Outdoor Cats Life Span
Outdoor cats live less as they are exposed to viruses, bacteria, accidents and fights, which can endanger their health.
A pet that spends more time outdoors may live on average 2 to 3 years less than a cat that lives exclusively indoors. In addition, unexpected accidents may end an outdoor cat’s life at any time.
Stray and feral cats live significantly less. On average, a stray cat lives 5 years if he is in a community of cats and 2 to 3 years if he lives by himself. This is due to unbalanced nutrition and lack of veterinary treatment and vaccinations. In addition, feral cats may get killed while fighting other wild animals.
Longevity Benefits Of Indoor Cats
The “normal” life expectancy for an indoor cat is significantly longer than that of felines who live outside full-time or part-time. A cat who stays inside all the time is protected from a lot of dangers.
For example, she won’t be run over by a car. She won’t get into a fight with a neighborhood cat. Hazardous weather won’t imperil her. She won’t be snatched up by a stranger. She probably won’t catch an infectious disease — such as rabies or the feline leukemia virus — from a stray or feral cat.
How Long Do Cats Live Indoors
Evidence suggests that indoor cats may live three times longer than outdoor cats. Most domestic indoor cats are sterilized, vaccinated, and protected from all the treats that can harm outdoor felines. Indoor cats also deal with a lot less stress and have easy access to food and water whenever they need it.
In order to ensure that your indoor cat lives a long and healthy life, make sure theyre getting sufficient exercise. Cats need to be active to maintain a healthy weight and to live a happy life.
In general, an indoor cat may live to be about 16-17 years old, on average. Its important to ensure that your furry friend is getting the nutrition, exercise, and medical care they need to stay healthy for years to come.
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Cat Lifestyle And Lifespan
Some cats are considered indoor pets, others are strictly outdoor pets, and others still will be indoor/outdoor pets that split their time between environments. The daily risks that outdoor cats take are much higher than those of an indoor cat, so the lifespan of an outdoor cat is often cut short. Avoiding getting hit by vehicles, hurt by wild animals and eating toxins, finding food, surviving the elements, and being exposed to various parasites and diseases may all be daily challenges for an outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat. The more time a cat spends outside, the greater the risk is of an injury or illness from that environment.
Indoor cats are not exposed to as many risks since they are sheltered inside a secure home. Wild animals and vehicles pose no threats to an indoor cat, their diet is typically controlled, and toxin, parasite, and disease exposures are lessened, especially if they are vaccinated and on preventative medications.
The same is true for big cats like lions, tigers, ocelots, and other wild cats. These cats that reside in zoos often outlive their wild counterparts.
Keeping Cats Safe While Letting Them Experience The Outdoors
If you want your cat to get the benefits of going outside without facing the risks of true outdoor cats, your best bet is to build an enclosure in your yard. That way, your cat can watch birds and squirrels and do some climbing, yet be safe from many of the dangers theyd face outside of the enclosure.
Take a look at catio enclosures. Theyre screened in areas for cats, and some will connect to a window or cat door so your kitty can come and go from the house as they please. Outdoor playpens for cats can present another option.
If you want to let your cat enjoy the whole yard, you can install special fencing to keep them safely enclosed. These solutions arent always perfect for keeping wildlife out of your yard, but they might work for your particular area and living situation.
You can also train some cats to walk on a leash. This will let you spend time outside with your cat while keeping them safe and under control.
If you let your cat roam outside, microchip them for identification and outfit them with a reflective, breakaway collar and current identification tags.
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How Long Do Indoor Cats Live: Typical Life Expectancy
Cats are generally stubborn sorts of creatures, even when it comes to growing old. A cats longevity can be influenced by a number of factors. As a cat owner, you want to believe that your cat will live out a long healthy life of many years with you. There are certain steps you can take to help promote a long and healthy life for your feline companion.
Lifespans Of Popular Breeds
Are you thinking about adding a cat to your family? Here are the average lifespans of some of the most popular breeds:
- Siamese: 12 to 20 years
- Calico: 12 to 15 years
- Bengal: 14 to 16 years
- Burmese: 16 to 18 years
- Savannah: 12 to 20 years
- Ragdoll: 15 to 18 years
- Russian Blue: 15 to 20 years
- American Shorthair: 15 to 20 years
- Sphynx: 10 to 15 years
- Manx: 8 to 14 years
- Persian: 10 to 17 years
- Maine Coon: 10 to 13 years
- Munchkin: 12 to 15 years
The Vet on 4th helps pet owners in the Longview, TX area take great care of their pets by providing exceptional medical care and expert advice about all manner of proper pet care. If youre in the Longview area, make an appointment to meet our vets and see our facility. Wed love to become your partners in your pets healthcare!
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How To Keep Your Cat Healthy
While some factors of a cats health are out of your control, like genetics and accidents, there are plenty of things you can do to keep your cat as healthy and long-lived as possible.
1. Keep your cat indoors
As we already discussed, a cats average lifespan increases dramatically when theyre kept indoors, away from diseases and physical trauma. If you want your cat to get some outdoor time, consider an outdoor enclosure such as a catio, or training your cat to enjoy leash walks.
2. Keep your cat at a healthy weight
Obesity in cats is associated with several diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and osteoarthritis. It also more than doubles their mortality rate compared to lean cats, according to VCA Hospitals. Keep treats to no more than 5-10% of your cats daily diet, advises the ASPCA.
3. Get your cat plenty of exercise
Exercise helps keep your cats weight down, helps her burn off excess energy, and gives your brain something to do. PetMD recommends bursts of playtime that last 10-15 minutes, using toys like feathers, strings, and lasers, as well as providing climbing opportunities on cat towers.
4. Spay or neuter your cat
Spaying prevents several cancers, including uterine and breast, especially if you spay your cat before her first heat . Male cats benefit from neutering by preventing testicular cancer. Altered cats are also usually better behaved. Female cats wont go into heat and seek out a mate, and male cats tend to mark less.
Typical Indoor Cat Lifespan
If a cat resides indoors exclusively, the typical lifespan ranges somewhere between 13 and 17 years, according to the ASPCA. However, it isn’t uncommon for indoor cats to live to at least 20.
The lifespan always depends on the individual cat. Some cats pass away well before 13, while others live long past 17. A lot of factors go into how long a cat will live.
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Purebred Cats Vs Mixed Breed Cats And Lifespan
While certain cat breeds do have long lifespans, there is some evidence that suggests Mixed Cat breeds can live longer and have less health problems than than their purebred counterparts. This is due to heterosis. Simply put, mixed breed cats have access to greater gene pool which reduces the risk of genetic disorders. Both purebreds and mixed breed cats can live past the average.
Debating Keeping Your Cat Indoors Or Letting Them Outside
Many cats love the great outdoors. But humane associations agree that an indoor life is far healthier for them theyre safe from outdoor hazards, and their people tend to pay closer attention to them and notice signs of health problems earlier.
The upshot of being an indoor cat? A much longer life span. An all-indoor cat lives an average of 13 to 17 years, whereas a cat whos allowed to roam is likely to survive just two to five years. That said, they may live longer depending on a few factors, like where they live.
The one absolute rule when making the indoor-outdoor decision: declawed kitties should be kept inside. We dont recommend that you ever declaw a cat, but sometimes people adopt cats who are already declawed. Declawed cats cant defend themselves from dogs, other cats, or predators, making the outdoors even riskier.
But if your kittys got their claws, and youre still on the fence about whether to let them outdoors, here are a few things to consider.
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Assessing Your Cats Age
Cats obviously mature much more rapidly than people, but once they are fully developed physically and behaviourally from about 3 years of age for many years their outward appearance changes very little. They usually still appear very youthful, and it can actually be very difficult to tell the age of an adult cat.
Despite the youthful outward appearance, inside the cat will be getting older. It is much easier to understand how to manage our cats lives, health and behaviour if we can associate their age with an equivalent of our own human years. It has often been suggested that we simply need to multiply a cats age by 7 to get a comparative human age. However, this is very crude and does not take into account a number of aspects of how cats mature and age. A much more appropriate method is to take the end of the first year of the cats life to be equivalent to 15 human years, the end of the second year to be approximately equivalent to a 24-year-old person, and thereafter to consider each year of a cats life to equate to approximately 4 human years.
The chart we have provided can be used to easily determine approximately how old your cat is in human terms. It should be remembered that this is just an estimate though as each cat, just like each human, is an individual and rates of maturation and ageing will vary.
Select your cats life stage below to find out more about your cat and the preventative healthcare it should be receiving.
Indoor Vs Outdoor Cats: The Pros And Cons
Outdoor cats face more dangers than indoor cats, and this is why their lifespans tend to be shorter. They’re in danger of being hit by cars, ingesting something hazardous or encountering predators. You’re also more likely to notice health issues with your cat sooner if she’s living indoors.
However, indoor life isn’t without disadvantages. Indoor cats are more likely to gain weight because they aren’t as active as their outdoor counterparts. That weight gain can lead to all sorts of health issues, so you need to watch her food intake closely. Indoor cats are also more likely to get bored, so they need lots of mental enrichment in the home.
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How Long Do Cats Live Indoors A Detailed Guide
Cats are loyal pets that bring lots of joy and entertainment to your life, but allowing them to go outside can be a dangerous endeavor.
If youve ever asked, how long do cats live indoors? the answer might surprise you.
Whether youre a first-time cat owner or youve had felines for years, read on to learn more about the average age of cats who choose the indoor lifestyle.
Lifespans Of Common Cat Breeds
While pet parents always wish their fur babies would stick around longer, cats have a much faster metabolic rate than humansso one year of our life is equivalent to several years of our cats lives. However, some breeds do tend to live longer than others.
If your goal is to get the most quality time with your cat, consider choosing a mixed breed . Hybrid vigor, or a combination of the best genetic material arising from a diverse gene pool, often leads to a lower risk for inherited diseases and common medical conditions found in purebred animals.
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Infections Transmitted From Cats To Humans
Cats can be infected or infested with viruses, bacteria, fungus, protozoans, arthropods or worms that can transmit diseases to humans. In some cases, the cat exhibits no symptoms of the disease, However, the same disease can then become evident in a human. The likelihood that a person will become diseased depends on the age and immune status of the person. Humans who have cats living in their home or in close association are more likely to become infected, however, those who do not keep cats as pets might also acquire infections from cat feces and parasites exiting the cat’s body. Some of the infections of most concern include salmonella, cat-scratch disease and toxoplasmosis.
How Long Do Peterbald Cats Live
Peterbald cats live to be 12 16 years old. Although their life expectancy is long, they are prone to more injuries due to them being hairless and having delicate skin.
| Breed |
| Coat Type | Medium/Long |
Because these are larger cats, they are more likely to deal with obesity issues. Regularly monitoring your cats weight and feeding them a healthy diet can help them stay healthy.
Also, because their coat is longer they may have more issues with hairballs which can be a choking hazard.
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Keeping Your Indoor Cat Entertained
Many people who chose to let their cats outside believe that indoor cats will be bored, overweight, and unfulfilled. You can prevent all of these downsides if youre a responsible, thoughtful cat parent.
To liven up an indoor cats environment, give them access to at least two of the following:
- A floor-to-ceiling cat tree for their climbing pleasure
- At least one windowside perch that gives them a view of a bird feeder or other outdoor wildlife
- An aquarium that they can enjoy watching but not fall into
- Interactive toys that require them to use their brain and their physical skills to acquire treats
- Daily playtime, petting, and training
- A tall, heavy-duty scratching post that allows them to stretch, sharpen their claws, and leave their signature scent from the glands in their paws
- A cat wheel or other interactive exercise toy that will get them moving
What Kind Of Personality Has My Cat Got
Some cats are more aggressive than others. While being aggressive may get it into trouble, its also more likely to be able to defend itself than a nervous stressful a cat if it needs to. If your cat is easy-going you may find it may not survive so well. But cats can be so deceptive. They may be easy going with you, that doesnt mean it cant go outside and hunt very effectively.
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Has My Cat Learnt To Hunt
Cats are taught to hunt by their mum. So many domestic cats do not have proper hunting abilities as they are often removed from their mums well before their hunting skills develop properly. Typically kittens learn to hunt from 8 weeks onwards. Its also from 8 weeks onwards that they often leave their mums to go to their new human homes.
If as a human you teach your cat to hunt then it will learn. So even outdoor domestic cats might not be the best hunters. Although some cats still retain this ability. If your cat does not know how to hunt then is a very good possibility if it was outside for any length of time that it would starve.
Have You Ever Wondered How Long Do Cats Live For
Theres a familiar tale youve probably heard aboutthe Nine Lives of a Cat. This common bedtime story has been told by parents for almost a hundred years. Written by Charles Bennet, this seemingly dark story, tells the tale of a sweet kitty who was able to escape death nine times.
Putting aside the crude humor depicted in this storywouldnt it be great if our cats had nine lives? So, if cats dont have nine lives, how long do cats live for?
Although your feline friend cant reach a ripe old age of 90 years! They can still live for a pretty long time. Veterinarians and long-time cat enthusiasts state that domestic cats can live up to 16 years old. In fact, many well-cared for felines can live until 19 years old.
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What If Theyre Indoor Cats
When it comes to the question How long do cats live? all the research weve done overwhelmingly suggests that indoor cats live nearly three times as long as outdoor cats. How long do cats live if theyre indoor cats? Indoor cats are typically sterilized, vaccinated and removed from the stresses, risks and dangers of the outside world. They are fed regularly and have easy access to water that is fresh and clean.
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They require more attention, more distractions, and must be encouraged to get sufficient exercise to avoid obesity. Fortunately, attentive cat owners provide all of those things. The numbers varied widely among all the sites we visited, ranging from 14 to 20 years. Based on the numbers we chronicled, the average lifespan of an indoor cat is 16.875 years.