Cat's life calendar. How to calculate a cat's age using a human's. What is one year of a cat's life compared to a human year? By sexual maturity

The cat is considered the most popular and widespread pet. For many years, pets have been valued by humans for their ability to hunt rodents and other pests, affection and tenderness towards the owner. According to statistics, the average lifespan of an animal is 14 years. It, like people, includes periods of childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity and old age. There are several ways to determine and estimate the age of cats by human standards.

How to determine age

The exact age of a pet is not always known. Animals often come into a home from the street or are adopted from a shelter. A professional: a breeder or a veterinarian can calculate biological age. Basically, experts determine it by the teeth. There are several methods for understanding age at home.

Kitten

You can determine the age of a kitten by assessing:

• external signs: umbilical cord, eyes, ears, teeth and weight;
• behavior;
• puberty.

The kitten is a newborn baby that still has traces of a chewed umbilical cord on its stomach. Usually the cord falls off spontaneously in the first 3 days after birth. If the umbilical cord is obvious, then the kitten is no more than a few days old.

You should also pay attention to the baby's eyes. The baby opens them within 7-14 days. If the kitten's eyes are closed, it was born recently, within 2 weeks. A narrow palpebral fissure indicates 2-3 weeks of age. Initially, the eye color of all kittens is sky blue; a little later, the iris acquires a permanent color.

A baby's ears go through several stages of development. From 0 to 7 days the channels are closed. They begin to open on days 5-8, and by 2-3 weeks the ears straighten.

Examination of baby teeth is an important point in determining the age of a healthy animal. Cats do not have teeth until they are 2 weeks old. The first milk teeth erupt at 2-3 weeks of life.

Primary canines (long, sharp teeth) grow at 3-4 weeks and are located next to the incisors. The premolars appear next at 4-6 weeks. The name premolars refers to the teeth that grow between the molars and canines. When a kitten has all its milk teeth, it is considered to be 4 months old.

In total, the animal must have:

• there are 6 incisors on the upper and lower jaws;
• 2 fangs above and below;
• on the upper jaw there are 3 premolars;
• There are 2 premolars on the lower jaw.

At 4 months the incisors change, at 4-6 months - molars, premolars and canines. If the kitten has all molars and fangs, the age can be confidently determined to be 7 months.

It is advisable to determine the approximate age of a pet based on its weight.

Below is a table for comparison:

The data shown in the table is approximate. Indicators may vary depending on the health status, breed characteristics and development of the kitten.

You can estimate the age of a small cat by its behavior, in particular by its movement. At 2 weeks the baby walks staggering. The baby begins to confidently stand on its paws and walk at 2-3 weeks.

At 3-4 weeks, the kitten is able to roll over in the air and land on its paws. At 3.5 weeks the pet responds well to external noises. At the age of 4-5 weeks the animal becomes curious, runs around and is interested in games. At 7-8 weeks, increased mobility with good coordination of movements appears. As the kitten grows, care should be taken when playing to avoid bites and scratches.

To determine sexual maturity, which begins at 4 months, a number of signs are taken into account:

• loud meowing at night;
• desire to get out of the house;
• rapid weight gain;
• the appearance of the first heat;
• marking the territory;
• attempts to mate;
• elongated body.

A 7 month old animal can become pregnant.

Adult cat

Over time, the animal matures: the condition of the teeth, eyes, fur and behavior change. By certain signs you can find out the age of an adult cat.

First of all, you should pay attention to the fur and body of the cat. With age, the fur becomes less dense. Baldness occurs in rare cases. Also, the density can vary according to the season of the year: in summer it is thicker than in winter. Young individuals have thick and smooth fur, older individuals have coarse fur, and older individuals have gray hair.

The cat's activity also changes over time. Because of this, the shape of the body changes. In youth the animal is thin and muscular, in middle age it is round and well-fed. An old pet has loose skin with obvious shoulder girdle bones.

The older the animal becomes, the more pronounced the decrease in hearing and vision is, and body aches appear. Older cats can be aggressive and restless. Elderly individuals have problems going to the litter box. This is due to deteriorating health conditions. Older cats often experience stress, so it is important to provide a calm environment.

The wakefulness and sleep patterns of the pet also change. In old age, cats sleep during the day and are awake at night. This is due to the cat's increased fatigue.

The next method to find out what age a cat is is an eye examination. As you age, your eyes become cloudy and dull due to the development of cataracts. With age, the iris thins and pigment spots and lines appear on it. Elderly cats experience lacrimation and eye discharge.

The adult has all the teeth. They are white with no signs of wear.

Over time, yellowing of teeth occurs:

• 2 years: mild;
• 3-5 years: noticeable yellowness;
• 5-10 years: obvious yellowness;
• 10 years and older: severe yellowing of all teeth.

A 5-year-old animal's teeth are worn out: chips appear and the ends become dull. At 10 years of age, tooth wear is obvious and some are missing. Additionally, tartar and gum recession are detected. The degree of wear depends on the cat's diet.

A veterinarian will help you accurately determine the age of your pet and assess its health.

How to count: ratio table

The proportionality of a pet's life is often calculated relative to the age of people, with 1 cat year being 15-18 human years. In this case, the correspondence between the physical and psychological development of the animal is taken into account.

Below is a table of the ratio of how to calculate the correspondence of cat years in relation to a person:

The data in the table are averages. They can change depending on living conditions, diseases, nutritional patterns, and hereditary factors.

There are several ways to convert a cat's age to human years. A simple translation is indicated in some sources and is quite common: multiply the cat’s age by the number 7 on a calculator. However, such a calculation does not guarantee a reliable result, since it is very inaccurate. For 1 year of a person, 7 cats are accepted here. But the development of an animal occurs unevenly in relation to human age, so the result obtained in this way is unreliable.

More accurate interpretations, taking into account the stages of cat development and their unevenness, are given in the translator table. It is believed that in terms of development, a one-year-old pet reaches the age of 15 human years.

Childhood

The cat's childhood continues at an accelerated pace for a couple of weeks. Within a week, the film on the ears of newborn kittens disappears. On days 5-10, the eyes open, and after a few weeks the baby is able to see the world around him.

Kittens start teething at 2 weeks, and humans start teething at 6-8 months. In a month, cats are already running, and children are only 1.5 years old. 2 months of a cat corresponds to 2 years of a child. In one year of their life, cats quickly go through 15-18 years of human life.

Youth

At a young age, the animal’s movements become graceful and predatory. The maturation of a cat depends on the breed. For example, oriental cats are distinguished by their early development and formation.

Youth

The young period of a cat is 18 months, which corresponds to 20 human years. The period lasts 5 years, in relation to a person - up to 36-40 years. This stage is considered the real peak in the development of the animal. At this time, cats are suitable for breeding; their bodies are characterized by increased endurance.

Maturity

Maturity in a cat occurs at 6-10 years old or by human standards - at 40-56 years old. The pet's character is sedate and respectable. At this time, the animal faces chronic diseases; there are malfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys. Cats that have given birth experience hormonal imbalances.

Old age

An old pet is a cat aged 10-12 years, and a person aged 56-64 years. This factor depends on the living conditions of the animal. For yard cats, life ends before the age of 10, while for cats living at home it lasts 16 years or more. Old animals require special care; it is important to avoid stress and change of place of residence.

How long do they live: average age

The average lifespan of a cat is 12-15 years. This value is relative. The average age depends on the following factors:

• nutrition;
• conditions of detention;
• past diseases;
• size and breed of cat.

The maximum lifespan of a cat is 38 and 40 years. A cat from Texas lived 38 years, and 40 years from Foggy Albion.

How to extend your years

• Balanced nutrition according to the developmental calendar and food needs.
• Constant physical activity, walks outside and hygiene.
• Avoid sudden changes in feeding patterns (from dry to wet food).
• Vaccination against pathogens.
• Prevention of gastrointestinal disorders, helminthiasis.
• Sterilization/castration during puberty.
• Regular checkups with a veterinarian.

If you notice signs of illness, complaints, or unusual behavior in your cat, you should not hesitate and immediately contact a veterinarian.

How many lives do cats have?

According to researchers who calculated how many cats there are in the world, their number is more than 400 million individuals. An animal can produce 7 or more kittens per litter. The largest number of animals lives in Australia. Here, according to statistics, there are 90 cats per 100 people. Asia is in second place, with more than 30 million cats.

How to calculate how many lives cats have? It is widely believed that a pet lives 9 lives for 20 and 30 years in a row. During its existence, the animal spends its reserve of strength on treatment and human love, restoring vital balance in the owner’s body. Whether this is true or not is not known for certain.

Most likely, a cat, like a person, has one life, so it is important to protect and love the pet, which over the years has become a full-fledged member of the family.

Do you know how to calculate a cat's age to a human's? If you haven't had a cat since the first days of its life, you may have a hard time imagining how old it is at the moment. Usually a similar question, how to determine the age of a cat by human standards, arises among children, but it may also be of interest to adults. If you are an avid cat lover, it is a shame not to know such seemingly banal things about your pets.

However, it should be understood that due to the characteristics of the body, metabolic rate and other reasons, the average age of a cat by human standards is small. Unfortunately, most of us survive more than one generation of felines.

Converting cat age to human age

First, let's define the comparison criteria. If you try to study the issue based on the mental development of the cat, you will get a completely illogical and unstable coordinate system. Although furries are very intelligent creatures, it is incorrect to compare their intelligence with human intelligence.

A person does not live by complex instincts, and can develop throughout life, and at different speeds. In cats, these possibilities are more limited. And here we can rather talk about “life experience”, which an adult cat has more than a young cat. And the adult age of a cat by human standards is easier to determine by physical indicators.

The age-related development of cats and people has common features:

• Helplessness at birth;
• High activity in adolescence;
• Health and mobility problems in old age.

How to determine the age of a cat by human standards: different systems for converting cat years

During the time that cats have been domesticated animals, we have managed to create many systems that allow us to convert cat years to human years. Some of them work better, others have very questionable accuracy, and earlier I showed you a visual table.

The first way is to multiply the cat's years by seven. But if you compare a seven-year-old first-grader and a one-year-old cat, you will easily understand where the discrepancy lies. At this age, the animal has already reached puberty. For a child, this is childhood.

The second system is a little more complicated. Based on it, the first year of life is approximately equal to fifteen human years., and the second is nine. That is, we calculate a cat’s age to a human’s as follows:

• The one-year-old cat is 15 years old;
• The two year old is 24.

Based on this methodology, each subsequent year is equal to four human years. But even such a system does not give an accurate result.

Another way to calculate a cat's age by human standards is more complicated. The life of an animal is divided into cycles. The first five years are the stage when each year is equal to a human seven. After five years, a year is equal to 4 human years. If a cat lives to the ripe age of 12, each new year is equal to 3 human years. But over time, this method becomes less and less popular due to inaccuracies.

Therefore, “cat experts” - felinologists have developed a more complex calculation method that uses special coefficients.

For small kittens, converting cat age to human age is as follows:

• The first month of a cat’s life corresponds to 6 months for a child (coefficient – ​​5);
• Second month – 10 month old baby (coefficient 6);
• The third month is a two-year-old child (coefficient 8);
• 4-5 months – children from 5 to 8 years old (coefficients 15 and 19, respectively).

Next, cats begin a turning point in life associated with puberty. For example, the adolescence of cats by human standards is 6-8 months, approximately equal to human ages of 14 and 16 years. Like us, at this time they begin to show interest in the opposite sex. The coefficient rises to an impressive 24-28.

Then, every year the coefficient begins to decrease, because the animal is no longer growing, but is getting older, in the literal sense of the word. That is, here nature distributed everything, like in humans. For example, a cat who is one year old is like a person at eighteen - lively, curious, but already learned something in life. At three years the coefficient reaches 10, and we get 30 human years. At five, the coefficient is 8, that is, 40 years, 10 years - coefficient. 6, and at twenty - 5. So, if your pet reached his 20th birthday, then he can be compared to a 100-year-old veteran. This is a definite success. Now you know how to calculate a cat's age using the most accurate method.

Lifespan of cats

On average, a cat lives from 10 to 14 years, depending on its health, conditions created by its owners, climate and many other factors. And they affect the length and quality of life.

When determining how old a cat is by human standards, you should also take into account the breed of the animal. Life expectancy also depends on whether the cat in front of you is a purebred or a barn cat. Crossbreeding for the purpose of selection shortens life, because any mutation causes various disorders. It is known that closely related relationships lead to various problems in offspring.

Often, cat owners are interested in how old their pet is, if converted to human age? Is there a certain calculation system, thanks to which it would be possible to convert a cat’s age with a certain accuracy to a more understandable one for us, a human one?

Online calculator by human standards

Is it possible to find out the age of a cat?

A veterinarian or an experienced breeder can help determine the age of a cat.

It is not always possible to determine the exact age of a cat, especially if it ended up in the house as an adult.

In this case, only a veterinarian or a breeder with extensive experience can help, who can find out the age of the animal based on the condition of its teeth. So, the first ones at the age of one month, at six months they give way to the indigenous ones, and in adult individuals the age is determined by the degree of wear of the canines and incisors - the more worn and worn out they are, the older the cat.

Analogies with human age

You can draw analogies between the ages of a cat and a person.

For greater convenience and a better understanding of what age category your pet can be classified into, there is a certain correspondence between the age of a person and a cat.

We are, of course, not talking about intelligence, but the physiological and emotional characteristics characteristic of each time period in the life of a living creature can still be identified.

For example, a baby in humans and cats is an equally helpless creature in dire need of mother's care. Adolescence is characterized by activity, curiosity and emotionality with a complete lack of experience. But the old people are all passive, losing interest in life and the sharpness of their feelings.

comparison table

This is what the improved table looks like.

Based on these data, scientists developed the first comparative table of the ages of cats and humans, according to which the age of the animal had to be multiplied by the number 7 and thus obtain an analogue of the age of a person. However this method of calculation turned out to be useless , since it is impossible to compare a relatively adult one-year-old cat with a seven-year-old child!

For this reason, the table has been improved over time. And in it, a young cat at the age of one year is equated to a sixteen-year-old teenager, and a two-year-old animal is equivalent to a 24-year-old person. Each year of a cat's life is then compared to four human years.

Another scheme

There is also another system for comparing the age of a cat and a person. According to it, in young cats under five years of age, each year is equivalent to seven human years, in the period from five to twelve years - to four years, and over twelve - to three human years.

However, the most accurate information can be obtained if you use a simple and accessible calculator, which is based on more accurate and complex coefficients.

Features of feline age

To better understand how a pet develops in comparison with a person, you should learn the main stages of its maturation:

Infancy

The period of infancy in cats does not last long.

Cats mature much faster than people.

Kittens do not linger in infancy , and this tender period lasts only a few weeks. However, during this time, a playful and curious kitten grows out of a completely blind, deaf and helpless lump.

Childhood

During this period, kittens develop rapidly.

Perhaps this is one of the most difficult periods in a cat’s life to calculate, since the cubs develop incredibly rapidly, mastering new knowledge and skills every day.

Adolescence

Beginning cat owners are sure that a five-month-old kitten is a playful naughty boy who can be compared to a three-year-old toddler, and they forgive him a lot.

However, this is far from the case: a 5–6-month-old kitten can easily be compared to a teenager, because even an animal during such a period is characterized by the main behavioral traits of a teenager: irrepressible activity, a tendency to play pranks and minor mischief.

Youth

Young cats are very graceful and love to play.

A one-year-old cat can be compared to an 18-year-old boy: he has become more mature, but at the same time he still has a love for children's fun. Predatory grace and self-confidence appear in the movements.

Youth

The best period in a cat's life, when all its natural qualities are revealed to the maximum, this time is considered the best for breeding.

Youth lasts up to five years , which by human standards is approximately forty years.

Maturity

Usually,. in adulthood, even the most playful cat begins to behave calmer.

The period of maturity in cats is 6–10 years, which is typical for 40–55 years in humans.

Games and funny pranks are of less and less interest; the animal behaves sedately and calmly. Diseases and hormonal disorders may begin to bother you.

Old age

An elderly cat is considered to be 10–12 years old.

But this figure does not mean that the pet will die soon: a lot depends on the state of its health, conditions of detention, and hereditary factors. – 15–20 years, and sometimes longer.

Determining the age of cats and kittens “by eye” is not so easy. The most accurate method is to look at the animal's passport. Less accurate is based on the condition of the teeth. A veterinarian can do this. However, this method has an error that arises for various reasons. For example, solid food, poor oral care, infectious or inflammatory processes in it. Knowing how old your pet is by your standards, you can expect him to run around and play, or, conversely, to have a more relaxed lifestyle. The older your beloved cat gets, the more care she needs. You may also have to go to the veterinarian more often for a preventive examination.

How is a cat's age calculated by human standards?

Many owners are interested in how to convert the age of cats to “human” in order to approximately know the condition of the animal. It is no secret that the older the animal, just like a person, the worse its health and well-being. And it's worth knowing when your pet becomes elderly.

Young kittens that have not yet reached the age of one, real children, gradually turn into teenagers. The cat year is the “human” fifteenth anniversary. A cat's next birthday can be compared to a human's 24th year of life. Good age. And each subsequent year is an addition of another 4 years to the previous human age.

For example, if your animal has crossed the threshold of three years, then the human age of cats will be 28 years. Four years - 32 human years. And so on. It’s not at all difficult to count (5 – 36, 6 – 40, 7 – 44, 8 – 48 and so on). Think about it: when a cat reaches 16 years of age, that’s 80 years by human standards.

Your purr will celebrate its hundredth “human” anniversary when it reaches 21 years of age. However, this is a very “serious” age for cats; not everyone can live up to it.

Below is a table of age correspondence between cats and humans.

How old do cats and kittens live?

There are very rare cases when a cat’s age “exceeds” 16 years. However, long-livers who have lived side by side with their owner for more than 20 years are also registered.

But just imagine what it’s like for an animal. It becomes deaf over the years, becomes blind, and the risk of developing cancer increases. And the internal organs work much worse. Sometimes they refuse altogether.

The oldest cat could live up to 28 years. Just imagine that if you translate it into “our” years, it turns out to be 128. Not every person lives to see their centenary, let alone such numbers.

Much depends on the owners. How carefully and caringly he treats his pet. It is very important to plan your diet correctly. Don’t forget that the older your meowing lump is, the more carefully you should select its food and enrich it with vitamins. Try to give soft foods more often. Still, teeth may fall out, the stomach no longer digests it so well.

Pet owners are often interested in the question of how to calculate how old a cat is in terms of the age of a person. To find out the age of a four-legged family member, you need to figure out what methods exist to establish a connection between the years of life of a cat and a person. This will allow you to better understand your pet.

Methods for relating the ages of humans and cats

Time passes more quickly in animals than in humans. It is important to remember that all methods of converting cat years into human years are approximate, since it is difficult to compare the thinking of people and the instincts of cats.

Calculation by odds

You can calculate the age of an animal in human years using coefficients. Their sizeshows the number of human years per cat year. Each age category has its own unique characteristics. The calculations are based on the social and emotional differences that exist at a certain stage in life.

Table: age of cats and female cats in human equivalent according to correspondence coefficients

Cat to human age ratio

Each year of animal life corresponds to several years of human life:

1. The first year a cat lives is equivalent to 15 years for humans.
2. The second year will correspond to the person's 24th birthday.
3. Then, 4 years are added to each subsequent year until the cat reaches 16 years of age.
4. After the cat passes the life milestone of 16 years, 3 years are added to each year lived.

It turns out that at 2 years old the cat is a young man, and when he reaches 12 years old he will become a man of 64 years old.

Table: cat age in human terms

This calculation option allows us to identify the following correspondences:

Continuing to find commonalities in the ages of humans and cats, we can come to the conclusion that at the age of 15 years, corresponding to 76 years in human measurement, the animal already experiences various diseases and changes in the behavior of animals, expressed in the following:

• Interest in any types of games suddenly disappears;
• drowsiness appears;
• Diseases associated with wear and tear on the animal’s body arise.

Arithmetic calculation

It is very easy to determine the age of a cat using arithmetic. According to this method, the cat's age is multiplied by 7. It should be understood that with this calculation, each year of a pet will correspond to seven human years. In this case, the result will not be the most accurate.

Table: correspondence between the years of cats and people

For example, a one-year-old cat is equivalent to a seven-year-old child. However, thanks to their instincts, cats that are one year old have more independence than seven-year-old babies. In addition, cats that have overcome the age of twenty are more common than people aged 140 years.

The main disadvantage of this method is that it cannot be used to compare the age stages of humans and animals.

Other ways to determine a cat's age

If you adopt an outdoor cat, it can be difficult to know its age. You can determine how many years a cat has lived by visual inspection:

• in the eyes - in young cats they have a rich color, a bright iris, a clear pattern, while the eyes of an aging animal look dull, with a clouded lens, a dim iris, and a disturbed pattern;
• in appearance - in youth the animals have beautiful shiny fur, with age the cat’s fur becomes thinner, duller, with gray hairs; in addition, young animals are more clumsy, have prominent muscles, in adult cats and cats the body has rounded shapes, at this age animals are calmer and lazier than young ones, and older felines look thinner and their skin is flabby;
• by teeth - if there is no information about the exact age of the cat, a veterinarian will be able to determine how old the animal is approximately by assessing the general condition of the pet and the health of its teeth.

When it is not possible to visit a veterinarian and resolve this issue, you should familiarize yourself with the process of dental development in order to find out the age of the animal:

The above changes regarding teeth can occur at other periods of time. This depends on the animal’s lifestyle, in which diet is of no small importance: the content of a large amount of vitamins and minerals in it slows down the process of tooth wear and loss.

Video: age of cats according to human criteria

Analogy of the life periods of people and cats

Representatives of the cat breed can go through six main stages during their lives, from birth to old age. Cats, like people, tend to behave differently at different ages.

For example, it is easier to train a small kitten to use a litter tray than an adult cat. As a pet grows and develops, its skills, habits, and character traits are formed.

If we make a comparison between a cat and a person, we can draw the following conclusions:

Infancy

The infancy period in kittens passes much faster than in humans, and lasts until about 1 month. This time is the most difficult for a kitten: he learns about the world around him and begins to walk.

The kittens that are born are completely helpless; they do not see or hear anything. 5 days after birth, their eyes begin to open slightly, and a week later hearing appears. In the second week of life, baby teeth erupt. Translated into human age, this period corresponds to the age of 5–9 months.

At one month, kittens can run and jump, which corresponds to the age of children of 1 year and 5 months.

A month old kitten behaves like a one and a half year old child

Childhood

Childhood begins in the second month and lasts up to six months. During these months, pet development occurs very quickly, and it is not easy to compare it with the corresponding human years. A three-month-old kitten can be comparable in intelligence to two-year-old children.

Kittens at 4 months are active, mobile, spend time playing and communicating with other kittens. They can distinguish “us” from “stranger”; they sharpen their claws, lick their fur, wash themselves and eat.

Their innate instincts help them in this, and they also learn from their mother’s example to take care of themselves. During the first year of its life, a cat goes through all the stages of growing up. By human standards, the end of childhood corresponds to 14 years.

A kitten ends its childhood period at six months

It is during this period of time, when the kitten is growing up, that you need to pay attention to the issues of raising your pet in order to catch it before it develops skills and habits that are undesirable for the owner. For example, you should teach the animal that it is forbidden to scratch furniture or go to the toilet where it wants.

Youth

A cat's adolescence begins at 7 months and ends when he is one year old. Although the kitten is still growing at this time, its growth rate is slowing down. Cats reach puberty.

During adolescence, the cat begins puberty

In long-haired breeds, the coat reaches its constant length. The animal gets used to the environment, to the available pets, and determines a distinct life routine for itself.

During adolescence and adolescence, you cannot treat a cat like a child, forgive its aggressiveness, minor dirty tricks such as leaving puddles. This will not go away on its own with age. Indeed, at this time, translated into human age, the cat becomes comparable to a teenager in adolescence, and significant changes are observed in his behavior and character.

Youth

A cat's youth ranges from 2 to 6 years. At this stage of life, the cat feels strong, he is tireless and dexterous.

The young cat is full of strength and dexterity

Youth (in humans it begins after 20 years) is the best time for a purebred pet to be able to participate in all kinds of exhibitions and competitions. This period is also ideal for conceiving healthy offspring.

Maturity

The cat's maturity period ranges from 7 to 10 years. For a person, these are years from 40 to 55.

Mature age occurs when the cat is over 7 years old

At such times, cats become calm, but sometimes they can play. Professional breeders of purebred animals that have reached adulthood stop breeding them.

Old age

Cats over 11 years of age, sometimes living to 20 years or more, are considered seniors. The venerable age of the animal does not at all indicate its imminent death. A cat's longevity depends on its health and conditions of detention.

A cat becomes elderly after 11 years

Pets, for example, often exceed the life span of 16 years, and street cats live no longer than 10 years. With good care, cats feel great in old age.

The pet, the Persian cat Kuzya, delighted those around him with his presence for 14 years and lived to an old age. Throughout his life he was always active and inquisitive.

Video: caring for an old cat

How to extend the life of a pet

Any cat owner wants a long life for their pet, but its duration is influenced by a number of factors.

Balanced diet

A balanced diet will help prolong your pet's life. It significantly affects the cat’s health and increases its activity. The animal's coat becomes smooth and stool becomes regular. When calculating the composition and nutritional standards, the age and breed of the cat, its state of health, physiological characteristics of the body, and feeding regime should be taken into account. Excess or lack of nutrients leads to the appearance of diseases such as kidney failure, colitis, obesity, allergies, diabetes and others.

Proper nutrition means that the animal consumes and expends the same amount of calories. Energy is consumed by the cat's body constantly (and at rest), and is replenished with the help of nutrients supplied with food. The feeding diet must be filled with a certain amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and water. Because of this, young and active cats require more frequent feeding and high-calorie foods. High-calorie foods are also needed by pregnant and lactating cats that have increased energy expenditure. Older cats have lower energy expenditures and eat less.

Pregnant and lactating cats need higher calorie foods

Animal nutrition may include:

• special feed;
• lean lamb, beef, rabbit meat (pork is undesirable);
• meat by-products;
• dairy products;
• lean fish;
• raw vegetables (carrots, pumpkin, cabbage, bell pepper, parsley, celery).

The cat's diet should not contain flour products. The choice of food range is influenced by the cat's preferences. They feed her at least 3 times a day. It is not recommended to feed natural food together with industrial feed.

The composition of high-quality premium dry food, holistic, is well balanced, and the cat will receive all the useful components for nutrition.

A specialist from a veterinary hospital will help you choose the right diet.

Water mode

Maintaining a cat's body in working condition is ensured with the help of water, of which about 70% is present in the body. Water is required for digestion processes, absorption of minerals and vitamins, and maintaining body temperature. Pets descended from wild African cats inherited from these relatives a weak sense of thirst, therefore they require little water. If an animal eats natural food, wet food, it may not drink at all.

Cats have a rather weak sense of thirst.

However, the result of a lack of water in the body is health problems, the development of infections in the bladder, the deposition of salts in it, and the formation of stones. The functioning of the kidneys and the body's water balance are disrupted. The supply of fresh, clean water a cat needs will depend on the type of food, ambient temperature, air humidity, and the animal’s physical activity. When feeding industrial dry food, it is necessary to maintain a water regime. On average, a cat requires an amount of water that is 2.5–3 times greater than the amount of dry food it eats. The water should be changed at least once a day. It’s a good idea to give your cat filtered or store-bought bottled water.

The water bowl should be made of ceramic or stainless steel. Plastic spoils the taste of the liquid.

Other factors

The lifespan of a pet depends on a number of other factors. Among them:

• absence of stressful situations - stress can cause many diseases that can shorten a cat’s life, it is important that the pet receives more pleasant experiences during its life and is less nervous, and when it shows signs of a stressful state, first of all, it is necessary to eliminate their causes (when it is unrealistic to do this, for example, to return to the previous place of residence after moving, you need not to leave your pet alone, distract him: pick him up, talk to him affectionately, play with familiar toys, stroke him);

  You can reduce your cat's stress by picking him up and petting him.

• activity - it is necessary for the pet to move more, and not just lie on the sofa: physical activity prolongs the life of the animal; you need to come up with various games for the cat, provide toys for active entertainment, take long and regular walks in the open air;

  Walking will support your cat's active lifestyle.

• communication - it is necessary to isolate the pet from contact with rodents, stray animals that are carriers of rabies and other dangerous diseases: acquired diseases affect the cat’s life expectancy;
• visiting a doctor - regularly, once every six months or a year, you need to take the cat to a veterinary clinic for a preventive examination and determine the animal’s health, identify possible diseases at an early stage of development, adjust the diet and living conditions of the pet;

  A trip to the vet once a year is necessary to maintain health.

• castration or sterilization of an animal at an early age (up to 2 years), if there are no plans to produce offspring - the animal becomes calmer, more obedient after the operation and lives 1.5–2 years longer;
• timely vaccination of the animal against infectious diseases.

Long-lived cats are more common among outbred domestic cats.

The cat owner, having calculated the age of his cat by human standards, will be able not only to learn how to treat the animal, but also to help him live a long time. Proper care, education, and health care must correspond to the age of the pet, its physical and mental condition.