When we adopt a cat, it may happen that we do not know its age, because it has not been with us since it was born due to various circumstances, such as being a stray animal, being abandoned, the previous owners not knowing the date of its birth, etc. It is very important to know this to give it the care and attention it needs, young cats do not have the same needs as cats that have already reached maturity, and that is, a breeding cat will not eat the same type of feed that an adult cat will need more attention than the previous ones.
Determining the exact age of a cat is very complex, even an expert can be wrong. In this article we will try to explain how to determine the age of my cat as accurately as possible.
The most reliable method but it does not mean that it is 100% safe. According to experts, it consists of observing the cat’s teeth to know what stage of life the animal is in, it may happen that the animal has deteriorated teeth and this will lead to confusion due to various factors such as; way of life, the type of food, nature, hygiene, the state of health of the animal throughout its life, etc. To make this observation, we will gently lift the cat’s lips.
These animals resemble humans, they are born without teeth and begin to emerge around two weeks of life, although this varies depending on each animal, it can take up to four weeks. As a general rule, between the first two and four weeks of life, the incisors appear and will grow until they become visible, around three weeks of life the canines will begin to emerge, once the cat has been in the jaw for a month and a half lower premolars will begin to come out, once it is two months old, the animal will already have its provisional or milk teeth, these teeth will begin to disappear at four months and at 6 months, the animal will already have the teeth of a cat adult.
The teeth of young cats consist of 26 teeth distributed as follows; 14 teeth in the upper jaw (6 incisors, 2 canines, and 3 premolars) and 12 teeth in the lower jaw (6 incisors, 2 canines, and 2 premolars). They are temporary teeth just like the milk teeth of humans.
As we have said before, the cat may come to our home because it has been abandoned or is a stray cat... When one of these two situations occurs, it is very difficult to know the exact age, what we will do is observe the state of conservation of your teeth. As a general rule, the cat during the first year of his life will have healthy and clean teeth, around two years his teeth will begin to turn yellowish, opaque and tartar appears, especially on the back teeth. From the age of three to five, the tartar will have spread over almost the entire denture and a slight wear begins to appear on it. Between five and ten years, the cat is already an adult, its teeth will show some wear and the gums will change color. The cat reaches old age at the age of ten, its teeth will have a lot of tartar, they will be much worn, and they may even have lost teeth.
Another way to determine the age of the cat is through its hair. Young cats have short and thick hair, as they become adults this hair will become a fine and soft fur and when old age begins, their fur will be denser, thicker becoming drier, their skin will flake because the animal caresses itself less and in the vast majority of cases gray fur may appear on the face and body.
The dermatological changes of our pet can also tell us what stage of his life he is in, for example, if our cats from hyperthyroidism, his claws will grow rapidly, this pathology usually appears around 10 years of life suffer from the animal.
By looking at its eyes we can also determine the cat’s age. In his first week of life he will remain with his eyes closed, from this, he will begin to open his eyelids more frequently. Once they are two weeks old, they will open their eyes completely, what happens is that at this age their pupils do not dilate. At six weeks of life a very significant change is observed, the color of their eyes stops being blue to appear the definitive color.
Another of the changes that occurs in the eyes of cats is the iris, this in a small cat, is smooth and as it grows it becomes irregular. As the animal ages, it experiences changes in vision, around twelve years of age, senile bridal atrophy may appear, a disease in which irregularities are seen on the edges of the pupil and spaces appear in the iris. It can also happen that we see clouds in the lens of the animal, this means that it has cataracts and we can determine that the cat is in the stage of old age.
Depending on the habits that your pet has, it is possible to know at what stage of their life they are. Normal in the behavior of a young cat is that it has more physical activity than an adult cat, that is, the young cat is more willing to move from one place to another, to investigate and they are more playful than a cat that has already reached maturity or old age. This stage of games and socialization with their species, humans and other animals begins around three weeks of life and ends at eight weeks. Between two and four months, conflicting behaviors begin, that is, they begin to mark their territories, their character, way of being, their tastes and preferences begin to develop. Around four months of life, their fundamental characteristic begins to appear, “curiosity” they also reach sexual maturity.
However, an adult cat tends to be calm, asleep; the toys no longer attract as much attention as in their puppy stage, they become more territorial and dominant. This stage begins at seven years of age and ends at twelve years of age.
When they reach old age, which is from the age of twelve, their physical state changes, their movements are less and their appetite decreases.
Feeling their muscles is another way to determine the age of our pet. The body of young cats is usually in shape and more toned than the body of cats that have reached old age, this is because, as we have said before, during their first stage of life until they reach maturity they are continuously movement. However, adult cats will have a more flaccid body and hanging skin, this is because their preferences have changed, when they reach maturity they seek tranquility.
Another way to know what stage of life our cat is in is through the ears. Like the eyes, our pet’s ears also go through different stages of development during their growth. Depending on the position in which they are, we can deduce in what week of life the puppy is. When the ears are close to the head, it is possible that the animal is only a week old, these animals are born with closed ear canals, they will begin to open between five and eight days after birth. However, the ear will begin to rise towards the second or third week of its birth.
The weight of the animal can also tell us what stage of its life it is in. It is always necessary to take into account the state of health of the pet, if the type of food is good, that is, if it eats the same times and the same amount every day. In this case, we will give the weights of animals that live in optimal conditions.
At birth it will weigh 100 grams and will increase its weight approximately 7 grams a day more or less. In its first week of life, it will weigh between 100 and 150 grams. If our pet does not reach this weight, we must consider the possibility that the animal is sick or malnourished. If the cat weighs approximately 900 grams we can say that it is in its seventh or eighth week of life, that is, our pet gains a weight of 450 grams each month of life when it reaches 12 weeks of life, its weight it will be about 4.5kg.
