How long do our cats live?

[worrisomeasset]

I think this is a most interesting infographic from the Royal Veterinary College. It says that the average lifespan of a ‘crossbreed’ (I assume they mean any non-pedigree moggy here) is 14 years while pedigrees live an average of 12.5 years. The difference is more stark with some breeds - Ragdolls have an average lifespan of 10.1 years while Bengals last on average a mere 7.3 years.

It’s possible, I think, that the situation for pedigrees is worse than these stats suggest. If we assume that most moggies are allowed outside while most pedigrees are indoor cats, then pedigrees are far less likely to die from traffic accidents. Despite their reduced risk of serious accidents, pedigrees still lead shorter lives.

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/media/default/vetcompass/infograms/150515%20how%20long%20do%20cats%20live%20-%20june2015.pdf

I used to know a British Shorthair who reached her 20th birthday - a shining achievement for any cat and absolutely brilliant for a pedigree. I've also come across Siamese who've lived to grand old ages.

My friend adopted her MiL's cat after she couldn't look after him anymore. He was a moggy, and lived until the age of 20.

My cat is a Heinz 57 and an indoor cat. She's nearly nine, but she has a low chance of meeting any hazards, so I hope she still has many years with us.

My two both got to 17. Moggies who went outdoors. Touch and go with the second one though - she lost an eye, half her tail and went missing for almost 3 months, little tyke used all her nine lives!

Our first cat we adopted at 18 and she was 27 when she died.

We had to say goodbye to our lovely white girl last year aged ten - she had intestinal lymphoma and it was the most brutal, awful shock. My friend had to have her boy PTS round about the same time, and he was just short of 19.

Our new boy turned two last month (we adopted him when he was just past one) and I hope he has a long and happy life with us.

Our darling moggy boy passed away this weekend. He was at least 20. He was an indoor/outdoor cat, but we would keep him on overnight. He went peacefully at home. 😿

I’m shocked by the low life expectancy of Bengals! I’d always assumed they were a relatively healthy breed.

Both my earlier cats died age 15. Tbh I thought that was a bit young really. One had a stroke and the other had cancer.

I think all of those are quite low 😳 even the 14 for a moggy! I guess the results are somewhat changed by the occasional cat that sadly dies way too early. Most of the moggies I’ve known have lived to around 18-20ish.

Childhood cat was 18.
My first adult cat was also 18. Not sure how he managed it. He was a neutered Tom, but semi feral when we rescued him as a kitten and that never quite left him. He had many brushes with death.

We had 2 Bengals (brothers). One was put to sleep 18 months ago as he had cancer. He was 16. His brother is still going strong at 18.

My DSH’s lived to 19 and 20.

Prior to that I had a Burmese who lived to 21.

My mother’s Siamese is still going strong at 19.

All indoor cats.

I think there might well be a number of factors at play here.
I suspect that breeds would be more susceptible to illness than moggies due to their limited gene pool. However a breed is more likely to be an indoor only cat.
I would also suspect that moggies are more likely to be outdoor cats and therefore have a higher chance of dying through an accident.
I would also make the huge assumption that people who spend a lot of money on a breed are also more likely to spend money on high quality food, insurance and keep them up to date with vet check ups. This could explain why the moggie life expectancy seems lower.

For the record my rescue moggie is the result of two stray parents and was found under a bush as a kitten. She only gets the highest quality German cat food, 6 monthly vet visits and is insured through the roof. I’m not suggesting that moggie owners care less that pedigree owners.

I have a moggy that’s 18, only in the last 12 months she’s got quite bad arthritis but doing well with monthly pain relief 🙂

I've had 10 cats plus the current two. Most of them lived from between 19 and 21 years but that was the moggies. The one pedigree rescue lived for 14 years.
But they were all vaccinated, had regular dental care and access to high end medical treatment via medical insurance such as radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism.
And good food not rubbish.
It is possible to extend their lives considerably this way so I only take on two cats at a time so I can afford to treat them well.
All my cats are outdoor cats and none of them had any accidents. I live in a very rural area away from roads.

27 😱

We lost our oldest cat in November, a stray that we found at about 6 weeks old, she was a few months short of 21.

Currently our oldest cat is almost 20, another stray rescued as a kitten.

The next two will be 16 this year.

Our youngest is 6, with another 7 between 6 and 16.

That shocked me as well. I had two bengals and they both lived to 14.
However I think bengals tend to have accidents because they can be quite wild.
One of mine had a couple of lucky escapes.
You really have to be careful with the home environment and make sure they cat get into things, onto things and so on, because they will climb and jump everyone, try to squeeze into small spaces and steal anything they can get their paws on which could increase the risk of poisoning or swallowing something.

I love all these old cat stories.
Our cat is 17. She was sold to us as a "Bengal" kitten but, over time, it's become obvious that there might be a bit of something else in there. Maybe that's helped her be robust. She has always gone out the back, not the front, as there's too much risk of being run over. She was sold to us as a Breed but not a Pedigree.

I've had a fair few cats over the years.
the first 2, a brother sister pair, the girl lived to 12, the boy to 18
3rd, a girl, lived til just 4 bless her.
4th, a girl,I still have now at the age of 16
5th, a girl, is now aged 12
6th, a girl, we lost last year at 11
7th, a boy, was a wanderer and regularly left for weeks at a time, was about 7 when he never came back
8th, a boy, is not even a year yet!

Seems like a lot of cats, but since the first pair we've never had less than three, the max was 5 for a while.

ETA they are all moggies

I have Persians.
Maia was 8 and died of HCM secondary kidney failure.
Magic was 13. She probably had lymphoma.
Cheddar was also 13. She probably had a stroke or brain tumour.

All of our moggies lived to between 14 and 18

I wasn’t all that surprised because (as has already been pointed out) Bengals are notorious for indulging in risky behaviours. However, I was surprised at the short life expectancy of Ragdolls, which is four years less than that of a moggy. I get the impression that Ragdoll owners are particularly wary of letting them go outside, so their accident risk must be very low. There’s a Swedish study that backs up the Royal Veterinary College view of Ragdoll life expectancy, it found that 37% of Ragdolls will not reach the age of 10. https://www.webmd.com/pets/cats/what-to-know-about-a-ragdoll-cat

I expect the next few posts will all be along the lines of “I had a Ragdoll and she lived to 35!”

Said goodbye I'm your little lady on Friday and she was 19 and a half. I think she would have kept going but it wasn't kind.

Vader, male tortie. 19 years old

My mog Annie died last year at 20 years and 9 months. Mog Lola is, I think determined to outlive her - 20 years and 7 months and still loving life though either her heart or her kidneys will get her in the end. Most of ours have lived well into their teens with girls typically outliving boys: my Leo was 18 when he died but all the other boys have died at the 15-16 year mark.