I have heard of cats living well into the teens it is not all that un-common the cat just has to have good genes if they are an indoor cat the odds they will live a very long time increase greatly a vet told me that once anyway.23 would be on the rare side for any dog or cat though but not impossiable.
Sunvalley surely you dont really think that pets are better than kids? You must not have any kids or if you do I feel sorry for you if you really feel that way.Raisng a human being and having a pet are very diffrent to me. There are people that can care for a pet fine but that same person raising a kid not so good an idea.