Many owners like to know what their cat’s human age is. While many use the “7-year rule”, this one is actually wrong.
It’s a question every pet owner asks: how old is he in human equivalent? However, this varies greatly depending on the species. For dogs, for example, the equivalence changes depending on whether it is a large or a small breed of dog. For a long time, moreover, the owners believed that it was necessary to multiply the age of the animal by 7 to have its human equivalent, whether in the dog or in the cat. While it may be true in certain breeds of dogs, it does not apply to cats. The equivalence in human age of cats is also special, because the cat reaches an “adult human” age very quickly. To calculate the human age of your cat, the rule to apply depends on whether it is less or more than 2 years old.
A human childhood and adolescence spread over the first 2 years of the cat’s life
You should know that the first month of a kitten is not equivalent to the first month of a human baby. In this short time, a kitten learns very quickly. In reality, a one-month-old kitten is almost a year old in human age. And this growth curve is increasing very quickly. A 6 month old kitten would already be 10 years old. When it blows out its first candle, a cat is at a period similar to human adolescence. Moreover, some animals like dogs have an adolescent crisis. Veterinarians estimate that a one-year-old cat is actually a 15-year-old human teenager. The cat’s growth curve gradually descends until it reaches adult human age. Thus, at 18 months, a cat is actually 21 years old in human age and at 2 years old, it is 24 years old.
The calculation to be performed to determine the human age of a cat that is over 3 years old
As soon as the milestone of 2 years is passed, it becomes easier to estimate the human age of your cat. Indeed, with each new year that passes, it suffices to add 4 years to the human age of the animal. At 3 years old, a cat will therefore be 28 years old in human age. When a cat is 5 years old, it is 36 years old in human age. The milestone of 10 years is a symbolic moment, because it marks the beginning of old age in cats. In human equivalent, he would be 56 years old. On average, a cat lives between 13 and 15 years unlike dogs whose life expectancy is around 10 years. At the time of his death, your cat will therefore be between 68 and 76 years old in human age. But it happens that some cats live longer and reach the age of 20. The cat is then almost a hundred years old in human age, because he would be 96 years old.