How long will YOUR cat(s) live?

Like most people on TCS, I have watched Cats 101 until I am tired of it, yet yesterday I caught an episode I had not seen yet. They showed a kitten playing and asked "How long will this kitten live?" The answer:

If he becomes an outdoor cat, his life expectancy will be 3-4 years.

If he becomes an indoor only cat, his life expectancy will be 9-15 years.

I have never ever let a cat outside and I had one cat for twenty years. I wonder how long it would have lived had it been an outdoor cat?

Averages are funny things that do not tell the whole story. I had inside/outside cats that lived to 12, 16, 17 and 19, all dying of old-age related illnesses. I have also lost 2 cats to the road, and had one just disappear. One was poisoned at 18 months and one died of a heart attack at 6.

And I have lost two indoor cats to FIP at 4 months and 2 years.

That's so very true!

However, outside kitties can live a longer amount of time if threats are eliminated or limited. My outside kitty is approximately 8 this year, but she's a smart one, staying away from danger and skiddish of other people but my family.

I have one kitty (inside only) who has a numerous amount of problems against her, and I don't expect her to live a long life. I'm expecting maybe 9 to 10 years with her, and she's already 5... I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

Thanks for sharing!

Okie

well the RB gang all were indoor / outdoor ... youngest 14.5 yr ( today he would have been called feral), 18yr 11 months and 19 .5 yrs

True outdoor cats where Grandma lived and worked ..... My guess ave 6-8 yrs ( this is with very little human intervention)

4 of 5 current are indoor only ... and I only expect them to see 8-12 yrs( let me explain ... my 2 yr old has had to ER surgeries already and allergies and likely Ibd, my nearly3 yr olds are inbreed to at least the 5th generation and have liver issues already and the other one had some big issues as a wee one too and was feral) .. my indoor /outdoor likely her teens( just allergies and mild Ibd

Autumn was 3-4 when found outside, in pretty much perfect health as far as a skinny nursing feral can be so it really can vary a lot and I have seen averages that are different than those, it depends on where they are studying and where they get stats etc

Mine are all indoor only, Magnum is 14 and I expect him to live longer than Boomer who is 3 years younger than him. Scully who had major health issues lived to 15 so a well cared for indoor cat should live just as long

Originally Posted by Persi & Alley

Like most people on TCS, I have watched Cats 101 until I am tired of it, yet yesterday I caught an episode I had not seen yet. They showed a kitten playing and asked "How long will this kitten live?" The answer:

If he becomes an outdoor cat, his life expectancy will be 3-4 years.

If he becomes an indoor only cat, his life expectancy will be 9-15 years.

I have never ever let a cat outside and I had one cat for twenty years. I wonder how long it would have lived had it been an outdoor cat?

Click to expand...

I had two outdoor kitties when I was growing up. My male lived to be 12 years old and passed away from cancer recently. The other kitty, still living with my parents, she is 6 years old and still going strong.

There seem to be a large number of outdoor kitties/strays that are not properly taken care of so I would imagine this as well as the added dangers of being an outdoor cat is why their life expectancy is so low. Whereas people who actually take care of their outdoor kitties see a longer life expectancy.

Well, that is just average I think, my mum has 5 cats all indoor/outdoor Boo is 23!!!! Poppy 12,Ginga 15,Peep 15 and Claudia 14. Is she just lucky? x

Fred lived to be 18, when we eased him to the Bridge due to FIV related illness. He had been an indoor/outdoor cat much of his life.
Leo was an indoor kitty all his life, and he passed at 5 from FeLeuk. He caught it from an infected kitten that my sister assured me had been tested and was clean. That one lived 6 months. Fortunately he never interacted with Fred and Pearl much, just Leo.
My current crew are all indoor/outdoor cats, thriving at ages 5-9. There are not many outside threats here, and I have never seen one of them venture past the edge of the very large yard.

Generally speaking, indoor/outdoor or outdoor only cats do not live anywhere near as long as indoor only cats. I have outdoor cats who are mostly seniors, two are 16 & 18 years old. So they *can* live that long, in the right circumstances, with proper vet care.

the cats i had at my parents house were indoor/outdoor cats. puzzle passed away at 8 - after giving birth to a litter of 6 kittens who didn't make it past 3 months, all died from feline leukemia, cahoots at 13-ish, she wandered off to die in the woods, most likely from old age (we inherited her with the house we moved into when i was 4, so her age is a guess) ishtar at 1, hit by a car, and marmalade at 13 to kidney failure. we lived in a very rural area, in the middle of 5 acres of property, no neighbors for miles, and we still lost a cat to being hit by a car.

we have lost 2 of our indoor cats over the past year, percy at 11 to kidney and liver failure, and guildenstern at 9 months to FIP.

i think a lot of it does come down to genetics, but obviously keeping your cat indoors is going to give them an edge since they won't encounter a lot of the things that end outdoor kitties lives prematurely.

The problem with averages is that, as any statistician can tell you, you can't apply the averages to any individual cat.

My mother, as we grew up, didn't believe in indoor-only cats. Or spaying or neutering, for that matter. We lived in the city and in the country, and we never had a cat survive for more than a year or two. She had a cat at her father's farm, however, that was 16-18 when she died. She was indoor-outdoor.

The "averages" are lower (closer to 6 months outdoors) if you take into consideration kittens born in the outdoors. Such kittens have a mortality rate of something like 50%-95%, depending on what researchers you talk to.

Our cats are indoor/outdoor cats. They rarely leave the yard, honestly. We've never really had a cat that traveled farther than half a mile from the house on any given day (there was the one time Squeeler was locked in the neighbor's garage for 3 days but that's a different story).

I averaged the ages of the cats we've had that passed on and I got 13.5. It was dragged down even THAT much because of the strapping young cat we had that decided to be adventurous in January of 2000 and walked onto the ice of our pond. He was 1 1/2 when he passed on.

Also counting the stray we found that had feline leukemia. She passed on at the age of 4.

My friend has barn cats and she has one who's over 15.

I think more of it depends on the availability of food, water, and shelter than inside/outside.

My dads cat when he was growing up, Marmi (Marmiduke) was 18ish give or take and was an indoor/outdoor cat spent a lot of time outside BUT that was when there wasnt as much traffic about and less things to hurt him

My cats are outdoor cats. Max died in 2005 of kidney failure. He was 12 years old. Speedboat died Jan. 25th of this year of unknown causes. He was 14. Muffin is currently 10 years old and Mattie is 6. I think you could say Max and Speedboat were both senior cats. I wish they were both still here, but I believe they had blessed lives. I think 12 and 14 years old for outside cats is a good lifespan. I would also point out thought that these cats live outside in a fenced in area. They are definitely safer than roaming cats who are not properly vaccinated and taken care of.

I think the problem with asking people here is that the results will be skewed because generally we will care more about our cats and provide more care than some other pet owners (for indoor or outdoor cats)

From what I've seen of farm cats, indoor/outdoor pets, etc....

Most kittens will get killed somehow. My cousin tried her best to keep the farm cats healthy but she was lucky if 1 kitten from each litter lived. If they lived to be a year old, the females usually lived about 5 or 6 years. They all died after 8-10 litters, although it was never proven they died, they just disappeared right around the time their last litter was expected and never came back. So presumably they died while kittening. The toms usually disappeared after 2 or 3 years. Some of them would be seen wandering the fields occasionally but most were presumed dead. But that was unvaccinated, unaltered farm cats with minimal vet care (they'd get antibiotics if needed and de-wormer but that was it). They were well fed, had access to clean water, and dry warm shelter.

I prefer not to have cats that go outside. It's too stressful for me, I worry so. But I took in a cat from a friend. He came to her when they lived on a farm, probably a year or 2 at the time. About a year after that they moved to town and brought him with them. He was neutered and vaccinated soon after. A few years later, he came to live with my family. We had him tested for FIV/FeLV (negative), re-vaccinated, de-wormed, etc. He came and went as he pleased. He was NOT happy if forced to stay inside, eevn if it was because of the weather. He died last year, at the emergency vet's office, of an unknown illness. Possibly cancer. By our best reckoning he was around 14 years old. And the female we got at the same time is still with us, about 15 years old, but she doesn't go out anymore. My first kitties, who used to go out occasionally, are 20 1/2 years old now.

Alley Cat Allies estimates that most altered ferals who are part of a well-managed colony will live to be about 12 years old. This seems reasonable from my observations. Of course any cats living near a highway or another hazardous situation will face a higher chance of dying in an accident.