The Immortal Cats of Jake Perry

I ran across an article on Tumblr from Atlas Obscura about a Texas plumber named Jake Perry, who is in fact a cousin of the former Governer of Texas (and now head of the Energy Department), Rick Perry. (proving most news stories have a cat angle somewhere). Here is an excerpt:

"Perry’s cats broke the Guinness World Record for oldest cat. Twice, actually: The first record, from 1998, was for a part Sphynx, part Devon Rex named Granpa Rexs Allen who made it to age 34; the second, from 2005, is for a mixed tabby named Creme Puff who lived to age 38. Since the 1980s, Perry has adopted and re-homed hundreds of cats, at his peak raising four dozen at once, showcasing the best and brightest in cat shows. According to Perry, it’s not just Granpa and Creme Puff who had unusually long lives: About a third of his cats, he says, lived to be at least 30 years old—about twice the average feline life span."

so how does he do it?  Well, for one thing he dotes on the cats--you should read the article to see just how much :D. Also they are spayed and neutered and they are not allowed to actually go outside, though they have a fenced in run. (Stripey is slightly an outdoor cat, she goes out with adult supervision, and comes in if we aren't out there.) But he also feeds them an...unusual..diet:

"... their daily diet: on top of dry commercial cat food, a home-cooked breakfast of eggs, turkey bacon, broccoli, coffee with cream, and—every two days—about an eyedropper full of red wine to “circulate the arteries.” 

Ok, so I am not doing the coffee, even though some cats is Asia are eating beans for the "special" coffee, but why not offer Stripey a home cooked breakfast? So this morning I pulled out a pan and cooked a scrambled egg, put it on a plate and called her over. She came over, took a look, looked up at me with a WTF expression, and then used a hind leg to imitate a "burying" motion like it was something in the catbox. So I opened a can of Fancy Feast, and that was that.