22.02.2005
How old is your cat?
Many people around the world own a cat. About one in three Australian homes has one.

A cat’s age is often measured in human terms, that is, one cat year is equal to seven human years. This is a myth that makes the maths very simple, the reality is far more complex.

The average life time of the domestic cat is about fourteen years, with a maximum of 20-22 years, although one domestic cat is reported to have lived for 34 years.

Three main factors affect the life expectancy of any animal.
The first is intelligence, the smarter the animal, the better it can adapt to its environment and deal with any hazards.
The second factor is the environment and its associated hazards. In the wild, most animals are killed by accidents or their natural predators, well before their agility to deal with these hazards are affected by ageing. In the domestic environment, dangers await in every corner too, washing machines, tumble driers, cars, etc.
The third factor is diet and nutrition, too much, too little or the wrong food will shorten the animal’s life span.

The Feline Health Center at Cornell University in the U.S.A. advises that cats reach the ‘young adult’ stage at 18-24 months (apparently humans reach this stage at 22 years).
Therefore, a cat that is one year of age is about 16 cat years of age. Curiously, one more calendar year adds another 6 cat years, roughly equivalent to 22 human years.
And after that you add four cat years to every calendar year.
So, a four year old cat is the equivalent of a 30 year old human, a ten year old cat a 54 year old person, and a 20 year old cat would be 94 cat years of age.

The scale is roughly the same for dogs, but with one major difference. In general, the larger the dog, the younger it is when it dies (from old age). A Great Dane is considered old at 9, a Chihuahua considered old at 15.
However, for both cats and dogs, the simple calculation that one calendar year equals seven pet years, is most definitely a misconception.

Give it some serious thought.
There are many 12 year old cats that jump fences and chase other cats, but you will not see similar behaviour in most 84 year old humans.