These are the signs that can tell you the age of your cat

Many people become cat owners by finding a cat, or rather by being found by a cat. It can come in handy to know how to determine the age of the animal.

Of course, you won’t be able to pinpoint the exact year or month of your new pet’s birth, but you can roughly guess their life stage – which is a great help when it comes to caring for them, especially feeding. After all, you know that kittens need to be fed age-appropriate food. So, let’s look at some of the things you can do to find out how old your cat is!

Physical characteristics tell the age of the cat

Body size, dentition, coat condition and activity all tell you what stage of life the animal is at. A kitten is small, agile, playful and curious. They may still have baby teeth or be in the process of changing teeth. Their coat is healthy and their eyes are clear.

Understandably, any disease can affect their appearance; a cat living on the streets can have a variety of health complications, from cat mange to the presence of parasites. For this reason, it is essential that a veterinary visit immediately follows the adoption!

It is harder to distinguish between a young adult and a mature adult. But the former is more agile, more playful, and more youthful to the eye. As they grow older, animals, like humans, become calmer – and wiser. In their old age, cats may start to get greying eyes, their teeth may become thinner and their fur may thin. Their movements become slower, more deliberate and lacking youthful vigour. Their whiskers may also curl. Teeth wear down with use, so a senior cat may have chipped teeth or two, and typically their colour will also become yellowish. However, it is very important to note that tartar build-up in cats can be prevented by regular brushing and can be removed by medical intervention.

Your cat’s life could be shortened if you don’t pay attention!

Watch their behaviour!

As the risk of many diseases increases in old age, it is also important to watch out for signs of pain. This is easy when it comes to cats, as they instinctively hide their pain. But if they pull away or even thrash around when touched, seem to neglect self-care (they are in pain from movement), change their litter use habits (e.g. start to pee next to the bed), become very moody, or even hide, all are signs that something is wrong.

You should take your pet to the doctor immediately, but even if you don’t notice any complaints, you should still have a routine check-up every six months if your cat is over 7 years old.

This way you can catch health problems early, which can significantly improve the prognosis.

How to turn your cat’s age into human years

In order to draw a parallel between your own ageing process and the ageing of your cat, you need to know the necessary formula. The ageing of a kitten is quite fast compared to humans. Like this:

• 1st month = 1 human year
• 3rd month = 4 human years
• 6th month = 10 human years
• 1st year = 15 human years

The second year of life corresponds to 9 years (so a two-year-old kitten would be 24 years old as a human), and then +4 is added to the number each year thereafter. So, your three-year-old kitten would be 28 as a human, 32 as a four-year-old, and so on. A 15-year-old kitten is now 76 years old, while a 20-year-old is a real matzo ball at 96 years old.