SHE is playful, lovable and still lively - yet Tiggy the cat is limbering up for her 22nd birthday in a few months.

Most cats are reckoned to have had a good innings if they clock up 17 years.

But Tiggy the dark brown tabby has somehow managed to retain her kitten-like looks well into old age.

Tiggy has some way to go before she reaches 27, said to be a world record age for a cat, living in Australia.

Perhaps Tiggy's longevity is something to do with the care and attention she receives at the vets. Every five weeks she gets what owner Susie Wimpress calls her MoT, getting a thorough check and being pampered with a manicure treatment.

Once a champion mouser, Tiggy now prefers the quiet life at her home in Bishopton Grove Guest House, Ripon.

"She's an Aga cat now. She loves nothing more than resting and lapping up the warmth in front of the Aga in the kitchen. And she's still got a lovely purr," said Mrs Wimpress.

Tiggy was picked out for adoption from neighbours by Mrs Wimpress' daughter Katharine, who was just nine at the time.

Tiggy has never suffered any major ailments and has never had a mishap in the house, being described as impeccably behaved, apart from once carrying a rabbit into the living quarters.

She is fed on chicken and tuna and drinks plenty of water to help keep a slight thyroid problem at bay.

Already Mrs Wimpress has decided to mark Tiggy's 22nd birthday on June 9 with a feast of red salmon.

A spokesman at Ripon Cat Rescue said they had once dealt with a cat which lived until she was 23 but it was unusual for cats to live beyond 17 or 18.