Just like a person, there are several periods in a cat's life: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. There is a technique that allows you to calculate the ratio between the age of a person and a cat.
The lifespan of a cat is much shorter than that of a human. On average, a homeless animal lives for 7 years, and a well-groomed and well-protected pet lives for 13-15 years. There are also long-lived cats that remain quite active and healthy up to 20, or even up to 25 years. But this is rather an exception to the rule.
How to compare the age of a cat and a person
Cat owners often try to correlate the age of their pets with that of a human, using the popular method of multiplying the cat's age by seven. Thus, a one-year-old animal is a seven-year-old child, a two-year-old cat is a fourteen-year-old adolescent, and a three-year-old is a twenty-eight-year-old young man. In fact, such a ratio cannot be called correct, because, for example, at seven years old, a person cannot yet have offspring, while a one-year-old cat is quite capable of reproduction.
Felinologists suggest other counting methods that vary with the age of the animal. So, a one-month-old kitten is equal in development to a six-month-old child, and a two-month-old is equal to a one-year-old. At the age of one year, the physical and mental development of a cat is the same as that of a person at 15 years old. This ratio looks quite reasonable: during the first year of life, a cat learns to live independently: to get food, take care of itself, protect itself, get along with others. Approximately the same is done by a person from birth to 15 years.
The period from two to eight years is the age of full bloom for a cat. It corresponds to 24-48 years in humans. This is the time of the greatest physical activity and heightened interest in the world around him. After reaching 8 years of age, the cat enters middle age. As in humans, this period in animals can proceed in different ways: some cats are healthy and full of energy, and some begin to experience the effects of approaching old age.
How does the age of a person and a cat compare after 12 years
It is believed that 12 years for a cat is the same as 60-64 years for a person. The animal becomes a "pensioner": it moves a little and not very willingly, it can hardly endure changes in its life, it gets sick more often and longer. But some cats remain alert and active even at this age, as do well-preserved humans. A fifteen-year-old cat and a 76-year-old man are approximately equal in health and vitality. Well, animals 18-20 years old are found with the same frequency as long-lived people over 90 years old.
