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

My Zelda is an indoor cat and is 10 years old. She is sitting next to me just now ❤️ hoping and praying we'll have many years more together!

My Mum had a tabby cat in the 1970s who lived to 20 years old. She was beautiful, and the longest-lasting cat in our family afaik.

My own black and white tuxedo cat had to be pts at 17 and a half. He was vomiting and had lost a lot of weight and an x-ray showed an unidentifiable mass in his abdomen. I am still seething that the vets brought him round from the anaesthetic he had for the xray, without discussing with me first what I wanted to do. So I went up to collect him, he was all dozey and groggy, they told me what they had seen and I said "well I'm not going to put him through further investigations or possibly pointless/expensive treatment, I want to say goodbye to him now". So then they took him off and put him to sleep. I think they handled it appallingly and I'm cross I didn't complain.

I was thinking of him particularly on 1st March because that was his adopted birthday - he was actually born on 29th February 2000, a leap cat! I loved him so very much .

I've got a feeling that the ragdoll figure is skewed because of 2 genetic diseases, HCM and polycystic kidney disease.

These diseases have both been eradicated in the cats who come from registered breeders but up to 25% of unregistered cats have HCM. Cats with HCM have a very short life of around 5 to 6.

It would be interesting to see the figures for registered and unregistered ragdolls.