I learned something about longevity from a cat video

 There are a number of research programs that study interventions for increasing lifespan and healthspan in animals (dogs, mice, flies, nematode worms) with the aim of finding successful interventions that could be translated to humans. The Dog Aging Project enrolls companion dogs in observational and interventional studies on aging; it seems a worthwhile endeavor even if treatments are not applicable to humans as improving the lifespan and healthspan of dogs is worthwhile for its own sake. To date, however, there has not been a similar project for cats - or has there? 

I watch a lot of cat videos and came upon one that reported ultra-longevity in a number of cats apparently achieved through diet and lifestyle interventions implemented by their human companion, Jake Perry. It seems strange that I learned about this from a cat video rather than through all the longevity-related media I consume.

https://youtu.be/CXGCJeH4e-w?t=32 

An article by Christina Couch published in Atlas Obscura in 2015 provides further details:

How to raise a 165 year old cat - https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-raise-a-165-year-old-cat

"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. ... About a third of his cats, he says, lived to be at least 30 years old—about twice the average feline life span. ...

First, there was 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.” Then there was his effort to ensure the cats were sufficiently stimulated: a garage he’d converted into a home movie theater, with a working reel-to-reel projector and actual movie theater seats, where Perry screens nature documentaries exclusively for the cats (with previews, he added). Last, and perhaps most important, he swore that love and close, personal relationships helped his cats live longer. "

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Two more interesting things I learned from the Purring Journal video:

 - spayed female cats live longer than intact females

-  female cats tend to be right-pawed, male cats are slightly more likely to be left-pawed

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20889969_Paw_Preference_in_Cats_Distribution_and_Sex_Differences