How Long Do Cats Live
It is a tricky question to deal with, even experienced veterinarians cannot tell exactly how long a cat will live up. Life span of a cat depends on several factors such as diet, eating habit, living standards, diseases, medication supply,… which affect directly to health-related issues and mental conditions. Furthermore, good take care of cats when they are in aging process can help lengthen life longevity.
Cat owners play an important role in improvement of cat life expectancy by their method of nourishing and home building for cats. Felines in different situations will survive in different numbers of years.
1. Average life span of some felines
Some studies produce an average life span for cats at around 10 to 15 years (source). The oldest cat reported in Guinness book of World Record was 38 years old, but we need to consider the case when some cats died after few weeks of delivery or lost their lives during labor. However, this is the range estimated from every types of cats under no matter how standard conditions they are living on.
In particular, only indoor cats can live until 15 to 20s due to their crisis-free environment and daily nutritious meals, plus sufficient medications. Meanwhile, wild cats go through tougher lives. However, considering in a group of litter, not all indoor cats can live up at that age. After being born, a group of kittens will be under different health conditions and immune, even people take care of them well equally, but one will die at very young or one will live very healthily.
Counting on accidents cats living outdoor have to face, people are able to list at least these following: foods mostly leftovers, homeless, no medication, battles against other wild animals. Normally, these cats live up from few months to few years, maybe ten.
Depending on how cats grow up, people can tell the lifespan of cats. At this point, the time cats take to become sexually maturity and come to aging distinguishes, some cats will need more time to get mature size and some just need much less years to. For example, Maine Coons and Persians take two years commonly to be mature then after that, they will step to age, their average life expectancy is about 17. On another hand, a female Siamese only need about six months to be sexually mature, and normally, her life is supposed to be 15 years length.
2. Growth of felines
In comparison with human life span, cats’ pass very fast. Being a baby under nursing form queen cat last for about a month, after that, kittens can eat common foods. People need a year for that. In different felines, teenage can come after from six months to 4 years, equivalent to 24 years off growing in humankind, at this time, cats do not finish in size but reach sexual maturity and they will have been able to reproduce.
After that, cats will be in mature and adulthood, when they will experience aging and changes inside their bodies. Maturation in cats last up to ten, after that, cats are welcomed to senior world, when they are in need of new care. Babyhood, teenage, maturation and adulthood are common stages of development and at each phase, cat owners need to watch and offer them suitable diet, care and mediation schedule, in purpose of support them for longer lives.
3. Signals of aging
There are certain changes in cat body and behaviors people can tell they are aging and need changes in caring therapy. Starting their old age, cats begin to be lazy and slow, they do not enjoy activities and jump continuously as they are young. Obviously, you will not see you cat appear everywhere no matter what terrains.
By watching, people can notice that old cats start to be tough in eating and grooming. Because of dental disease, your cat will be picky and suffer from inappetite, foods can be changed into smooth and watery for easier chewing and digestion. Loss of vision and weight gained may cause them laziness and slow, to a furball like cat, people can see their messy look due to hair matting, skin odor and inflammation. They do not consider keeping hygienic as younger cats, or they are not healthy enough to do any more.
Moreover, begin old years of life, cats have to face up degeneracy of organism and mind. Firstly, immune system becomes weaker, possibility of sickness and common flew is higher. Digestion become on the wane, as loss of memory and vision. Some diseases will attack them in this sensitive time such as hyperthyroidism, hypertension, diabetes, cancers,… due to their ineffective defense off foreign invaders.
At the age of above nine, cats should be under frequent check by veterinary and support of medications such as supplementing vitamins, physical exercises,… to train their durability.
4. Crisis – factors for short span
Living a long life, cats confront many crisis, people taking care of them do not only provide them good living condition with full of necessary nutrition and accommodation but also stress-free atmosphere.
Indoor cats seem to suffer least crisis. They are living in houses by on time delivered meals as scheduled and vet-consulted caring methods, even massage and bathing services. They are always kept in sustainable temperature and no worries of weather. If their lives have to suffer anything, it may be depression from closed space and not enough activities for physical training.
Outdoor cats are in more dangers. Besides of their self-providing of foods and accommodation, they usually get starvation and aches, under no available of cure or proper mediation, their life expectancy go down quickly. Moreover, sharing wild space with other homeless animals such as dogs, cats are in possibility of fight and opposition for foods and territory. Furthermore, complex traffic and cat-meat industry also threaten lives of wild cats. They live in covered dangers and traps everywhere.
For last words, cats can live up around ten. They also go through growth stages like human but in a fast mode. People totally are able to help them lengthen their life expectancy by providing suitable care and check. Make cats live like gods in standard conditions will be one of method to push up their longevity.