How long do cats live and just how tough are they?

Red Sleeping Beauty

We have a cat and he's I think about 10 . someone told me there's no such thing as "cat years" like there's the dog years... How long do cats live ?

This cat has also been through the wars - spent his first few years in fights (before he was neutered) and there about 18months ago he disappeared and when he showed up he'd been poisoned. The vet said he'd had the cat equivalent of a stroke.

Well , he's still going... He isn't really all that active though but he's still got most of his faculties about him.

Are cats tough then or wha ?

Baybay

We had to have our cat put to sleep at 13 years old as he had too many things wrong with his heart and kidneys for him to have had any quality of life. He had been ill for about 6 months.

I have heard of cats that have lived to 18-20 but think about 12-15 would be more usual.

n1ck

One of my cats lived till 22, he had been through the wars aswell so anything is possible.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Yeah that's what I mean... "through the wars"
They just seem like tough little buggers

getz

living in the holiday home next to me in blackpool,lives a cat aged 15 and he seems quite healthy

jasonb

I read in a book that cats can survive falls from several stories high. In fact, the higher the better!

Apparently, any fall from about 7 stories or less, the cat has a good chance of surviving, but it could be badly injured ( broken legs etc. ). However, over 7 stories and the cat has a great chance of surviving without serious injury at all.

This is because a cat has a non-fatal terminal velocity ( i.e. the max speed a cat can reach while falling isn't fatal to it ). Anything over 7 stories and the cat will reach terminal velocity, but will also have enough time to orientate itself so that its feet are pointing down, and then it flares out its legs to control its fall.

Below 7 stories the cat doesn't have time to do that, hence the serious injuries!

J.

Alun

Somebody's been watching QI

sorella

I had a Siamese walk out of a 3rd floor window onto concrete with no injuries.....

What is that in tree height, please? We have trees here:)

jasonb wrote: »

I read in a book that cats can survive falls from several stories high. In fact, the higher the better!

Apparently, any fall from about 7 stories or less, the cat has a good chance of surviving, but it could be badly injured ( broken legs etc. ). However, over 7 stories and the cat has a great chance of surviving without serious injury at all.

This is because a cat has a non-fatal terminal velocity ( i.e. the max speed a cat can reach while falling isn't fatal to it ). Anything over 7 stories and the cat will reach terminal velocity, but will also have enough time to orientate itself so that its feet are pointing down, and then it flares out its legs to control its fall.

Below 7 stories the cat doesn't have time to do that, hence the serious injuries!

J.

Red Sleeping Beauty

jasonb wrote: »

I read in a book that cats can survive falls from several stories high. In fact, the higher the better!

Apparently, any fall from about 7 stories or less, the cat has a good chance of surviving, but it could be badly injured ( broken legs etc. ). However, over 7 stories and the cat has a great chance of surviving without serious injury at all.

This is because a cat has a non-fatal terminal velocity ( i.e. the max speed a cat can reach while falling isn't fatal to it ). Anything over 7 stories and the cat will reach terminal velocity, but will also have enough time to orientate itself so that its feet are pointing down, and then it flares out its legs to control its fall.

Below 7 stories the cat doesn't have time to do that, hence the serious injuries!

J.

There was an incident/video phone recording or two teenagers throwing a cat out of a 6story window (or something similar).

They kept throwing it out until it died. I think it lasted about 5jumps or something. It was on one of these "Lawless Britain" tv programs. Happened in Liverpool I think

The Sweeper

Cats that fall from a greater height reach a terminal velocity of 100kmph and then relax, so the impact isn't as harsh on their bodies.

The most common injury a cat has from a fall is a broken jaw or fractured palate. The bottom of a cat's jaw is in two halves - try placing your hands together in a cup shape, and you get the idea. Those two halves are connected by cartiledge. Impact injuries can cause that cartiledge to tear or split, 'breaking' the cat's bottom jaw. A cat with a broken jaw or fractured palate can look otherwise fine, but cannot eat, and will die or suffer greatly from its injury unless it has an attentive owner.

A cat falling from a height will orient itself so its feet face down. Over a short distance, the cat will probably hit the ground first with its front feet and bottom jaw, then its back feet. A glancing impact from a car can also break a cat's jaw - it knocks them and they hit the ground with feet and face again.

Domestic cats can live up to 20 years or more, though 12-15 years would be considered to be a 'good innings'.

As for whether they are tough - injured and sick cats have a tendancy to be very quiet, sitting very still and not reacting to much. An inattentive owner can readily mistake that for the cat being just fine. Whereas an injured dog will tend to let you know that they're in pain (yelping, yowling, looking truly miserable, sidling up to you with that hangdog look, presenting injured parts for inspection etc.), a cat will tend to just curl up in a heap and want to be left alone.

In terms of how long cats last, and whether they are 'tough' or not, we persist in taking a different attitude to our cats than to our dogs, based on preconceived notions of cats being 'more independent', 'natural hunters' and better able to take care of themselves when allowed to roam indiscriminately.

Dogs can have an average of two litters of puppies per year, with numbers depending on the breed and size of the dog - one or two puppies, up to 12 or more puppies. Cats can have up to five litters per year, averaging four kittens per litter. It appears that more people fail to desex their cat than their dog.

Allowing cats to roam free indiscriminately creates one major problem: nobody can tell a stray cat from a pet cat. A collar makes no odds - plenty of collar-wearing cats turn up in pounds every year, and remain unclaimed. All a collar means is that someone cared for long enough to put a collar on the cat - which takes about 30 seconds.

In 2005 in Ireland (which is the latest year I can find figures for), over 16,500 dogs were put to sleep by local authority pounds. There are no equivalent figures for cats. That's right, we don't even count the number of cats put to sleep by local authority pounds in Ireland annually. Anecdotally, it's higher than dogs.

So yes, cats are tough, but I'd put it to you this way - if they can last 18 years or more with the right treatment, why do we see and hear about so few 18 year old cats?

anniehoo

jasonb wrote: »

I read in a book that cats can survive falls from several stories high. In fact, the higher the better!

Seemingly thats the reason they say a cat has "nine lives". It rotates itself in 9 different positions so it always lands on its feet!Class

Sigma Force

Two of my cats were twins, one only lived to around 5 (had to be pts kidney failure sadly) his twin sister live until she was 18 years old eventually went deaf and then blind but she was a touch cookie until the last year where, bless her, she was finding it harder to get around. I think it's mostly luck with cats they certainly don't always land on their feet they can be very clumsy at times.

Some cats suffer in silence there was one poor cat (not mine) who it turned out had previous injuries that were never treated the owner just didn't care enough to notice this doesn't mean the cat was tough just means the cat was lucky the injuries didn't come with internal bleeding and happened to heal over time which would of been painful before healing began.