'Real ale on tap' is secret behind Britain's oldest pub cat's longevity

London, Apr 23 (ANI): A pub cat named Rosie is thought to be one of the oldest in Britain after she clocked up the equivalent of 112 in human years.

Rosie has been standing at the bar of the Swan with Two Neck in the village of Pendleton near Clitheroe, Lancashire, since the 1980s and has just reached her 25th birthday.

Pub landlady Christine Dilworth who owns Rosie believes her long life is down to the real ale fumes going up her nose. Cats normally have a life expectancy of 15 years.

"She has always had good company and enjoyed time by the open fire and I think the real ale fumes have helped as well," the Daily Mail quoted Dilworth as saying.

"She is quite frail and she has always been small, but she is a real character. She is so happy when people are around, because she has grown up in a pub.

"We've had other cats over the years, but Rosie is special. She's a real lady and very gentle and happy even when the children are pulling at her.

"Not a day goes by without anybody asking how she is and lots of people take photographs of her on their phones - I think she secretly enjoys her celebrity status," she said.

Rosie, who has always been mistaken as a kitten because of her petite frame, loves nothing more than being in the thick of the hustle and bustle of the bar.

"She very rarely goes upstairs.

"She loves being stroked by all the customers and lying stretched out in front of the fire. In summer, she'll go out to the benches and lie in the sun," Dilworth said.

The family got a scare a couple of years ago, when Rosie developed cancer on her ear.

"She had to get part of her ear chopped off - maybe it was down to too much sun-bathing, they do say to rub sun cream on cats' ears," she said.

The oldest cat ever recorded by the Guinness Book of Records was Creme Puff a female from Texas which died at age of 38 years and 3 days in August 2005.

But last year a family in South Wales claimed to have the oldest in the world after their pet Lucy reached its 39th birthday. (ANI)