Conference misery::feline_v1

    IMHO, 7 yrs....
    
    Lynne

    Well, that sounds right as far as life length goes. But what about
    sexual maturity? Cats are able to reproduce by around 6 months of age,
    in comparison, a human would be ready at age 3.5?!? 
    
    I dunno....
    Bon

    Last months issue of Cat Fancy had an article on cat to human age. It
    was more like 1 cat year equals three human years. The ratio changes
    some as a cat gets older. I'll try to remember to post the
    age scale tomorrow.

    Dog/Human Comparison in Years:
    
    Dog's Age     Human Equivalent
    ---------     ----------------
    1             16
    2             23
    3             30
    4             37
    5             42
    6             47
    7             52
    8             56
    9             60
    10            64
    11            67
    12            70
    13            73
    14            76
    15            79
    16            82
    17            85
    18            88
    19            91
    20            94
    

    7 years to 1 year for cats can't be right.  That would make 
    Bumpytail almost 98 (she's almost 14) which is ridiculous given
    her condition.  Also, it would mean cats that live to be 20
    would be the equivalent of 140 human years.  
    
    About 16-20 for the first year and 3 years for every year after 
    that makes more sense.  That makes Bumpytail 55-59.
      Nancy

    Re .5 - your reasoning matches the dog/human chart....
    But are cats & dogs equivelent?
    
    Lynne

    Re .5...
    
      But then, she COULD be the "Johnny Kelly" of kittydom...
    
     Johnny Kelly---for those who are not familiar with the name---just
    finished his 54th(?) Boston Marathon Monday... He's in his 80's...
    
    
    
    I think Mike's chart on Dogs is pretty similar to the one on cats...
    although there may be some variation in different breeds...(for
    instance, Doberman's have a tendency to live into their 20's, while
    Irish Wolfhounds and Great Danes typically don't live past 10...
    
    
      JMcD

    Nancy:  I think you may be right - they are supposed to be equivalent
    to humane "teenagers" by their age of 1 or less - so the age equivalent
    excells up until they are about two or three and then it slows down in
    comparison.  I read this in "the book of the Cat" or "the Catalog" not
    too long ago.
    
    Ha, and all the time we thought it was kittenhood - it was puberty!
    
    Giudi

    JM - Johnny Kelly ran his first Marathon at 23 and he is now *83*
    
    What a great man he is. Talk about stamina. I can't even WALK 26 + 
    miles let along run it. Of course I think anyone who finishes the
    Marathon deserves all the credit they can be given. One of our 
    project engineers runs every year. Today is his first day back
    since the race. He is walking very slowly. His time, 3 hours 11
    minutes. One hour behind the winner. He says that is terrible time
    but I think it is marvelous. Most of the Marathon runners do that
    for a living.
    
    Barbara

    Also, John has won 2 of them, this was back in the thirties, tho!
    
    Bon

actually, the stuff I've read lately says that you cannot actually equate
a fixed number of years to either dogs or cats when comparing ages to humans.
the formula should be something like:

	cat		human
	---		-----

	6 months	sexual maturity - approx. 14 - 16 years of age
	1 year		young adult - approx. 18 - 25
	.
	.
	.
	8 years		middle aged - approx. 40 - 50 years of age
	.
	.
	.
	12 years	retirement aged - approx. 65 - 70 years of age
	.
	.
	.
	16 years	elderly - approx. 75 85  years of age
	.
	.
	.
	19 - 20		okay, now you're getting into the record books...

the best you can do on a comparison is to roughly equate the stages of
life development within the estimated life span of both creatures in
question.  As we learn more about treating geriatric diseases in cats,
they live longer - healthier.  This fact skews the comparison charts.
For instance, my vet has been treating a siamese that is a spry 24 years
old this spring.  She is moving slower, but she will still go a bit 
farther....obviously, her comparison chart to the human chart is different
than that for most cats (expected life span somewhere between 12 - 18 years).

Actually, the latest Cat Fancy indicated that 20 years of age is getting fairly
normal.  Near or over 30 is now necessary to get you into the record books.  I
have an 8 year old named Tenzing, and I think it said that was equivilant to
early twenties.  20 was 70ish and 30 was 100ish.  This is from memory, but it
should be close.

Karen, Tenzing and Ryan.

    
    Just for "the record books!"  We had a kitty to live in cat years,
    21 years old.........I grew up with her litterally.  I believe they
    said she was 100 and something years old in humane years.  I guess no
    one yet has a definite answer to the EXACT cat/humane years comparison.
    
    Just wanted to mention Ditto -- who was 21 years old.  Never went to a
    vets and was an indoor/outdoor cat.  We loved her very much.  She's
    been gone about 18 years now.
    
    Carol
    

    re: human/cat comparison changing.   The lifespan for cats has changed
    dramatically.  If I remember my book of cat trivia correctly -
      back in the 17th century the average lifespan for a cat was 5-7
    yrs.  30-40 years ago it was 10-12.  Today its 16-20.  That's a 
    pretty big increase in a short amount of time!  No wonder they keep
    changing the figures on human to cat age conversions.
      Nancy

	I don't see why they should,

	in the 17th century people liveing to 40 were considered old, and there
	was a very high mortality rate.

	50 years ago, if you had anyone over 80 it was rare, and over 100 was
	a telegram from the queen.

	now, over 100 is much more common, and dying at 40 of "old age" extinct.

	60th wedding annaversaries are more common now, than 50th were 50 years
 	ago.

	So, to get in the record books as "oldest" for people is definately over
	110, I would think it must be about 120 now.

	So, 20 is old for a cat (some may live to 25, or even 30), 80 is old 
	for people (some may live to 100, or even 120)............and then do 
	your own ratios.

	so, some examples if you work on a 20:80 ratio,
	
	1:4
	2:8
	5:20
	10:40
	15:60
	20:80
	25:100
        30:120

	The ratios chnage as people and cats change life-spans, but it is quite
	easy to work out, just think of how long cats live on average, and how 
	long people live on average, and use that as a ratio.

	Heather

Saw this chart in the April CFA Alamanac and thought it looked pretty good.  
Reprinted here without permission from the Alamanac, who printed it with 
permission from the USA Loves Cats Cat Club & The Cat Cuddler's Quarterly.

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

Jo

Just read this last night in the newspaper:

The first six months for a cat is equal to 13 human years. 
The second six months for a cat is equal to 10 human years. 
Each additional year for a cat is equal to 3 human years. 

So, a cat that is six months old is 13 human years old, 
a cat that is one year old is 23 human years old, 
a cat that is two years old is 26 human years old, 
a cat that is three years old is 29 human years old, 
and so on.

Marleen (and Sly, Adrienne, Paws, Midway, and Springer)