Cats are absolutely brilliant when it comes to hiding their pain, a disease or any symptoms of feline stress that they can tell they are not well. The reason is in evolution: for a cat that lives outside the home, it is natural to hunt mice, but it has a size small enough to become a prey, for example, of a fox.
Therefore, if you have to take care of yourself out there, showing weakness does not seem like a good idea. For us, its humans and two-legged friends, this feline self-defense mechanism is not a great help, since it turns the fact of detecting a health problem in our pussycat into a titanic task. Which, sadly, implies that sometimes we seek help for our cats too late.
All this forces us to act as hairy detectives, to be very attentive to all the behaviors of our cat that may indicate a possible health problem: sudden weight loss, a decrease in appetite or change in water consumption, lack of desire to play, alterations of their sleep habits, as well as in the mode or frequency of their interactions with us. In addition, a cat that stops using the sandbox or, on the contrary, that suddenly uses it much more frequently, may also be suffering from a health or cat stress problem at home.
Cats have seven lives? Rather six
Your cat will not always be the same: his needs change according to his age. If a puppy is a tireless explorer who needs to strengthen his immune system with the appropriate vaccines, a fifteen-year-old cat will prefer to spend more time in the hottest and most fluffy place in the classroom and will need us to closely monitor his dental health, as well as his food to protect you from diabetes.
Therefore, from the point of view of feline health it is very descriptive to talk about six great stages in the life of the cat. From his puppy age, from zero to six months, through the unruly adolescent pussycat, the adult and the mature cat until reaching the older cat and the elderly, when it exceeds fifteen. And since the life expectancy of our felines increases, and they pass that age with increasing frequency, we could still add another subdivision: super elderly cats, from the age of 20, which would be equivalent to a human that goes beyond the century of life.
This division allows to meet the different needs of your furry friend and is an aid to prevent the most frequent health problems at each stage. It also makes it easier to know your physical, psychological and emotional needs.
So how old is my cat in human years ?
Although from the point of view of the emotional needs of our cats and their psychology, experts in feline behavior would make a somewhat different division, these are the six stages of feline life and its equivalent in human age, according to the consensus of veterinarians .
Puppy cat: from zero to six months
0-1 months (cat): 0-1 years (human)
2 months: 2 years
3 months: 4 years
4 months: 6 years
5 months: 8 years
6 months: 10 years
Teen cat: from seven months to two years
7 months (cat): 12 years (human)
12 months: 15 years
18 months: 21 years
2 years: 24 years
Adult cat: from three to six years.
3 years (cat): 28 years (human)
4 years: 32 years
5 years: 36 years
6 years: 40 years
Mature cat: from seven to ten years
7 years (cat): 44 years (human)
8 years: 48 years
9 years: 52 years
10 years: 56 years
Senior cat: from 11 to 14 years old
11 years (cat): 60 years (human)
12 years: 64 years
13 years: 68 years
14 years: 72 years
Elderly cat: 15 years or more
15 years (cat): 76 years (human)
16 years: 80 years
17 years: 84 years
18 years: 88 years
19 years: 92 years
20 years: 96 years (here we could talk about super elderly cats)
21 years: 100 years
22 years: 104 years
23 years: 108 years
24 years: 112 years
25 years: 116 years
We tend to underestimate the age of our cats and forget how quickly time passes. It’s normal: we don’t like to think about the idea of getting sick. Or that they will not live forever. However, knowing your human age and using it to monitor your health closely is as simple as applying this chart. And it can make a huge difference for our cats.