How old is a cat in human terms?

It is believed that one year of a cat’s life is on average equal to seven years of a human life. That is, in front of you is not a two-year-old cat, but a fourteen-year-old teenager, not a thirteen-year-old animal, but an almost hundred-year-old long-liver. However, not all so simple. The psychological development of a cat is different, and the physiology is arranged differently, so such a roughly rounded coefficient does not give an understanding of all transitional moments. Today, another method of counting is considered the most accurate, which takes into account the psychological development of the cat.

Childhood and youth

One year old cat corresponds to 15 years of human life. In the first year of life, a cat learns independence, physiological changes occur in its body. A person goes through similar stages of growing up in the first fifteen years. In addition, at about 9–12 months of age, cats begin puberty, which corresponds to approximately 13–15 years of age in humans.

The second year in a cat’s life is a complete psychological maturation. By human standards, this age corresponds to 24 years, when the character and attitude to life are formed.

Adulthood and old age

After two years, there is a slowdown in development, and one year of a cat’s life becomes equal to four years of a human life. Thus, in order to calculate how old a five-year-old cat is by human standards, it is enough to add 24 years to 12 (the first two years) (we multiply three years by 4 – the same constant coefficient). It turns out that a five-year-old cat is 36 human years old, and, for example, a nine-year-old cat is 52 years old.

By the way, a cat can be considered an adult from the age of two, and aging – from seven to eight years. At this time, age-related changes begin to occur, immunity and physical activity decrease. Of course, in humans, this period comes much later.

On average, domestic cats live for about 14 years. Life expectancy depends on many factors, including living conditions, feed quality and timely examination by a veterinarian.

Table of the age of a cat by human standards

August 10 2017

Updated: 19 May 2022

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