Cat age calculator

How old is your cat in human years?

Your cat's age in human years from the feline vets' age chart, with its life stage from kitten to senior.

Pet

Years

Months

Age in human years

32 years

At 4 years, your cat is about as old as a 32-year-old person.

Life stage

Stage now: Young adult
Next stage: Mature adult from 7 years
The old ×7 rule says: 28 years

Feline Veterinary Medical Association age chart; AAHA/AAFP Feline Life Stage Guidelines 2021

An estimate: every cat ages a little differently.

Cat years to human years

Cats grow up in two years, reaching about 24 human years, and then add about 4 human years for every cat year.

Cat's age in human years
Old ×7 rule

Cat years to human years
Cat's age	Human years	Old ×7 rule
1 year	15 years	7 years
2 years	24 years	14 years
3 years	28 years	21 years
4 years	32 years	28 years
5 years	36 years	35 years
6 years	40 years	42 years
7 years	44 years	49 years
8 years	48 years	56 years
9 years	52 years	63 years
10 years	56 years	70 years
11 years	60 years	77 years
12 years	64 years	84 years
13 years	68 years	91 years
14 years	72 years	98 years
15 years	76 years	105 years
16 years	80 years	112 years
17 years	84 years	119 years
18 years	88 years	126 years
19 years	92 years	133 years
20 years	96 years	140 years

Your cat's age in human years from the feline vets' age chart, with its life stage from kitten to senior.

How to use

Choose dog or cat.
Enter your pet's age in years and months. For a dog, pick its size too: small, medium or large.
Read the age in human years and the life stage. The chart shows the whole curve next to the old ×7 line.

Pet ages compared with human years

Pet age (years)	Dog	Cat
1	31	15
2	42	24
4	53	32
7	62	44
10	68	56
15	74	76

How it works

Dogs and cats don't age at a steady speed. They race through childhood in their first year or two and then slow down. That's why "one dog year is seven human years" goes wrong: it makes a 1-year-old dog seven, when by the science it is more like a young adult of about 31.

For dogs, the calculator uses a 2020 study from the University of California San Diego (Wang et al., Cell Systems). The team compared age-related changes in the DNA of 104 Labradors with those of people and found: human age = 16 × ln(dog age) + 31, where ln is the natural logarithm and the dog's age is in years. Example: a 4-year-old dog gives 16 × ln 4 + 31 = 16 × 1.386 + 31 ≈ 53 human years.

For cats, the calculator follows the Feline Veterinary Medical Association's chart: a 1-year-old cat is like a 15-year-old person, a 2-year-old like 24, and each later year adds 4, so a 10-year-old cat is about 56. Life stages come from vets' guidelines (AAHA/AAFP for cats, AAHA for dogs). Small dogs live longer than large ones (a median of 12.7 against 11.9 years in a UK study), so large dogs turn senior earlier.

These are friendly estimates, not a health check. The dog formula comes from one breed, Labradors, and the researchers note that breeds with much shorter or longer lives may follow a different curve. Your vet can tell how your own pet is doing.

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