How to calculate the age of a cat by human standards
Cats

How to calculate the age of a cat by human standards

 

With the advent of a kitten in the house, many owners think: how to estimate the age of a cat by human standards? The method of multiplying cat years by seven was once popular, but its fallacy is obvious to any cat owner. After all, one-year-old Murkas and Barsiki are already reaching puberty, that is, it is more reasonable to compare them not with first-graders, but with 16-year-olds. How to calculate the age of a pet – further.

The easiest way to calculate a cat’s age in human terms is to use the table included in the International Veterinary Passport. According to her data, two cat years in human terms correspond to 24 years, and then each year goes beyond four.

Cat Age vs Human Age: Approximate Correspondence

18 months

20 years

10 years

56 years

20 months

21 year

11 years

60 years

22 month

22 years

12 years

64 years

2 years

24 years

13 years

68 years

3 years

28 years

14 years

72 years

4 years

32 years

15 years

76 years

5 years

36 years

16 years 

80 years

6 years

40 years

17 years

84 years

7 years

44 years

19 years

92 years

8 years

48 years

20 years

100 years

9 years

52 years

  

The life of a cat can be divided into several conditional periods:

  • Infancy and childhood – 0-6 months. Having learned to walk, kittens actively explore the world around them. They are inquisitive and playful.
  • Adolescence – 6-12 months. Cats are becoming more active and more and more often show character.
  • Youth – 1-3 years. The animal is in full bloom, all body systems are working at full capacity.
  • Maturity – 4-10 years. A cat can live a fairly active life, but gets tired faster, by the end of adulthood, health may deteriorate.
  • Old age – 11 years and more. The pet begins to sleep more, the sense of smell and hearing gradually decrease, and the appetite worsens. The joints no longer have the same flexibility.

You need to know the age of the cat in order to properly care for it. For example, older animals need special food to take into account age-related changes and help with hair care. They are also more difficult to endure radical changes – moving, traveling, the appearance of babies or new animals in the apartment. If the cat can already be called middle-aged, it is important to gradually and carefully prepare it for such changes.

Learn more about the length of a cat’s life and how to keep your four-legged friend active in this article by Hill’s veterinarians. And if you need to calculate the age of another pet – a dog, the calculation method proposed by the experts in this article is suitable. 

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