How much longer will I have my nine year old cat?

The cat we had when I was growing up lived to be 17, so yours has a good shot at being around awhile!

My cat is now fifteen years old. She’s an indoor cat and has aged really well. She gets grouchy sometimes and doesn’t like her hips to be touched, but in general she’s doing great. A friend of mine had a cat that lived to be twenty-five. Don’t worry, she’s probably got more time than you think!

i know many cats who have lived to be at least fifteen, often much older! no worries. my cat is 11 right now and he is in superb health. as sassy as ever.

My cats are 18 and stillll as lively as kittens! ur cat could live a while, my last one lived to be 22! (Innova cat food is amazing :P) also indoor cats tend to live longer!

It really depends on a lot of factors. Is she strictly an indoor cat? Is she generally in good health, up to date on her shots and visits to the vet? Does she have a high-quality diet?

Even if she spends time outside, and assuming she’s up to date on her shots, she could live several more years. We had a lot of cats growing up, and two in particular lived quite a long time. One was 17 when she died, and the other was 16. Both of them had always been indoor/outdoor cats, first in a suburban area and then in a rural area. We had other cats that lived to be 12 or 13 years old.

Take good care of her, love her, enjoy her now, and try not to let your worries about her future cloud the time you have with her.

If you help your cat to be happy and healthy you will almost certainly have quite a few more years with them!
It can be hard to think about. I’m very close with my cat too, he’s been the only thing consistent in my adult life ya know :) You are probably a great “parent” to your kitty and will get to be together for a long time!

Don’t worry about her till she starts showing signs of aging – for example, if she drops a lot of weight suddenly, then it’s time for a visit to the vet and some worrying is justified. Till then, try not to worry about it. You can’t control when she will inevitably die of old age, and it sounds like she’s having a great life while she’s around, which is all a kitty can ask for. :)

When I was younger, we had an indoor/outdoor cat who went through all of her nine lives. Her tail got run over by a car, thus, she had a wee stump, she was bit by a German Shepherd, and came home to us with her jaw hanging to the side, and she had about 3 litters. One winter, we couldn’t find her for a good week. It was a brutally cold winter. When she finally did come home, the tips of her ears were frost bitten and had fallen off.

When my sister got her (my sister was 9. She is now 47), she called her “Champagne”. Over the years, Champagne took on a new name. “Ugy” (Ugly) was the name because she looked like a rough, old feline. We loved her to bits, though.

She brought us many mouse bodies (she ate the head :)), and left us a lovely pile of bird feathers at the back door numerous times.

She lived to the ripe old age of 17. That’s around 110 in cat years, doncha know. :)

I agree, keep an eye on his/her weight. If /heshe isn’t eating/drinking water and has trouble getting around, off to the vet.

My cat is about 18 years old (I took him off the streets three years ago but found his original human so I know his age) He was almost dead when I found him. Now he is stable and strong. He has some health issues but is not deteriorating at all.

I had two cats, littermates, who lived to 16.

How long your cat is going to live is determined by genetics, how she has been kept up (nutrition, vet visits, etc), any illnesses in her past, and if she is an indoor cat. Indoor cats just plain live longer.

mine lived well past 20.

Most of my cats have lived to be 16, 17 or 18 years old. One lived to be 21, and my grandmother’s Siamese made it to 27 bet he was pretty creaky by then.

If your cat gets a good-quality food, isn’t too, fat, gets checkups yearly at the vet, has good genes, and lives exclusively indoors, odds are your cat will live another 9 years. I wouldn’t worry yet, unless you see signs that she isn’t well. That is hard to do because cats hide illness very successfully.

i worried about this same thing when my cats were around 8 & 9 (i had a chocolate lab growing up and we had to put her to sleep when she was 8&½ – so naturally, i worried when they reached that age). Kitties are both now 11 and so awesome… people keep saying (like they have here) that cats live forever. But just so you feel better, i spent time talking to a therapist about this a few years ago…. you’re not alone in your worries.

The two main things which you can do are:

Yearly checkups at the vet. Shoul also include blood tests. This will hopefully detect most diseases before they get out of hand. In addition to the yearly visits, prompt attention to any other symptoms with a vet visit. This is especially important for senior cats.

Secondly, statistically speaking, indoor-only cats have twice the lifespan of those who are allowed outdoors. Yes there are some outdoor cats who defy the odds and live longer, but that’s due mostly to luck.

My last cat lived to be 18 yrs. and only had to be put to sleep due to a tumor UNDER her tongue. The vet would have had to amputate her tongue otherwise and I just couldn’t imagine doing that to her so I told him to just let her go. Bit she was happy and healthy and playful right up until the week before the end when she couldn’t eat.

But I did have another cat who died at 11 yrs. due to a genetic heart defect for which there was no treatment.

But with good genetics and regular vet care, your cat should be around for many more happy years.

I have a cat who will 21 years old in three weeks and she is still feisty. With any luck at all I’ll have her for at least another 10 years. Fingers crossed.

Feed her a quality food, help her maintain a healthy weight, get regular preventative health care, and make sure she’s an indoor cat. That’s about it.

My last cat lived to be almost 18 the cat before her lived to be 22. I have 2 now that are 10 years old and act like kittens. They need good quality food, exercise and to remain indoors. I did find with the last cat I lost that had I taken better care of her teeth, chances are I would not have lost her as quickly. Cleaning cats teeth was not a popular thing until the last few years. You need to learn how to do it because once they get an infection in the mouth due to a bad tooth it can be downhill very quickly. Do a Google search for a video on “cleaning a cats teeth” and you will find excellent instructions. Good luck. You have a lot of time to enjoy her.

Also if the cat loses his/her teeth you have to be sure s/he has proper food that s/he can eat. Not being able to eat due to tooth pain/tooth loss will adversely affect their nutrition. And, even if your cat is almost toothless like mine (he only had some 6–7 left when I found him) you still need to have remaining teeth checked and cleaned.

My vet checks my cat’s remaining teeth with every visit, giving his gums a good looking over.

Milo here; I will clearly outlive Gail. Line forms to the left for those wishing to adopt me.

http://www.findyourfate.com/deathmeter/deathmtr.html

It will tell you all you need to know.

@Milo I could just be the one to help you rid yourself of that terrible attitude. I have done it before and I can do it again.

My oldest cat is 9 and she has a heart problem and sinus issues. Her cardiac specialist is surprised she’s alive. She is still a frisky kitten, much more so than all of my younger cats. I attribute it to being an indoor cat and a good diet. Keep kitty’s weight down, stimulate her mind and make sure she gets exercise.

Consider her about 40 in people years. She’s got a lot of life left in her.

Thank you guys so much!! My cat is infact an indoor cat! (= That made me feel a lot better! thanks!

But one thing, she is a little over weight.. about 13 pounds. Is that a problem? Before, since i have two cats, I got an automatic cat feeder so they had unlimited food, now that I see they are gaining weight, I’m limiting it and giving them food twice a day. Was that the right thing to do?

My cat is 18 and going strong. She’s a little stiff and has trouble retracting her claws, but still healthy.

Twice a day feeding is a good idea if your cats cannot self regulate their food intake.

Whether or not that weight is problematic depends on a few things.

If she is a cat with a large frame (similar to Maine Coone cats) or a much slimmer frame ( such as Siamese or other Asian cats), this will determine how much weight is proportional.

Secondly, if you can’t easily feel her ribs, she’s a little too chunky.

Third, look at her from above (like if she is standing normally and you are looking down at her back). If you can’t see a little bit of indent for a waistline, she’s too chunky.

Also, if on side profile her tummy hangs down or almost dragging on floor, that’s too much. Also if she’s so fat she has difficulty grooming herself, that’s WAY too much :)

My last cat Velvet was packing a bit too much weight , but not horrendously so. She was such a foodaholic, more so than any other cat I’ve ever had, that I just didn’t have the heart to limit her food.

She would even get anxious and start meowing if the level in the food bowl was down to only 1/8 inch but not yet empty.

But they said she had been picked up as a stray when I adopted her from the ASPCA so I’m assuming she had a rough time of it on the mean streets of Philly. She had zero interest in ever trying to get out the door even. So I figure her time on the street was pretty traumatizing and full of deprivation. Food meant security to her.

But all in all, she was a very large framed cat and you could tell by her shoulder bones. So she was probably no more than 3–4 pounds overweight. She was about 14 pounds all of her eighteen years and still frisky and playful and chasing her own tail. She may have been a little on the chunky side but she was happy.

But if your kitty is ok with twice a day feedings, she’s better off. Do as I say, not as I did. Ha ha.

It’s also good yours is an indoor kitty. You should expect many more happy years with her.

We’re had two kitties that made it to 19. So you may have a good long time left. It’s a good thing to have an indoors-only kitty, too, if that’s possible for you.

My cat back home is 20 (actually older than my g/f by a few months).

My grandparents had 3–4 cats that lived into their early-mid 20’s (the oldest 24).

My cat came close to death of what I thought was “old age” about 8 years ago when she was 12 years old. She coughed and hacked a lot, and eventually it got so bad the vet decided to experimentally give her antibiotics for 3 months straight. Just as a last ditch effort. Well, that worked, and she’s now 20 years old and very healthy for her age, and I thought we were close 8 years ago, and now we share an understanding I never knew was really possible with animals. She’s still mysterious though, being a cat.

Never take any moment with your cat for granted. She’ll probably live another 16 years… but each moment should be noticed.

One of the ways to help you deal with an overweight cat is to make sure it gets some exercise. Play with it and let it run, get a scratching pole it can climb. Those activities will also help to keep it young and in shape. I guess I should rephrase that and say that this activity is good for any cats, not only overweight. Feeding twice a day is ideal in my opinion.