Domestic cat benefits from being more social

The domestic cat is basically a solitary creature because they inherit their natural behaviours from their wildcat ancestor, the North African wildcat; a solitary wild animal. But domestic cats have adapted to life with humans and in doing so, as a by-product, become more sociable. I think it is fair to argue that the domestic cat is a sociable animal, almost diametrically opposed to their wildcat ancestor. Although, the domestic cat reverts to the wild not infrequently especially if allowed outside unsupervised. Instinctively the wildcat within emerges and they become a solitary animal.

The reason for this introduction is that "Being more social is associated with some tangible benefits." That's according to Professor Rob Salguero-Gomez, the lead author of a study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B which found that "more social species live longer". Animals that naturally form cooperative, organised groups enjoyed a boost in longevity, according to The Times newspaper's report.

Alternatively, animal species that are naturally solitary such as tigers, reptiles and some fish tended to live shorter lives and reproduce during brief windows according to the same report.

There are pluses and minuses, however. The benefits of living in a society i.e. sociably is a sharing of resources and being better protected from predators and having support to raise offspring. But the downside is the increased chance of contracting a contagious disease. However, overall, social species "live longer, postpone maturity and are more likely to reproduce successfully."

It is interesting for me that the domestic cat is almost both a social creature and a solitary one at the same time. In multi-cat homes, for example, the domestic cat is forced to become social and accept a much reduced home range and overlapping home ranges in the presence of domestic cats in very close proximity all the time. This can, however, lead to stresses which can lead to fights which can on the face of it reduce longevity as can of course as mentioned contract contagious diseases which are more likely to be present in multi-cat homes.

Humans living alone are living a solitary life but I don't think this automatically reduces longevity. If it causes depression then that may reduce lifespan.

The point of the article is that it is likely that the domestic cat's lifespan has increased as they become more sociable because they are cared for more intimately by humans and because, lately, there's been a steep rise in the number of full-time indoor cats. A modern trend. This, in homes where there is more than one, will force sociability upon the domestic cat.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

For LONGEVITY adopt a perfect weight crossbred, spayed female cat

I have been writing about cat longevity quite a lot recently. And I am writing this without reference to any notes; just from what I have read recently and remember. It'll be quite short! 😢😊 I read several studies about domestic cat life expectancy and longevity. Some of the data available is a little unbelievable or uncertain because, in one study, they referred to rescue cats from shelters and I suspect that on occasions they had to estimate the age of the cats. See: Data on lifespan of over 11 million cats and dogs (Banfield Hospitals USA).

But the studies I've read were based upon a very large number of cats and the information came from veterinary clinics and animal hospitals where the cats had died. These clinics had treated the cats beforehand and therefore they had a complete record.

Females live longer on average. Click on the image to see the original and to download it if you want to.

One consistent item of information running through the mass of data on domestic cat longevity is the fact that female cats live longer than male cats and that would apply to purebred cats and crossbred cats. However, it would apply less to purebred cats because these cats are normally kept indoors full-time whereas crossbreed (random-bred or moggy) cats are normally allowed outside in many countries where they are liable to have accidents and be injured or killed. This distorts data on life expectancy of crossbreed cats.

And it is one reason why, I suspect that male cats have shorter life expectancy than females. Another would be health issues perhaps predominantly concerning urinary tract diseases. Males are more adventurous than females and they patrol large home ranges. Young males are particularly vulnerable to accidents (RTAs primarily). This advice applies to females with a well-maintained, ideal weight and who is spayed (sterilized).

In a particularly good study on this topic, the researchers found that female cats tended to live to 12.5 years on average compared to males who made it to 11.2 years of age; more than the year extra for the females.

See my report on this study concerned males and females: Female domestic cats live longer than male domestic cats (big 2019 UK study).

You will notice that the average age of a male cat is 11.2 years. I've always thought that domestic cats in general live to about 14 or 15 years of age. The studies have forced me to adjust my expectation on cat age downwards.

Crossbred cats tended to live longer than purebreds with lifespans of 11.9 years and 10.4 years respectively. Once again the lifespans are shorter than I expected. I expected better but perhaps my expectations concern a well-looked after domestic cat in a nice home in which the caregiver is concerned about the health and welfare of their companion animal.

There are millions of domestic cats in less than good homes in both the UK and USA and other countries where their caregiving is less than optimal and where some end up in rescue centres and have lives which are far from ideal. All of these factors bear down on longevity sometime substantially.

But if longevity is an important factor to you and it should be as it reflects health then consider the words in the title to this article. 👍💕😊

And if you would like to read some more about domestic cat longevity there are a couple of links below which might interest you. One is about purebred cats and the Birman and Burmese being the longest-lived purebred cats. In fact, these two cat breeds live longer on average than non-purebred cats or crossbred cats according to this study which I have cited below together with a link so you can read a bit more about the topic if you wish.

• Sphynx cat breed has the shortest life expectancy of 6.68 years - the cause? HCM (heart disease)
• Burmese and Birman cats have the longest life expectancy of purebred cats (2024) - the reason? Less serious inherited genetic diseases.

P.S. In a study "Mortality of Life-Insured Swedish Cats during 1999–2006: Age, Breed, Sex, and Diagnosis" there was no difference in mortality rates between male and female. The study mainly concerned purebred cats. "Sex-specific rates did not differ significantly".

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Data on lifespan of over 11 million cats and dogs (Banfield Hospitals USA)

The information from this enormous study from Banfield Pet hospitals in the USA regarding the life expectancy for dogs and cats derived from clinical data, is very surprising to me. I've produced a little table below which summarises the data. There are two rather odd findings.

Firstly, the lifespan of cats is shorter than that of dogs according to this study which doesn't make sense to me. I have always thought that in general cats have longer lifespans than dogs but comparisons are hard to make due to different lifestyles. 

And secondly the lifespan of ideal weight cats is shorter than the lifespan of obese cats which certainly does not make sense in any shape or form.

I produce it here because the information is on the Internet and you can make what you will of it.

The study itself produces some very fine detailed information which you can read about by clicking on this link if you wish.

The advantages of this study is that the data set comprised 8.9 million dogs and 2.4 million cats which is more than 10 fold greater than the dataset used to generate life expectancy tables for Japanese dogs for example.

As I say above, I can't trust this information despite the enormous amount of information collected from this hospital chain.

They admit to limitations and "a degree of uncertainty of pet age for dogs and cats required as rescued animals or adopted from animal shelters and the inherent limitations of body condition scoring." My guess is that the info is unreliable 😒😢🙄 But maybe I am being too gung ho in saying that.

That would imply that a lot of the cats and dogs were adopted from animal rescue centres and these animals had non-specific ages. I assume that their ages were estimated but I don't know.

I have a better study on another page, on another website which shows that the Birman and the Burmese are the two cat breeds with the best life expectancies of the purebred cats. In both these cat breeds did better than random bred cats in terms of life expectancy but once again I find that information questionable.

And once again I am presenting it here because it might interest people despite my doubts.

It would seem that the one certainty which has been found in other studies is that female dogs and cats live longer than male cats and dogs and this is evident in the table below. I have another page on that topic on another associated website.

Companion animal	Life expectancy
All dogs	12.69 years
Mixed-breed dogs	12.71
All cats	11.18
Mixed-breed cats	11.12
Female dogs	12.76
Male dogs	12.63
Female cats	11.68
Male cats	10.72
Obese dogs	11.71
Overweight dogs	13.14
Ideal weight dogs	13.18
Overweight cats	13.67
Obese cats	12.56
Ideal weight cats	12.18

Citation: Life expectancy tables for dogs and cats derived from clinical data.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1082102

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

New anti-ageing drug for dogs works on hormone IGF-1

An enterprising woman who dropped out of Oxford University started a bold and interesting company called Loyal in San Francisco five years ago with the intention of creating drugs which extend the lifespan of dogs and perhaps then leading to achieving the same result for cats and even humans which would be the Holy Grail of medicine.

New anti-ageing drug for dogs works on hormone IGF-1. Image: MikeB

She has successfully tweaked the attention of investors and raised US$120 million to grow her business and take it forward. Her name is Celine Halioua.

The science behind her project concerns a hormone called IGF-1; a hormone which drives cell growth and big dogs grow quickly because that high levels of it. The levels remain high into adulthood. In general big dogs have shorter lifespans.

Her theory is that the hormone also fuels accelerated ageing of large dogs after they achieve maturity. It is my understanding that her drug will curb the activity of this hormone and thereby extend life by up to 10% of the dog's life which for a dog with a lifespan of 10 years would be one year.

The cost of the owner would be around US$50 a month. This would equate to around six thousand dollars over the dog's life to extend it by 10%. There is a question mark over whether people would want to spend that kind of money bearing in mind the cost of living crisis today.

The US Food And Drug Administration have reasonable expectations that Loyal's therapy for large dogs will be effective and therefore she hopes to bring it to the market in 2026.

It is called LOY-001 at the moment.

It is the first attempt to do this. She has built on the work of Dr. Cynthia Kenyon, as I understand it, who showed that it is possible to double the life of nematode worms by altering only one gene in the 1990s.

And late last year I wrote about another scientist with the same objective but using different techniques which you can read about by clicking on the link below if you wish.

Anti-ageing drug rapamycin expected to extend the lives of dogs, humans (and cats!)

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Routine is important for both kids and cats

There is a similarity between kids and cats in one aspect of their desired lifestyle: routine. Cats love the reassurance of routine. They can sleep better. They have less anxiety. They enjoy life more. Life becomes more predictable. This is important because the wildcat is just below the surface of the domestic cat and they live in the human world. They are out of place in many ways despite almost 10,000 years of domestication.

And so routine is important to cats. I don't know of a study to support this but it is probably fair to say that cats who live a life of routines and rhythms live longer in general than those who live a disjointed and fragmented lifestyle with uncertainties.

Today, in The Times, there is a report on research carried out at Colorado State University in which they enrolled 94 children aged between five and nine from a wide range of economic backgrounds. They concluded that routine was "key to a healthy, wealthy and wise child". The underlying reason for this huge benefit was that they slept better.

The lead author of the study, Emily Merz, said: "Shorter sleep duration was significantly associated with reduced cortical thickness in frontal, temporal and parietal regions and smaller volume of the amygdala (a brain region key to emotion processing)."

I'm not saying that when cats have a life of routines and rhythms that they necessarily sleep better but they probably do because they will be less anxious. Because of the reassurances that routine and rhythms bring them, they are better able to sleep soundly.

I see a great similarity between kids and cats and interestingly we keep our cats as 'feline kids' because we look after them all the time and so emotionally and mentally they behave like kittens despite being adults. This is another similarity to the results of this study.

Children need dependable schedules as cats do. The best cat caregivers live a life of routines and rhythms themselves and their domestic cat companion fits in with them. Both parties are content with this lifestyle and relationship.

The routines of the children included whether they did the same thing each morning when they woke and whether their parents had a regular playtime after coming home from work. And further whether the parents read or told stories to their children regularly and whether the children went to bed at the same time and so on and so forth.

Routine is good particularly for the more vulnerable of us and the more timid or anxious of us. I would argue that domestic cats are inherently going to be a little anxious because, as mentioned, they live in the human world, a land of giants and of human activities which are essentially alien to them. I believe that cat caregivers need to be aware of this and do all they can to reassure their cat companions.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Average lifespan of domestic cats is about four times longer than the French bulldog's

Let's say the average lifespan of a domestic cat is around 18 years, perhaps a bit less at 16 years. A recent study by a veterinarian which looked at a sample of over 30,000 dogs who died between January 1, 2016 and July 31, 2020 from 18 different breeds and crossbreeds in the UK produced some astonishing results but there may be some distortion because of Covid-19.

French bulldog. Image by Mylene2401 from Pixabay.

French bulldog

The most astonishing finding was that the average lifespan of the French Bulldog in the UK is 4.53 years. As I say in the title this is about a quarter (25%) of the lifespan of a domestic cat. I think this distortion might come about because during Covid-19 when a lot of people adopted French bulldogs and they were imported from continental Europe. They were bred at puppy mills; disreputable establishments where the animals were bred very badly and their health was often unacceptable. I don't know the details but there was a lot of talk about the problem.

The actual sample size of the French bulldog was 232 which is quite small but not bad. And Ben the Vet on TikTok comments about this. He says that the average lifespan might be skewered by a large number of the French bulldogs dying at a young age for example after a slipped disc.

Flat-faced, extreme-bred dogs with very short lifespans

Nonetheless, these were real cases in real veterinary clinics and they are a true average of that sample at that time and in that place. And it's appalling. And I don't think the distortion is that bad because the average lifespan of the English bulldog was found to be 7.39 years, for the American bulldog it was 7.79 years for the Pug it was 7.65 years.

These are brachycephalic dog breeds with round heads and flat faces. They are bred to extreme as we say in the business and when you engage in extreme selective breeding you do tend to create health problems which can shorten life spans due in inbreeding and distortions of the anatomy.

Overall average

And also, somewhat worryingly, the overall average age of these 30,000 dogs was a measly 11.2 years. To me, that seems like a very short lifespan. It is certainly considerably shorter than the lifespan of the average domestic cat in the UK. I don't have a study on that but it must be around, as mentioned, 16+ years perhaps as much as 18 years.

Longest-lived

The longest living dog breed is the Jack Russell terrier at 12.7 years. The Yorkshire terrier's average lifespan is 12.5 years. For the border collie it is 12.1 years and for the springer spaniel it is 11.9 years. The average mongrel a.k.a. cross breed is 11.8 years.

Full list

The full list is below.

• Jack Russell terrier - 12.72 years
• Yorkshire terrier - 12.54 years
• Border collie - 12.10 years
• Springer spaniel - 11.92 years
• Crossbred - 11.82 years
• Labrador retriever - 11.77 years
• Staffordshire bull terrier - 11.33 years
• Cocker spaniel - 11.31 years
• Shih-tzu - 11.05 years
• Cavalier King Charles spaniel - 10.45 years
• German shepherd dog - 10.16 years
• Boxer - 10.04 years
• Beagle - 9.85 years
• Husky - 9.53 years
• Chihuahua - 7.91 years
• American bulldog - 7.79 years
• Pug - 7.65 years
• English bulldog - 7.39 years
• French bulldog - 4.53 years

Dr Dan O'Neil, associate professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College, and co-author of the paper, said: "Dogs have helped so many humans get through loneliness and isolation of the COVID pandemic.

For how long do Iberian lynx live?

The excellent book Wild Cats of the World states this about the Iberian lynx lifespan: "There is little information on the longevity of Iberian lynx, although one skull in the collection of the Estación Biológica de Doñana was estimated from counts of tooth annuli (annual rings, like those of a tree) to be 14 years old."

This Iberian lynx lives for 20 years, a record it is believed.

The book was published in 2002. The stated 14 years of age as a likely and normal maximum lifespan and probably still holds true today. Wikipedia state the average age as 13 years.

Occasionally, and very exceptionally Iberian lynx lifespans can be as long as 20 years as is the case of Aura, who is in the news today as giving birth to more than 900 Iberian lynxes according to the reports. Longevity as you can imagine is greatly enhanced in captivity. The bobcat (part of the same genus as the lynx) also has a long lifespan and is one of the longest lives wild cat species.

Aura was born when there were 94 Iberian lynxes remaining on the planet and it was the most endangered wild cat species. That was when conservation of the Iberian lynx wasn't really seriously on the radar but since then a lot of work has been done to protect this rarest of wild cat species and their numbers have grown.

Each Iberian lynx cost €169,000 to create

Back in the day few Iberian Lynx died of natural causes. About three quarters of all lynx mortality was attributable to human-related activities such as trapping, snaring, poisoning, poaching, shooting and such other countryside activities.

There was even illegal trapping in the above-mentioned national park. Things have changed. Aura was described as a grumpy, strong-willed Iberian lynx. Another reason for the then dire endangerment of this species was a loss of rabbits, the main prey of the Iberian lynx to haemorrhagic disease.

She lived the last part of her life in captivity I guess in order to protect her which may account at least in part for her longevity.

Iberian lynx – comprehensive treatise focusing on conservation 2022

If you like to read more about the Iberian lynx, then please click on the above link which takes you to a full page on the species.

Increasing the life of cats from 15 to 30 years - a cure for feline kidney disease

Professor Miyazaki believes that he might be able to double the expected lifespan of domestic cats to 30 years using a treatment he is working on.

Toru Miyazaki, 59, professor at the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Tokyo. Picture: the University.

His extensive research found a new protein in the blood of humans and animals. He calls it AIM which stands for "apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage". Yes, I know that doesn't help!

He says that feline kidney disease is caused by dead cells piling up in the urinary tract which blocks the passageway like a clogged drain. This leads to kidney damage.

He says that AIM acts as an agent to unclog the pipes. AIM "goes to the problem area through the blood and flags exactly where the waste is. AIM itself does not dissolve the problem cells; rather other cells like macrophages come along to eat them". Macrophages are cells which destroy harmful organisms. They are also described as a "type of white blood cell that eats and digests foreign material inside the body."

He wants to administer AIM to cats via a vaccine as a preventative medicine and perhaps in other ways (orally or in a capsule?). He's started clinical trials in 2020 (reported). He wants the treatment to become a commodity i.e. a useable product by 2022.

My cat died on CKD. Photo: MikeB

He's excited by the possibility of AIM extending the lives of cats dramatically. He's correct in saying that feline kidney disease is a mass killer, shortening the lives of domestic cats in huge numbers.

His work is reactive essentially. I hope that he is successful but what about researching the reason why feline kidney disease is so disastrously prevalent in the domestic cat population? Is it the food? It might be. Why do domestic cats die of kidney far more often than humans? We need to address that question with more vigour.

No one comes up with a satisfactory answer as to why domestic cats are so predisposed to kidney disease. The situation indicates an underlying but as yet unknown environmental reason. My best bet is the commercial foods that we feed them. It might be the dry foods which have gained in popularity tremendously over the past decades.

CKD affects 8+ percent of cats of 10 years old and older. One well-known vet, Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins believes that dry cat foods are the culprit and feeding high quality wet foods can help dramatically plus a powdered phosphorus binder. One cat, Georgia, did very well on "fluids, a phosphate binder and a commercial high-protein diet. Read her book Your Cat to find out more.

Cat owners should also wish the best of luck to the professor in his quest to increase the life of domestic cats from 15 to 30 years.

Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat both died of bacterial infections at a young age

Both Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat both died of bacterial infections at the age of 8 and 7 respectively. Both were dwarf cats. Lil Bub's infection was in her bones while Grumpy Cat's infection was in her bladder i.e. it was a urinary tract infection.

Lil Bub and Mike Bridavsky, her human guardian during most of her shortened life. Photo in public domain.

There were both chronic infections that could not be cured in the usual way with antibiotics. I don't want to say anything untoward or nasty because both these cats entertained millions of people. They made a lot of people happy and they made them smile. They therefore performed a service to humanity but they died very young with lifespans at least half of normal.

It is very unusual for a cat to die a bacterial infection at the age of 8, as happened for Lil Bub. It is impossible not to be drawn to the conclusion that the inherited genetic mutations which made them both money spinning celebrities through their unusual appearance, also killed them. 

I would speculate quite confidently that if they had not suffered from dwarfism in the case of Grumpy Cat and Dwarfism in conjunction with osteopetrosis in the case of Lil Bub, they would not have died for these reasons. 

Osteopetrosis is a bone disease which causes dense bone which fills the centre of the bone where there should be bone marrow. There are other effects too cats with this inherited condition which cause cats to be prone to chronic bacterial bone infections.

Grumpy Cat and Rafi Fine at the 2014 VidCon at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Photo: Gage Skidmore on Wikipedia.

Dwarfism in felines can have associated conditions which I discuss on another page. If people are interested in why these celebrity cats died at such a young age we have to speculate because their owners have been reticent in disclosing in any detail regarding the cause of death. 

In respect of Lil Bub, it seems clear to me that the inherited medical conditions due to genetic mutations ultimately caused her premature death. In respect of Grumpy Cat, the same conclusion, I feel, needs to be drawn. It is likely that she became resistant to antibiotic treatment for a chronic bladder infection and so the infection killed her.

If I'm anywhere near right on this then it does call into question whether people should put on a pedestal and monetise domestic cats who are sadly born with inherited genetic conditions which make them look cute but also which makes them vulnerable disease and a shortened lifespan.

I discuss in a bit more detail the cause of death for both these cats which you can access by clicking here for Lil Bub and here for Grumpy Cat.

Feral vs Indoor Cat Lifespan

I have seen a lot of variation in the estimated lifespan of feral cats compared to indoor cats. In general people say that about 3-5 years is the lifespan of a feral cat and 14 years is the average lifespan of a domestic (not specifying whether the cat is a full-time indoor cat or not).

The truth is no one has been analysing cat lifespans. These are estimates or to be more generous "guesstimates" based on a reasonably assessment.

Another point to make is that a full-time indoor cat might not, on average, live longer than an indoor/outdoor cat.

ASPCA says that the average lifespan of an indoor cat is 13-17 years with some living to 20 plus but that is not an average is it? That is a very generous spread based on informed guesswork.

My late lady cat aged about 16 years of age at the time. I had just wiped her coat
which is why it looks a bit wet. She lived four more years.

Petco says that an indoor cat has an average lifespan of 12-20 years (even more of a spread and not an average in my view). They also say that outdoor cats (cats kept outdoors full-time I presume) live for 1-5 years. This is highly simplified. No one keeps a domestic cat full-time outdoors - well, very few people do. I suppose they are referring to feral cats but don't say that. This is neither scientific nor accurate information.

Wikipedia confidently state 12-15 years as an average "life expectancy of a cat". They must mean the domestic cat as opposed to the feral cat.

Wikipedia quote a study as assessing the feral cat lifespan at 4.7 years. The links to the study are broken so I could not read it.

Indoor cats need more play to make them active. People in general don't play enough with their cats. An indoor cat arguably is more likely to become obese and obesity is the cause of many serious illnesses which can be life threatening. Outdoor cats within a secure enclosure will get exercise safely. This is rare however. People aren't bothered to build decent enclosures to be honest.

We know that outdoor cats, meaning stray cats and feral cats, live shorter lives than well cared for domestic cats who live mostly inside the family home. We can probably rely on 14 years as being a reasonable guess at the domestic cat lifespan. I'd favour a bit longer say 15 years. Like people cats are living longer but also like people dementia is more commonplace. Are cats living too long sometimes?

Feral cats will be lucky to live beyond five years on average but many may live to a not dissimilar age as domestic cats if cared for by a feral colony carer i.e. a person who feeds and TNRs the cats as part of a program. Many feral cat carers provide winter housing as well as feeding. There are many factors so averages don't really help. It is about individual cats.