How to Determine Your Cat's Age

Your cats age may be a mystery to you if your new feline was adopted or rescued. You might have heard that one year for a cat is equivalent to seven years for a human but thats not entirely accurate. You can of course generally tell if your new feline is a kitten or an adult just by looking at it but that still leaves a lot of guesswork. The best way to determine a cats age is to consult a trusted veterinarian who can determine an approximate age of the cat by examining its teeth eyes fur and overall maturity.

Still be aware that your vet cannot pinpoint an exact age just provide an educated guess as to how old your cat is.
Here are a few ways vets can determine the age of your cat.
Teeth
A cats initial baby teeth first emerge between 2 to 4 weeks making teeth an excellent determination of age for kittens. Their permanent teeth are developing above the baby teeth and by the time the kitten is 3 to 4 months old the permanent teeth will start to displace the baby teeth also called deciduous teeth. Typically all of the adult teeth are in place by 6 months of age and the growth is no longer useful in determining a cats age.
In older cats the amount of staining or tartar on a cats teeth is also an indicator of age 1 However with pets teeth cleaning products readily available tartar may not be a good indicator depending on the diligence of the cats caregiver in providing a dental care program. Your veterinarian will also look for wearandtear on the teeth the older the cat the more its teeth tend to be worn down. However this is only a very loose guideline for determining feline age. Therefore while

teeth are a good indicator of a cat or kittens approximate age they are not foolproof.
Sexual Maturity
Although a cat adopted from an animal rescue or shelter is likely to have been spayed or neutered before you brought it home an intact cat can provide clues to its age based on its sexual maturity.
Male cats reach sexual maturity as early as 6 months. Signs of puberty include territorial spraying of urine as well as testicles that are more prominent. Youll see them with a glance at the cats rear end where the testicles are positioned below the anus.
Female cats will typically have their