How Can You Tell the Age of a Cat
6 Tips for Determining Your True cat's Historic period
Reviewed and updated for accurateness on Nov xviii, 2019, by Dr. Hanie Elfenbein, DVM, PhD
When you lot adopt a cat whose history is a mystery to the shelter or rescue organisation, it'southward hard to decide how quondam your new feline friend may be.
Once your kitty reaches adulthood, pinpointing a birthday becomes increasingly difficult. However, in that location are some indicators that can assistance you and your vet make an educated guess.
Dr. Michael Nappier, an banana professor of community practice at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinarian Medicine's Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, says that these indicators are far from precise, "only they are more able to give owners and vets a general idea."
Here are half dozen tips that you lot and your vet can apply to tell a true cat's age.
Teeth and Weight Tin Assist You Calculate the Age of a Kitten
The younger the true cat, the easier information technology is for vets to make up one's mind about when they were built-in.
"Factors such as the cat'southward size and teeth can be very useful in pinpointing an historic period," says Dr. Stephen Horvath, clinical banana professor at the College of Veterinarian Medicine at Ohio State University.
Size of the Kitten
"Up until cats are about 4 to 6 months old, a good rule of thumb is that they proceeds a pound for every month," Dr. Horvath explains. "And then a three-pound kitten is three-months old, a four-pound kitten is four months, and and then on until about half-dozen months of historic period."
However, Dr. Nappier says that this method isn't foolproof. "If the cat is in poor health, weight is no longer a reliable age indicator."
Kitten Teeth
The other age indicator that can be used for kittens is their teeth.
A kitten's deciduous (baby) teeth start to come in when they're about ii weeks old, and terminate when they're about viii weeks erstwhile.
Then, at around iv months old, the baby teeth start to fall out, and adult teeth outset to erupt. A cat should have all of their developed teeth by the time they're 7 months one-time.
"Once that happens, it's really hard to tell how sometime a cat is by its teeth," Dr. Horvath says.
Wait for Vesture and Tear on Developed Cat Teeth
Dr. Horvath notes that while it becomes more hard to gauge a cat's age by their teeth once all the adult teeth are fully erupted, it'due south not incommunicable.
"We can also use the wear and tear too as tartar buildup every bit clues to a cat'due south historic period," he says. "Typically, if nosotros come across but a piddling scrap of tartar, especially along the cat's cheek teeth (the teeth that run along the sides of the cat's mouth), that cat is ane to 2 years old. The more tartar that accumulates, the older the cat probably is."
However, similar people, some cats just take worse teeth than others. A young cat could showroom lots of tartar, and an older ane could accept very picayune. Therefore, using tartar as the lone indicator of age is a lot less exact than many owners might promise.
Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) is also not a reliable indicator of age. Some cats develop astringent gingivitis at a very young age, while others don't develop the affliction until tartar accumulates on the teeth.
Inquire Your Vet to Check for Cloudiness in Your Cat's Eyes
Beyond teeth, vets may too look to your true cat's eyes to aid determine age.
Around the age of vi or 7, a cat's eye lenses become denser, not dissimilar what happens to humans effectually historic period 40. "If you lot look with an ophthalmoscope, you can see a fleck of cloudiness around this age," Dr. Horvath explains.
It's non really noticeable to owners until a cat is nigh 10 years old—then their eyes might beginning to look a little cloudy.
Dr. Nappier adds that looking at the cloudiness in the eye is something that vets must do, especially when the cat is younger. "It's a fairly reliable system with a set of standards, but it'southward non something owners can do at dwelling house without having certain tools and noesis," he says.
As cats age into their senior years, their iris (the colored function of the eye) can show changes. Called iris cloudburst, the within of the iris can intermission downwards so that your cat's pupil doesn't get as small every bit it used to. Or, sometimes the inner edge of the iris becomes wavy.
Either fashion, this is a normal crumbling modify and does not crusade any pain or issues for your true cat.
Appraise Their Preparation Habits
Cats are very meticulous when information technology comes to grooming, and most younger cats will go on their coats looking pristine. Yet, one time cats attain a certain age, they might not be equally thorough with their grooming as they once were.
"Many factors can contribute to a cat losing the power to groom themselves well. Dental issues in particular can cause a true cat to stop training because it is painful. They also could proceeds weight as they get older, which in plow makes it harder to attain certain spots," Dr. Horvath says.
Arthritis tin can exist another factor since the contortions necessary to attain everywhere on the body become painful. "Losing the ability to groom is more obvious in medium-haired and long-haired cats," adds Dr. Horvath.
Accept Your True cat to the Vet for a Health Assessment
About cats who live long enough will somewhen experience changes in their beefcake and physiology that tin can be picked up by veterinarians.
For example, sure diseases, like kidney disease or an overactive thyroid, are quite common in older cats only relatively rare in the young. Dr. Horvath says that older cats oftentimes go "unable to process proteins equally easily, so they lose a lot of the protein they eat and start to lose weight."
With a thorough examination, your veterinarian tin get a ameliorate picture of your cat'due south age.
Accept That Whatsoever Given Age is Just an Educated Gauge
Dr. Horvath and Dr. Nappier repeatedly emphasize that determining the age of a cat without knowing its history is truly a guessing game.
"We tin look at the cat's eyes and teeth, do blood work and come across how different organs are functioning, listen to the heart, and fifty-fifty measure muscle and fatty, simply unfortunately in that location isn't ane specific attribute that allows us to say definitively that a true cat is a sure age," Dr. Horvath says. "Information technology's actually just making an educated guess."
But no matter your cat'southward historic period, in that location are many ways y'all can aid continue your cat healthy—encouraging exercise through play, providing a good for you diet and taking your true cat for regular veterinary visits.
By Kate Hughes
Source: https://www.petmd.com/cat/slideshows/6-tips-determining-your-cats-age
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