Unlike dogs that tend to turn gray around the face as they age, a cat's appearance may not change so much. What you may notice is less muscle tone, drier skin and coat, maybe a little arthritis. But even elderly cats still enjoy some play time and attention.
How old is your cat? I mean, in human years, how old would your cat be? Popular theory is that one year of a dog’s life is equal to seven human years, although that’s not accurate. But you can estimate the human equivalent of a cat’s age with this formula.
When your cat is one year old, that’s the equivalent of a fifteen-year-old human. At two years old, that would be equal to age twenty-four in human years. Add four years for each additional year. So my six-year-old cat is age forty in human years, and my ten-year-old cat is the same age as a fifty-six year old person.
The International Cat Care organization has created a great chart that lists the stages of a cat’s life. The first is the Kitten stage for kitties that are less than six months old. The Junior stage goes from six months to two years.
The Prime stage includes cats from three to six years old, followed by the Mature stage for felines age seven to ten. A cat between eleven to fourteen years of age is in the Senior stage; one that is fifteen or older is considered Geriatric.
The average life expectancy for a cat is about fifteen years, but it is not uncommon for a cat to live for twenty years or more. At twenty years old, a cat would be the equivalent of the ripe old age of ninety-six! The oldest cat on record was thirty-six years old.
These estimates apply to cats that are housepets and spend most of their time indoors. Outside cats have a much shorter life expectancy. The age equivalency works the same for the first two years, but after that, add eight years for each additional year of an outdoor cat’s life.
Recognizing the stages of a cat’s life can help its owners understand the changes and transitions that take place as the pet ages. Check out the cat life stages chart on International Cat Care’s website at ICareCat.org.
June is Adopt-a-Cat Month, the perfect time to visit your local animal shelter or rescue group and find a new feline companion, for whatever your stage of life happens to be, when you’re speaking of pets.
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