It is impossible to stay on Earth for several hundred years, unless, of course, you are a turtle. Unfortunately, cats, like people, are deprived of the opportunity to live for several centuries. It is unlikely that many cats will cross even the ten-year threshold.
As soon as a kitten is born, time begins its inexorable run for it. If a baby was born in a comfortable home environment, then his life will compare favorably with the living conditions of his street brothers. All conditions for a long and contented life have been created for domestic cats: good nutrition, a warm and comfortable place in the house, care from the owner and a visit to the veterinarian.
Street existence is dangerous: cat fights for a place in the sun, the struggle for survival, especially in the winter, competition for places where food can be obtained. Female street cats suffer from uncontrolled pregnancies, which wear out the body and often cause complications. Add to this intestinal parasites, fleas and cruel people who can seriously harm the animal. Such constant stress factors do not contribute to long life.
A domestic cat lives on average 12-15 years , while a street cat lives much less. Let's find out how many years street cats live, which breeds are long-lived, and how to care for your pet to prolong its life.
What does life expectancy depend on?
For a number of reasons, neutered cats live longer than their unneutered counterparts. This is explained by the fact that castrated animals are calmer and more peaceful, do not participate in fights, and do not run away from home over long distances. They have no chance of becoming infected through sexual contact. These are all positive aspects of castration, but there are also negative ones.
In such pets (both males and females), hormonal levels are disrupted, which can lead to obesity in the future. To avoid these problems, you need to feed your animals a balanced diet designed specifically for their needs. It contains all the necessary microelements and beneficial substances that saturate the body and promote fat burning. You also need to monitor the amount of food you eat: overfeeding can lead to bad consequences. The most suitable foods are those that contain the following ingredients:
- birch leaves;
- bean pods;
- green tea;
- plantain;
- oregano;
- herbal extracts.
Due to the fact that it is difficult to remove salts from the body of castrated animals, these salts begin to actively accumulate. This can result in diseases such as urological syndrome or urolithiasis, which become a challenge for pets and their owners. Your kitten should be introduced to healthy food from an early age.
To find out how long a castrated cat lives at home, you need to pay attention to his lifestyle. Cats can independently determine how much food they need to regain their energy, so you should not overfeed them.
Important rules for castration
Optimal age
The optimal age for castration is up to one year. Puberty begins at 7 months and ends at 10 months. Why is it not advisable to perform this operation on cats older than one year?
Undesirable age
When the process of puberty is completed, hormones begin to be produced not only in the testicles, but also in the pituitary gland. Therefore, after surgery, cats older than one year continue to produce hormones and behave the same way as non-sterilized cats.
Owners should consider whether to castrate a cat older than 2 years.
15% of adult cats do not change their behavior even after surgery.
The operation cannot be performed before 7 months.
Cats have a very thin ureter. During surgery, inflammation or stricture of the urethra almost always occurs. Adhesions are formed and, as a result, the ureter is blocked, which can lead to the death of the animal.
It is not customary to castrate cats over 7 years old.
At this age, there is a high risk of complications after surgery. Cats do not tolerate anesthesia well, it is very difficult to recover from this state, the postoperative period is prolonged and accompanied by complications. Older cats often die prematurely after castration.
It is very important that the cat does not participate in breeding before the operation. They remember these sensations, and after castration they behave like ordinary cats. They scream at night, demand a female, rush outside and mark their territory.
Does lifespan depend on breed?
Different cat breeds have different life expectancies. This is due to the genetic characteristics of a particular breed.
British cats are naturally endowed with good health, strong immunity, and a powerful body. They eat little. Veterinarians do not recommend training these animals to eat large amounts of food. These cats can live up to 15 years, and castrated individuals - up to 16-17.
Persian cats are also long-lived: with proper care, neutered pets can live up to 18 years.
The life of outbred cats after the castration procedure can last 1-1.5 years.
The attentive attitude of owners to the health of their pets, proper nutrition, timely seeking veterinary help - all these aspects affect how long cat breeds can live at home.
Sterilized British
The life expectancy of British breed cats is, on average, 14 years. But there was a case when a cat lived to be 30. Of course, not everyone lives to this age, for which there are a number of reasons:
- Food quality;
- Genetic predispositions;
- Various diseases;
- Place of residence;
- Stress.
Yes, nature has blessed the British with good immunity, but no one is immune from transmitted diseases.
But if they are released outside into extreme conditions, they can live only 5 years. This is affected by changes in diet, infections, injuries and stress.
The boundless love and excessive care of the guardian can negatively affect the health of furry animals. Everyone is trying to feed all sorts of goodies to the limit. It is worth remembering that because of this, pathologies, illness and a decline in immunity can develop.
A British neutered cat lives less than a fertile male cat. In this case, each person decides for himself whether to undergo surgery or not.
{amp}gt;Life expectancy of castrated and unsterilized cats
Is it necessary to neuter your beloved pet?
To understand whether it is necessary to castrate a pet, you should carefully weigh all the pros and cons of this procedure and its consequences.
So, among the advantages of castration we can highlight the following:
- Balanced behavior.
- Lack of desire for sexual intercourse.
- Life cycle extension.
- Attachment to the owners.
- Lack of desire to leave home.
- The animal does not “mark” its territory and does not make piercing and lingering sounds.
- Metabolism slows down and the amount of food consumed decreases.
- The risk of malignant tumors, prostate diseases, and urolithiasis is reduced.
- No injuries in the fight for the female.
- The likelihood of the occurrence of sexually transmitted and infectious diseases is reduced.
The disadvantages include the danger of such an operation in adulthood due to intolerance to anesthesia by many mature individuals. However, in most cases, surgery is not life-threatening for the cat.
After weighing the pros and cons, every pet owner has the right to decide for himself whether to castrate his animal or not. After all, often cat owners do not have the opportunity or desire to let their “wards” outside, and the risk of contracting various infections after such “walks” is high. Therefore, most often the decision is made in favor of the castration procedure.
Vaccination
Siberians, like other animals, need vaccination, deworming and other preventive procedures.
The first vaccinations for cats are given at an early age. Pets are usually vaccinated against the following diseases:
- feline leukemia;
- plague;
- panleukopenia;
- viral rhinotracheitis;
- infectious peritonitis.
All of the above vaccines are given to absolutely all kittens, which does not depend on their breed.
Experts recommend focusing on those vaccines that are imported. Their quality has been tested for decades, and cats usually tolerate them much better.
Important: when is the best time to get the first vaccination? This is a rather complicated question. Even doctors often contradict each other on this issue. The golden mean is still considered to be 2-3 months of age. Revaccination is carried out after 3 weeks.
Information about your pet's vaccination must be included in the veterinary passport. Do not forget that vaccination is required only when the kitten is completely healthy, alert and pre-wormed (about 10-14 days before vaccination).
Life of a cat after surgery
After surgery, animals require increased attention and care and adherence to a strict diet.
Neutered cats urinate less frequently. As a result, they may develop urolithiasis. To minimize the risk of this disease, you should feed your pets with special food sold in pet stores.
The cat's behavior may change: he becomes lazy and inactive. Without feeling sexual desire, he may begin to eat large amounts of food and gain extra pounds of weight, which will negatively affect his health.
The operation is stressful for the animal. After the castration procedure, his temperature may rise. The risk of various diseases, including diabetes, increases.
The positive thing is that the life expectancy of a castrato increases by 1-2 years.
Standards
The characteristic features of the Siberian cat include not only its habits. The description assumes the presence of characteristics of behavior and appearance.
To be sure to distinguish a Siberian from another, fluffy cat, you should confidently navigate the standards of this breed:
| Weight | Ranges from 6 to 12 kg |
| Body | Muscular and heavy. The animal has a wide and dense neck. The paws are well developed, with wool tassels between the toes. |
| Head | Short, wide, with low-set cheekbones. The muzzle and chin are rounded, the forehead is convex. The contours are smooth and harmonious, gradually turning into profile. |
| Ears | They are of medium size. The tips are slightly rounded, wide at the base. |
| Wool | Thick, soft, shiny with dense undercoat. The tail is fluffy, rounded at the tip. Particularly thick hair is found on the neck, chest, hind legs and tail. The most common coat colors: red, black, blue, forest. |
| Eyes | Wide, big. Set wide apart. Eye color can be very diverse, but it must be in harmony with the color of the coat. |
How long do castrated cats live?
For comparison, the lifespan of a cat at home is often 2 times longer than the lifespan of stray individuals. This is due to the fact that in its natural environment an animal faces many negative factors that affect its life expectancy. These include poor and irregular nutrition, hypothermia, stress, struggle for survival, etc. Keeping them at home prolongs the life of the animal, as the owners take care of its health and well-being.
Neutered cats live longer than unneutered ones. The average life expectancy of a street cat is 7 years, a domestic (uncastrated) cat is 12-16 years, and a neutered cat is 16-18 years. There were individuals who lived up to 20 years. And this is not the limit. There was a recorded case where a Siamese pet lived to be 30 years old. But this is very rare.
Sterilizing a cat is very expensive
The question of the cost of the operation arises most often when the kitten itself was received for free. Sometimes finances are really limited - for example, among pensioners. Castration of a cat is 2-3 times more expensive than a cat. This is due to the need for consumables (absorbable threads, blankets, etc.) and a more complex surgical technique.
But in fact, many clinics hold promotions for castration and sterilization. The worldwide Spay Day is very famous - on the last Tuesday of February, in many clinics you can sterilize a cat at a minimal price. Often, the clinic can arrange payment in installments, paying the amount over several months. And in general, prices for sterilization remain acceptable: the operation is technically simple and takes little time, doctors are willing to undertake it. The calculation is simple: after successful sterilization of a young animal, the owners will continue to use the clinic’s services.
Sterilization is a once-in-a-lifetime process, but hormonal medications (even the cheapest ones) must be purchased constantly, and then pay exorbitant prices for the operation of a sick cat.
Sterilization of cats is an absolutely humane measure that will benefit your pet and help keep the situation with homeless animals in the country under control. Young cats survive the operation painlessly and delight the owner with their company for many years to come. Many people do not sterilize their animals in case they want to have kittens. But it is better to make a decision about whether there will be offspring in advance, while the pet is still a kitten.
Why do they do this?
For breeders involved in breeding feline breeds, the issue of castration of animals is not relevant. The main goal for them is to obtain healthy offspring from elite specimens.
For other cat owners, castration is a solution to many problems, the main one of which is the adjustment of the animal’s behavior, which changes with the onset of puberty. Puberty of cats of different breeds occurs at different periods, it depends on individual characteristics. The average time of the first sexual heat is from 7 to 9 months of life. At this age, males become ready to continue their race.
Why do cats need castration? The answer is simple: nature created the cat family to live in the wild. The instinct of reproduction is inherent in every biological species to maintain population size. Protecting people has eliminated most of the dangers facing animals in their natural habitats. As a result, the need for intensive procreation also disappeared. It is obvious that a verbal suggestion not to reproduce will not enlighten our smaller brothers. Therefore, a person must make a decision for them. The only way out is to artificially stop the possibility of procreation, which is castration of the cat.
Changes in behavior
At the onset of puberty, sex hormones begin to have a significant influence on the cat’s behavior. The reproductive instinct awakens. This manifests itself in the following:
- Unreasonable aggression towards people and other pets. It is expressed in the fact that the cat rushes at its potential enemy, scratches, bites;
- apathy that follows outbursts of aggressive behavior;
- loud meowing, more like a roar, often at night. This indicates nervous overexcitation;
- the desire to mark its habitat with urine. During this period, the discharge acquires a particularly unpleasant, persistent odor. With the help of marks, the cat makes it clear to its rivals that this is its territory and attracts females for mating;
- manifestation of dominant behavior by scratching furniture and other interior items;
- refusal to eat. The result is weight loss and hair loss.
The harsh truth of life
As a rule, at the age of 3-5 years, sometimes later, chronic diseases begin to manifest themselves. For example, urolithiasis, which in the early stages is easily treated with diet. At a later stage, it requires painful catheterization of the bladder (sometimes surgery), without which death is possible.
There are undoubtedly cats who live 20 years and have never seen a veterinarian, but this is rare.
Timely vaccinations, preventive examinations and tests will not take much time from the owner, but they can detect diseases of furry pets at the initial stage and, often, it is quite easy to correct the situation. After minor intervention, healthy mustachioed friends live not only long, but also happily.
Going to the laboratory
Usually, for a young animal, the above will be enough, but if there are any complaints about the cat’s condition or he is in adulthood, then it is better to get tested:
- Important information is provided by a biochemical blood test. If your pet has a poor appetite and its coat looks dull, it will not be out of place. The analysis allows you to identify diseases of the pancreas, liver and kidneys.
- General blood analysis.
- General urine analysis.
Another important point: the time of castration of a cat is good to coincide with preventive vaccinations. They are placed at the age of 10 months - 1 year and are a repetition of those that have already been done at one month of age. Done 2-3 weeks before surgery, they will help protect the animal’s body from infections.
