George the post office cat dies at the age of 24

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A POST office cat who might have laid claim to being the oldest in the world has died at the age of 24.

George would sit on the counter and greet customers at the Boscombe East branch.

His owners did not have the documentation necessary to prove his age. But last year, another 24-year-old Bournemouth cat, Poppy, was named the world’s oldest by Guinness World Records shortly before her death.

Postmaster Adam Phillips said he got George from a customer as a kitten in 1991 to give to his grandma. After Adam’s grandma died, George came to live at the shop.

“Within a month he lost one of his nine lives after getting knocked down by a girl coming back from clubbing early one morning,” said Adam.

“She took him to the nearest emergency vet’s in Charminster. We thought we had lost him back then and he'd just gone missing but after a week we tracked him down to this vet’s.

“He spent most of his life in and out of the shop on a daily basis, keeping guard on the front door and ensuring the 'no dogs policy' was adhered to. Many a time we had heard a bark after he had scratched a dog’s nose attempting to enter – he had even been known to chase them down the road.”

Adam added: “He would come down early mornings and sit on the counter awaiting a certain customer to bring him biscuits. This one customer he would recognise the sound of the car and dash outside to him.

“If he was ever locked out of the shop he would simply walk around the block, down the road and in through the front door – no stopping him.”

George lost his hearing and sight two years ago but adapted well and was still eating.

Adam said George’s loss was “a very sad day for us all and our customers”.

In the year George was born, apartheid was being dismantled, the first Gulf War drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, and the world said goodbye to Freddie Mercury and Robert Maxwell.

Hit films that year included Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK and Hook. The biggest songs of the year included (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams, Madonna’s Justify My Love and Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla ice.