For domestic cats, improvements in veterinary medicine and care by owners have helped extend life expectancy well into the teen years, sometimes into the 20s. But cats age quickly in terms of human years. By the time they are 6 months old, they are the human equivalent of 10. Although cat-to-human age comparisons can vary, after the age of 2, cats take on about four human years for every cat year. An 11-year-old cat is the approximate equivalent of a 60-year-old human, right down to the onset of aches and pains, health problems, declining fertility and weight gain or loss. But in terms of changes in diet and health care, cats are considered "senior" at about 8 years of age, equivalent to middle age in humans. Unless they live in zoos, where they receive regular veterinary care and a good diet, wild cats rarely live more than 10 years. Malnutrition, parasites and a host of other factors serve to shorten their decidedly harsher lives.

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