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Cat Age and Cat
Health
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This page discusses how to convert cat age to the equivalent people age. It
is specific to domestic house cats, as other types of cats (e.g. wild cats, barn
cats, feral cats) age at different rates than our pet house cats.
In addition to showing how to convert cat years, at the bottom of the page
the major factors affecting cat health and associated lifespan are
described.
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Converting
Cat Years |
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There are many tables for converting between cat years (age) and human
years (age). Many of them use a very simple calculation (e.g. 1 cat year equals
7 human years). This is inaccurate since the average lifespan for a house cat
(excluding accidents, in particular from cars) is about 15 years, whereas the
average lifespan for a person (in 1st world countries) is about 75 years.
Therefore, a cat year is about 5 human years on average (75 divided by 15).
One also needs to consider that cats spend a relatively small proportion of
their lives in the immature stage:
- Cats are physically and sexually developed within about 1 year, whereas
people reach the equivalent maturity at 15 years, so the first years of a
cats life is equivalent to 15 years of a person's.
- Likewise, at two years of age a cat has reached the same maturity as a
person of 25 years, so the second year of a cat's life is equivalent to 10
years (25 minus 15) of a person's.
- Thereafter, each calendar year a cat ages the equivalent of 4 human
years.
These factors are expressed in the following table.
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Cat Years |
Equivalent Human Years |
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1 |
15 |
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2 |
25 |
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3 |
29 |
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4 |
33 |
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5 |
37 |
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6 |
41 |
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7 |
45 |
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8 |
49 |
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9 |
53 |
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10 |
57 |
|
11 |
61 |
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12 |
65 |
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13 |
69 |
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14 |
73 |
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15 |
77 |
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16 |
81 |
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17 |
85 |
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18 |
89 |
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19 |
93 |
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20 |
97 |
The oldest recorded age for a cat is 34 years.
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Cat Lifespan
and Cat Health |
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The conditions in which a cat lives will greatly affect its lifespan. It is
not unusual for a house cat to reach 15 years or even 20 years of age, whereas
an intact tomcat living in the wild has an average life expectancy of about 3 years. Some
general factors that affect lifespan are:
- Gender. Female cats tend to live slightly longer than male cats.
- Neutering. Neutered cats tend to live longer than intact cats. In part this is due to a
reduced risk of cancer, as cancers of the sex organs are often related to
sex hormones, which are greatly diminished by neutering. Current research
indicates that the sooner the neutering is done the lower the risk of these
cancers, and if a female cat is neutered before the first season the risk is
believed to be less than 1%. There is also some evidence that neutered cats,
especially neutered tomcats, benefit from a reduced exposure to infectious
diseases (they stay closer to home).
- Diet. The three major natural causes of death in cats are kidney
failure, cancer and infectious diseases. Suitable foods (including special
reduced protein cat food for older cats) can significantly delay kidney
problems and may also reduce cancers. There are a range of cat foods
specially adapted to different cat ages and medical conditions, even a
speciality food for neutered cats.
- Living conditions. A suitable environment will result in a
healthier cat who can be expected to live longer. For this reason house cats
typically live longer than barn cats or feral cats.
- Medical Attention. Cats should have vaccination against the
common feline diseases. In some parts of the world the presence of certain
deadly parasites (e.g. heartworm) require that cats receive preventive
medication monthly to ensure that they are not infected. Infectious diseases
is one of the three main natural causes of cat death, which can be easily
prevented by ensuring that vaccinations are given and kept up-to-date. Finally, like
people, cats periodically require medical treatment for illness or injury,
especially as they get older.
- Individual characteristics. Just as some people are born with a strong
constitution, so are some cats. Consequently, while one can talk about the
expected lifespan of a cat based on the above factors, individual cats will
vary somewhat from this.
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