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There is a popular notion that
one year of a dog's life equals seven human years. This is false because there are many factors influencing a dog's age. For
example, smaller dogs live longer (on average) than larger dogs. Veterinarians now have a more accurate way to determine
a dog's age. Go directly to a conversion table of dog years to human years from Dog Food Corner.com. You will find detailed information about the canine aging process on this page. The aging of cats is also complicated and converting a cat's age to human years is an educated guess at best. According
to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, your cat ages like this:
--CAT-------HUMAN
1 month-----5-6 months
2 months----9-10 months
3 months----2-3 years
4 months----5-6 years
5 months----8-9 years
6 months----14 years
7 months----15 years
8 months----16 years
1 year------18 years
2 years-----25 years
3 years-----30 years
4 years-----35 years
5 years-----38-40
years
6 years-----42-44 years
7 years-----45 years
8 years-----48 years
9 years-----55
years
10 years----60 years
11 years----62 years
12 years----65 years
13 years----68
years
14 years----72 years
15 years----74 years
16 years----76 years
17 years----78
years
18 years----80 years
Over 20? A stately senior citizen...
As with dogs, many factors influence a cat's aging process. Consider this quote
from PetEducation.com:
There is no specific definition of a 'senior' or 'geriatric' cat. In general, cats are considered to be 'senior'
when they are 8-10 years of age. Cats over 12 years of age would probably be considered 'geriatric' by most veterinarians.
These classifications are rather arbitrary; a cat on his 8th birthday is not suddenly a 'senior.' We need to remember aging
is a gradual and lifelong process. The oldest recorded age of a cat is 34 years.
Tufts publishes Catnip, a newsletter for caring cat owners. Here you will find archived pet care topics including aging and
related illnesses, making the decision to euthanize and grieving the death of your beloved pet.
Links for veterinary health information:
Go to next page: Pet Loss Poetry
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