully, she agreed—so learn all about this purrfect feline out of Derby, England!
How did Charlie come into your life?
We rescued Charlie from the Cats Protection Centre in Ashbourne, Derby, 18 years ago. This means that our ‘oh so majestic’ beloved family pet, Charlie, is now 18 years old. Charlie has been a brilliant pet and an amazing, loving and compassionate pet companion to all of us over the years.
How did Charlie get his name?
My younger sister Kinjal chose Charlie’s name. A fun fact for you is that he was originally named Sunshine ☀️ at the Cats Protection Centre. However, my sister decided on the name Charlie instead. It turned out to be a very suitable fit because Charlie became the Prince of our house, therefore we often call him Prince Charles, and now more recently, he has had a promotion to King Charles!!!
A photo of Charlie in his younger years:
What is his personality like?
Charlie is a very friendly, affectionate and intelligent cat. He always greets visitors and is always up for cuddles and fuss from everyone. We often feel his personality and temperament is more like a dog because he’s so friendly and loyal. A lot of cats often keep to themselves but Charlie is the complete opposite to this. Charlie is a very loving pet and has bought us a lot of joy over the years. He is very intelligent as wellbecause he can determine which one us is walking down the stairs, based solely on the noise of the footsteps. He will often be in a room upstairs and if he determines correctly (which is usually 99% of the time) that my Dad is walking down the stairs then he will follow him because he knows my Dad will feed him an extra cheeky meal. For the rest of us, he won’t bother following us downstairs as we don’t feed him extra cheeky meals.
Does he have any other cat or dog housemates at home?
Charlie has no other cat or dog housemates. He is truly the sole Prince of the house !!! He is often spoiled by all of us and will get extra cat treats and milk regularly.
What are his favourite hobbies?
During his kitten days, Charlie had many hobbies. He enjoyed playing in the garden and often liked to climb hedges & trees. For a small cat, he often reached very high hedges. He would sometimes also climb ladders inside the house (we have a removeable ladder to the attic) and when he used to do this, it meant we would have to go on a mission to bring him down again. Charlie has also managed to climb some roofs of houses and sometimes he would reach very high up on his adventure, to the point where he would be too much of a scaredy cat to climb back down 😹. But with a bit of help and encouragement, we of course managed to get him down.
Here are some photos of his climbing adventures:
Now that Charlie fits the super senior category, he is an elderly cat so he often lives life in the slow lane. Charlie’s main hobbies now include lounging in our lounge 💤 😴 🐾 and basking in the sun near our patio door ☀️🪴🌷.
What’s something special you’d like people to know about Charlie?
There are quite a few special things that I would like people to know about Charlie! A few years ago, when I was a student at The University of Nottingham, I entered Charlie’s photo in a competition for The Dean’s Art Initiative. Amazingly, Charlie’s photo won and his photo has been magnified and framed in a lovely silver frame! Charlie’s photo now graces the corridor outside the Dean’s Office of The Medical School at The Queen’s Medical Centre. I am very pleased that his photo won the competition all those years ago and it has meant that many students have been able to admire our adorable Charlie’s photo over the years while they were on their way to lectures!
I have some photos with Charlie in my graduation robes – he is truely part of the family.
We took Charlie to a Pet Photoshoot once. He is very photogenic.
We are a Hindu family; therefore, due to religious reasons we refrain from eating meat, particularly red meat. Therefore,Charlie also follows our suit and he seems to like only Chicken and Turkey. His favourite food includes Chicken with asparagus. Charlie does not like red meat.
Charlie is quite famous. Not only is his photo in The Queen’s Medical Centre, but he is also famous in other ways.
Charlie’s photo has been printed in The Derbyshire Telegraph Newspaper for a Pet Photo Contest.
Charlie’s photo has been posted on The Cat’s Protection Centre’s Facebook page for his 10th Birthday also. Charlie has more recently featured on Derbyshire Cat Centre’s Facebook page again as a success story: a video which I created with lots of lovely of photos and videos of Charlie was shared on there.
Charlie has his own Facebook page and now also his own Instagram Page. Please paws 🐾 for a moment to show your support for Charlie The Ginger Tom 🐈 😻💛 by following his page. It is much appreciated and thanks for the support.
I want to extend a special “thank you” to Priya, Charlie’s devoted cat mom, for allowing me to share his story and images with all the Cattitude Daily readers. Stories like his show that love can sometimes be the key to a long and beautiful life for a cat.
Curious about your cat’s age compared to human years? Check out this chart below! The theory behind the calculations: The first two years of a cat’s life are equivalent to 25 human years. After that, add four years to each year of their life.
