Cats and dog’s lives are calculated a bit differently than human years. Human beings are born as babies, and steadily grow into being 1 year, 5 years, and so on until they’re adults and continue growing with each year being a new human year of life.
Cats’ lives are calculated differently when compared to human years, so if you want to know how old your cat is in human years, you’re going to have to do the math.
Most experts agree that the first year of a cat’s life is equal to 25 human years. After this first year, each cat year is considered 4 years. This means that a six-year-old cat is about 41 according to human years. We come to this conclusion by adding 25 human years to 16 human years, based on your kitty being just 6 cat years old.
This essentially means that your cat ages faster than your human body does. This would make sense with most cat breeds only living about 12-15 years. Your senior cat is much older than your 12-15-year-old human body and in turn, may pass away due to old age by this time in cat years.
Many cat owners don’t know how old their cat is. This might be because you adopted your feline friend or perhaps you found your kitty outdoors. The best way to find out how old your cat is to determine their age in human years is to look at their teeth.
A veterinarian should be able to tell you an approximate age based on looking at their teeth. Kittens usually get their first teeth within two to four weeks after birth. Your cat’s permanent more white looking teeth will arrive around four months. If your cat has some tartar on their teeth, they could be 1-2 years old.
Then there are the other signs such as stains on all teeth, which could mean your cat is around three to five years of age, but if they have missing teeth then your cat is much older than five. This is a general list to help you determine your cat’s age to help you figure out how old your kitty is in human years.
There are other methods that people use to determine the age of their cat, such as looking at their eyes. Cat’s eyes that have a crackly iris may mean they’re an adult cat whereas cloudy eyes would determine that your cat is more of a senior aged cat.
Another way to check how old your cat is would be to look at their muscles and bones. A younger cat will have more muscle tone, much like humans, because they’re active and playful. A senior cat will have less muscle tone and perhaps gained more weight as they’re getting lazier in their old age.
While the best way to find out how old your cat is would be to take them to your local vet, these tips will help you determine an approximate age for your cat. Once you’ve determined how old your cat is, you can use the formula of one cat year to 25 human years then 4 years for every year afterward to determine how old your cat is in human years.