Page 10 - Rescuecats E-Magazine September 2015_Neat

10 SEPTEMBER 2015 RESCUECATS E- MAGAZINE

WHEN WILL MY KITTEN BECOME A CAT?

AND WHEN DOES MY CAT STOP BEHAVING LIKE A KITTEN?

By Deb Rouse

Life stages for cats have been redefined recently by the International Cat
Care Organisation (formerly the Feline Advisory Board founded 1958).

Is redefining the life stages
based on cats now living longer
and in better health as is
happening to humans?

These stages are in consideration of Spice Velvet
the physical aging health of a cat,
rather than how it looks (they seldom
go grey) nor how it behaves. We used
to expect cats to live only to 12 years,
now I often indicate 15 years plus is
not that unusual – the oldest cat I
owned lived until 19, several friends
have cats 19 through 21 years old,
and a friend recently fostered a 24
year old male tabby.

And at the other end of the extreme, Missy Sugar
many people only consider a kitten
as a kitten when it is very small: 6 to
8 weeks. Once a kitten starts to grow,
and they grow quickly at 100gms or
more per week, then these young
ones become less desirable in some
people’s minds... and they may only
be 12 weeks old but perceived as
getting “big” and therefore not that
cuddly little kitten anymore – how
sad for those people and the kittens!

Unfortunately many people have a Winter with her babies
“rosie” vision of several small kittens Autumn, Spring & Summer
in a basket, when a kitten is super-
energetic through the first year of its For more details please contact DoggieRescue on 9486-3133
life and busy learning about life until it http://www.doggierescue.com/adoption_cat.htm
is around 2 years old. So very young-
at-heart while it has rapidly grown into
adult-size by 9 months of age, and
then continues to be young-at-heart
for another year or two.