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2006-Apr-07, Friday 21:43I gave all my cats the CatAge Test The test factors in things like environment, general health, foods, habits, activity, personality and so on.
Lady Galadriel Starfire is 29.2. She's 13.2 years younger than most cats her age and breed. The only mark against her for aging is that she hasn't had a vet check up for a while. She's 7 years old in earth years... which is an age at which most cats start to slow down, but she's still very active and very social. She gained a little weight over the summer last year, and started getting a little lazy, so I stopped free feeding them. She slimmed right back down now that she can't just sit and eat all night, and with the weight loss her activity level has returned to normal. This cat does not behave like the 42.4 year old woman she's expected to be. ^_^
Legolas the Elf Kitty is 56.0. He's 12.7 years younger than most cats his breed and his age. I marked Lego as Siamese, even though he is only HALF Siamese, because he has a lot of the markers for his mother's breed even if he doesn't have the fawn and brown coloring. (Lego btw is only two years younger than the old man Frodo, but he looks nowhere NEAR Frodo's age, and this test shows it in numbers. In fact, I marked that Lego has lost a tooth recently, and if he hadn't lost that tooth--a tiny front one--he'd only be 54.4.)
Frodo is the equivalent of an 83.9 year old man. That's pretty old. That's 9 years older than most cats his breed and age. (in Earth years he's 2 years older than Legolas but some of his lifelong problems--like anxiety--age him. Frodo also has significant tooth loss now. he lost a lower incisor when he was only 2 years old and over the years has slowly lost the rest of the lowers, and now without the lowers to support the uppers, the upper incisors are coming out too.)
My roommate's Cat Saruman the White we can't really do because he came to use more or less full grown. However, since he has gotten even bigger since he came to us, I'm pretty sure that he's only about a year old, which would mean he's about 16 right now. hahaha.
I'm glad to know that by and large CatAge feels that I'm doing an exemplary job, because I monitor what they eat and how much and so on, and they are mostly happy and healthy (2 out of 3 healthy, and Frodo is at least happy) the younger ones are all active and energetic... you can't expect too many 83 year old men to be all that energetic.
Now what made me take this test is that Frodo hasn't been so well recently. He's doing better now, but I'm still concerned about him. Knowing as I already did that for a cat he's really a very old man. Cat's CAN live to be 30, and some have lived longer than that. Our long time vet had an old Maine Coon that lived to be 33 which is nearly a world record. According to Cat World, the oldest was a cat named Creme Puff from Austin TX who was 38 in 2005... at that time the cat was still living, but no word as to whether it is now. It makes me feel a little better about Frodo knowing that the average expected age is between 9 and 15 years, and he's 15... Lego is 13, and shows no signs of being done at 15 as Frodo seems. My main concern now with Frodo is his lack of appetite. I changed him from dry to wet food because of his dental problems, but the sudden change has upset his digestion, so now he's disinclined to eat more than a bite or two... but at least he'll still eat a little and drink water. The bad thing is that if I feed Frodo out with the other cats, Star will come and demand that he get in his usual place in line (3rd) to eat and let her eat first... but the wet food is not FOR her... so even if I feed the rest their dry food, and then take Frodo into another room to feed HIM, withing a short while, she will follow her nose and stand outside the door where he can smell her and as soon as she is there he will stop eating and won't touch another bite. Damn it! I've tried putting her into a different room while he is in my room eating, where she can't stand out there and intimidate him like that.. .but once he's been 'told' that's it. He won't eat until she says he can, or until next time I feed him he'll take a few little bites. I know that his activity level doesn't require MUCH, and that his insides are distressed at the change in diet, but I do wish he'd eat just a bit more. Still.. not to sound resigned or anything... but he is very old, and I'm most inclined to give him his dignity and not force things on him that he doesn't want in his declining days or weeks or years... which ever comes first. I thought that I'd lost him already once, and he reappeared as a Zombie Kitty 3 months later... so having had that extra bit of time with him, I'm more willing to let him go quietly as he wants to... If he seems to be in pain though, then I'll have to find a way to scrape enough together to end his misery at the very least.
The situation has made me more aware of really how few programs are available to help people who fall on hard times to get vet care for their pets. I knew this already, because I have one friend who was an officer for many years until quite recently at one local county Animal Shelter (oh boy the stories she could tell... heh) another who volunteered for quite some time in the shelter another local county... and another who had her life made a living hell (rather than getting needed help with a problem) by the director of a county shelter also local to us. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a charity clinic. "Low cost" spays and neuters advertised by the local sicsa and similar organizations actually often cost MORE than some vets charge... imagine that! and are extremely limited. I've learned that there are some places (not near here I guarantee you) who will neuter a cat for FREE, if you are bringing in a stray with the intent of neutering and releasing him... just because even if he remains homeless at least if he is neutered he isn't increasing the population. All my pets are neutered. Len's is not yet... but thankfully he doesn't have any bad habits, and does not appear to be done growing either.
Well anyway, enough of that. I've got a movie to watch... need to do my city taxes, and fill a a form for the lawyer.
Lady Galadriel Starfire is 29.2. She's 13.2 years younger than most cats her age and breed. The only mark against her for aging is that she hasn't had a vet check up for a while. She's 7 years old in earth years... which is an age at which most cats start to slow down, but she's still very active and very social. She gained a little weight over the summer last year, and started getting a little lazy, so I stopped free feeding them. She slimmed right back down now that she can't just sit and eat all night, and with the weight loss her activity level has returned to normal. This cat does not behave like the 42.4 year old woman she's expected to be. ^_^
Legolas the Elf Kitty is 56.0. He's 12.7 years younger than most cats his breed and his age. I marked Lego as Siamese, even though he is only HALF Siamese, because he has a lot of the markers for his mother's breed even if he doesn't have the fawn and brown coloring. (Lego btw is only two years younger than the old man Frodo, but he looks nowhere NEAR Frodo's age, and this test shows it in numbers. In fact, I marked that Lego has lost a tooth recently, and if he hadn't lost that tooth--a tiny front one--he'd only be 54.4.)
Frodo is the equivalent of an 83.9 year old man. That's pretty old. That's 9 years older than most cats his breed and age. (in Earth years he's 2 years older than Legolas but some of his lifelong problems--like anxiety--age him. Frodo also has significant tooth loss now. he lost a lower incisor when he was only 2 years old and over the years has slowly lost the rest of the lowers, and now without the lowers to support the uppers, the upper incisors are coming out too.)
My roommate's Cat Saruman the White we can't really do because he came to use more or less full grown. However, since he has gotten even bigger since he came to us, I'm pretty sure that he's only about a year old, which would mean he's about 16 right now. hahaha.
I'm glad to know that by and large CatAge feels that I'm doing an exemplary job, because I monitor what they eat and how much and so on, and they are mostly happy and healthy (2 out of 3 healthy, and Frodo is at least happy) the younger ones are all active and energetic... you can't expect too many 83 year old men to be all that energetic.
Now what made me take this test is that Frodo hasn't been so well recently. He's doing better now, but I'm still concerned about him. Knowing as I already did that for a cat he's really a very old man. Cat's CAN live to be 30, and some have lived longer than that. Our long time vet had an old Maine Coon that lived to be 33 which is nearly a world record. According to Cat World, the oldest was a cat named Creme Puff from Austin TX who was 38 in 2005... at that time the cat was still living, but no word as to whether it is now. It makes me feel a little better about Frodo knowing that the average expected age is between 9 and 15 years, and he's 15... Lego is 13, and shows no signs of being done at 15 as Frodo seems. My main concern now with Frodo is his lack of appetite. I changed him from dry to wet food because of his dental problems, but the sudden change has upset his digestion, so now he's disinclined to eat more than a bite or two... but at least he'll still eat a little and drink water. The bad thing is that if I feed Frodo out with the other cats, Star will come and demand that he get in his usual place in line (3rd) to eat and let her eat first... but the wet food is not FOR her... so even if I feed the rest their dry food, and then take Frodo into another room to feed HIM, withing a short while, she will follow her nose and stand outside the door where he can smell her and as soon as she is there he will stop eating and won't touch another bite. Damn it! I've tried putting her into a different room while he is in my room eating, where she can't stand out there and intimidate him like that.. .but once he's been 'told' that's it. He won't eat until she says he can, or until next time I feed him he'll take a few little bites. I know that his activity level doesn't require MUCH, and that his insides are distressed at the change in diet, but I do wish he'd eat just a bit more. Still.. not to sound resigned or anything... but he is very old, and I'm most inclined to give him his dignity and not force things on him that he doesn't want in his declining days or weeks or years... which ever comes first. I thought that I'd lost him already once, and he reappeared as a Zombie Kitty 3 months later... so having had that extra bit of time with him, I'm more willing to let him go quietly as he wants to... If he seems to be in pain though, then I'll have to find a way to scrape enough together to end his misery at the very least.
The situation has made me more aware of really how few programs are available to help people who fall on hard times to get vet care for their pets. I knew this already, because I have one friend who was an officer for many years until quite recently at one local county Animal Shelter (oh boy the stories she could tell... heh) another who volunteered for quite some time in the shelter another local county... and another who had her life made a living hell (rather than getting needed help with a problem) by the director of a county shelter also local to us. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a charity clinic. "Low cost" spays and neuters advertised by the local sicsa and similar organizations actually often cost MORE than some vets charge... imagine that! and are extremely limited. I've learned that there are some places (not near here I guarantee you) who will neuter a cat for FREE, if you are bringing in a stray with the intent of neutering and releasing him... just because even if he remains homeless at least if he is neutered he isn't increasing the population. All my pets are neutered. Len's is not yet... but thankfully he doesn't have any bad habits, and does not appear to be done growing either.
Well anyway, enough of that. I've got a movie to watch... need to do my city taxes, and fill a a form for the lawyer.
