How old is a cat in human years? Unless you get to see your pet since birth, then, you can tell how old your feline friend is and can estimate it to your age. However, although science has advanced everything in our tech age, admittedly, no research exists that helps figure out the exact relationship between cat and human years.
Considering this, it has been identified that the life of a cat is equal to the first 25 years spent by a person. On the other hand, we can come to a conclusion that a cat grows three times as faster as people. For example, when a cat is six years old, the equivalent age to humans would be 18-20 years. That being the case, animals mature at different rates.
To get back to the point, how old is a cat in human years? With this in mind, we let you see how a cat’s age is compared to their owners.
How Old is Your Cat?
To put it briefly, vets and pet owners rely on observation on how old is a cat in human years. For one thing, below shows the estimated comparison of their ages.
Kitten
Cat Age | Human Age |
---|---|
0 to 1 month | 0 to 1 year |
2 to 3 months | 2 to 4 years |
4 months | 6 to 8 years |
6 months | 10 years |
Teen
Cat Age | Human Age |
---|---|
7 months | 12 years |
12 months | 15 years |
18 months | 21 years |
2 years | 24 years |
Prime
Cat Age | Human Age |
---|---|
3 years | 28 years |
4 years | 32 years |
5 years | 36 years |
6 years | 40 years |
Mature
Cat Age | Human Age |
---|---|
7 years | 44 years |
8 years | 48 years |
9 years | 52 years |
10 years | 56 years |
Senior
Cat Age | Human Age |
---|---|
11 years | 60 years |
12 years | 64 years |
13 years | 68 years |
14 years | 72 years |
Geriatric
Cat Age | Human Age |
---|---|
15+ years | 75+ years |
How To Tell Your Cat’s Age?
Unless you were there during its birth, then that’ll be easy. On the other hand, if you have adopted a cat in a shelter and have difficulty in finding of its age, there are several ways to know how old is a cat in human years.
For example, older cats have more stains than its younger counterparts. Lest we just assume the owner does not practice a healthy cat dental hygiene. So, here are the best indicators on telling how old is a cat in human years.
1. Through Its Teeth
In a kitten, the baby teeth would come out during the third week after birth. Eventually, the first six months can be determined by observing the rate where baby teeth fall out. If you can see a full set of teeth in the mouth of your cat, you can learn that the cat is at least six months old. Seeing that the teeth are sharp and clean, the cat would be less than two years old.
2. Through Its Muscle Mass and Coat
For example, cats who are aged over ten years have issues with digesting proteins, which can contribute towards reduced muscle mass. Furthermore, limitations in their mobility can also be seen because of the reduced muscle mass.
Related: Best Cat Food for Shedding
How Long Do Cats Live?
To start with, a healthy cat will be able to live around 15-20 years. However, you need to care for your cat to make it live for an extended period. Health issues would arise in your cat after ten years, and you need to take necessary measures to provide appropriate treatments under those circumstances. Only then you will be able to provide a longer life to your cat.
FACT
Did you know that there’s a cat that lived for 38 years and three days? Creme Puff is the kitty that was born on August 3, 1967, and lived until August 6, 2005. It’s a Guinness world record! Her owner was also the previous holder of the world’s oldest cat – Grandpa. Who knows how old is a cat in human years at that age!
What Influences The Length Of a Cat’s Life?
- Diet: It’s obvious that their food will affect their health. As much as possible, let your pet cats eat low carb cat food.
- Medical Care: How many times do you go to your vet to treat your cat? Speaking about this, regular visits will help curb diseases.
- The Environment They Live: If your cat lives in an environment where there are plenty of risks, therefore, the chances of a dwindling life expectancy can likely happen.
- Neutered or Spayed: A tom cat would probably pick fewer fights or rather just stay at your home. Likewise, a spayed female cat won’t catch any diseases when mating or any like leukemia or cancer.
How To Improve Your Cat’s Lifespan
If you are a cat owner, you can take several measures to provide a healthy and a long life to your cat. As a matter of fact, we’ve listed them down some measures for you to take note actually.
- Purchase quality cat food: Concerning the fact that it has been identified that a lot of cats fall into illnesses because of the food they consume, you have to be vigilant on what they eat. Therefore, you need to be careful enough to provide a diet that matches well with the lifestyle and life stage of your cat.
- Provide a diet with more calories to your kitten to facilitate its growth: Additionally, you need to provide a diet full of nutrients to the old cats as well.
- Likewise, do not overfeed your cat: Cat obesity happens when you feed your kitty way too much. For example, complications like diabetes, cancer or intestinal problems can arise.
- Provide sufficient hydration: Even though most of the cats don’t prefer to drink a lot of water, as a cat owner, you should encourage them to drink water as much as possible.
- Practice better cat hygiene: By way of example, you can brush its hair to further avoid having furballs that would cause stomach problems or brush its teeth for the prevention of tooth cavities.
- Take your cat to vet whenever they are sick: Granting that if you’ve noticed that they’re getting weaker and seems to have lose their appetite, your kitty may be sick. In the event when you can’t tell why, take it to the vet.
- Spay and neuter them: Notably, a tom cat would hardly wander at night and pick fights. In the same way, the female kitty would less likely catch feline STD’s and other diseases when she mates.
In a word, if you focus on these factors, you will be able to provide a long and a healthy life to your cat without going through any hassle. As was previously stated, how old is a cat in human years can’t accurately be determined, but can be estimated?
More importantly, how about you? How old is your cat? In the same way, tell us more of your kitty!
Kylia says
– Dear Stacy & Dorsey ~ I hope you love this as much as I do! Miss C is a total cutie pie. I still cannot believe she is already a year old! &hseatr; ♥