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Cat Behavior 101,  Cats

How To Tell Your Cat’s Age in Human Years With New Chart

If you love cats, sharing makes us purrrr :-)

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How To Tell Your Cats Age in Human Years With A New Chart. The newly revised age comparison chart is a timely and welcome resource thanks to International Cat Care

They are based in the U.K.and offer a global perspective to cat care. Their approach is aligned with our philosophy at Cat Wisdom 101 and their archive of resources is invaluable.

As the age span of cats has increased, with many cats living well into their 20s, a revised chart was needed. As my old cat Merlin aged, I never knew if he was 90 something or a hundred in human years. As new behavior research continues we have a deeper understanding of feline behavior and the new chart reflects it. There are three new life stages. JUNIOR, PRIME and MATURE.

  • Kittenhood expands into in junior. Until recently kittens were considered adults at age one but that isn’t accurate. Many breeds don’t reach maturity physically or behaviorally until age two or three.
  • Instead of labeling cats as adults, they are labeled true adults in their prime from ages three to six. It makes sense to those of us with young cats. Our Odin is shifting gears at age six to what feels more mature.
  • The biggest new shift is removing the SENIOR label currently about age 7 to MATURE and pushing off SENIOR to age 11. This will be an excellent boost for adopting older shelter cats.
  • GERIATRIC which is currently from about age 12 is pushed to age 15 and that will be welcome news with those with older cats. Again, a positive reframing of older shelter cats to more adoptable.
  • All cats regardless of age, need to a veterinarian annually. For mature cats who are middle-aged in human years may need for frequent vet visits.

The chart ends at age 25 and in human years at an astounding 116. Perhaps in time, it could be stretched another year or two and the age equivalents tinkered with from age 20 on. As it stands, I feel it’s a huge improvement over any other chart available.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the Cats Age in Human Years Chart. Are your cats younger or older than you thought?

Enjoy a bonus series of training videos with Sarah Ellis. She uses the same non-clicker technique as I do. It’s simple and easy. She is the co-author with John Bradshaw of The Trainable Cat, and on our 2016 top 10 book list

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