Guide: What Are the Four Stages of Life as a Cat?

Our beloved feline friends go through stages of development throughout their lives, and those stages can define the kinds of proactive training, treatments, behaviors, and attention you need to pay to them. You have to worry a lot more about a rambunctious kitten getting into household chemicals than you do a sleepy senior kitty, right? It's the same for vets; the things they watch for will vary depending on how old your fur baby is.

So, what are the stages of life for a cat? No, I'm not talking about their development from potat to big long (from Mary Cagle's adorable art). I'm talking about age-related divisions in the life cycle, according to the American Animal Hospital Association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners. These organizations review the general behaviors, concerns, and lives of cats across all breeds and geographic areas and put out advice to vets and cat parents on how to handle their cats at each stage of life.

Let's talk about the four stages of life as a cat and what they mean to you as a cat parent!

The First Stage: Kitten

The first stage is the kitten stage, and it lasts from the time the kitten is born to the time they turn one year old. Kitten is the stage of development with the most physical change, going from mewling, barely mobile creatures that haven't even opened their eyes to rambunctious balls of fluff that get into anything and everything to small versions of what they'll be as adults. In one year, it's roughly equivalent to the first ten years of human development, from helpless baby to wandering toddler to curious child to pre-teen youth.

As a kitten, vet checkups should be as frequent as necessary for the first few weeks and months of their life for vaccinations, health examinations, genetic testing, and spaying/neutering.

Throughout this stage, you should keep an eye on your kitty and look for the subtle signs of illness, stress, and pain, like aversion to touch, hiding, shying away from contact, lack of appetite, and more. You'll want to get a good grasp of their normal behavior and personality so you can form a good mental concept of how they act and develop an awareness of when they aren't acting normal.

At the kitten stage, you'll also want to get started on training.

• Train them to be more comfortable with a carrier so it's not a fight every time you need to take them to the vet.
• Train them to allow basic grooming as necessary, such as tooth and foot inspections, so they're used to you handling them.
• Train them with scratching etiquette so they can scratch the things you have for them to scratch, and keep their paws off the furniture, drapes, and doorframes.
• Train yourself on how to properly discipline a cat without causing problems down the line.

You'll also want to socialize them so they don't react with fear, anxiety, and stress every time someone new visits the house.

The kitten stage is also when you should be scheduling routine checkups with your vet and getting any genetic testing done to identify if they may have genetic diseases or susceptibility to certain ailments, and you'll want to microchip them. Yes, even indoor-only cats should be chipped, so if they ever escape, it's easy to contact you.

If you're a new pet parent, you may also want to give some thought to things like pet insurance and even pet life insurance. Taking care of a cat can be expensive, especially if they're a breed with a genetic predisposition to certain diseases that aren't fatal but require ongoing treatment.

Keeping care of food and feeding is important in this stage, as is litter box training. Make sure you have all of the necessary supplies, including brushes, nail trimmers, litter boxes and litter, food and water bowls, food, flea treatments, beds, scratching posts or boxes, toys, and more. While you're certainly going to be buying things for your fur baby all the time, you need a certain minimum amount of stuff to get off on the right foot.

There will be a lot of learning, a lot of settling in, a lot of adjustment and change, and a lot of scares during this time. Hopefully, it will all be healthy and entertaining, but in case things go poorly, it happens all the time. Your vet knows how to handle pretty much any kitten issue that could possibly come up, and in all but the most extreme cases, there will be a positive outcome. The kitten stage is a time of love, growth, and exploration, and it will be a joy, even if it has ups and downs.

The Second Stage: Young Adult

The young adult stage is the second stage of cat development. It's the longest of the cat life stages and broadly encompasses the time between turning one year old and turning six years old. This is the entire stretch of time between becoming a teenager in human years, all the way up to hitting a milestone age like 40. It's a long time for a cat!

During this time, your fur baby will be slowing down a bit and settling into their routine. They'll still be playful and active, but they aren't going to be quite as crazy, and since they'll have done a lot of exploration already – and ideally, you've trained them effectively – you won't have to worry as much about them doing things like getting stuck in the walls, chewing on household products, or running headlong into the furniture.

Young adult cats generally need annual vet checkups, but you otherwise only need to bring them in if there's something wrong. By this point, you should be pretty familiar with their behavior and personality and can tell more clearly when something is wrong. You still need to keep up with some training and reinforcement and make sure not to make mistakes that lead to anti-training, especially around litter box issues.

At this point, your biggest concerns are generally going to be things like vomiting and diarrhea, hairballs, and changes in food, litter, and grooming habits. These are your main signs that something could be going wrong, and they're things to mention to your vet if they occur.

Your vet checkups during this time will primarily focus on overall health, as well as monitoring primary organs like the heart and lungs, as well as oral health. You also will want to monitor nutrition and food intake to help ensure your cat stays a healthy weight.

You will probably need to adjust the various cat products you own throughout this time. Things like litter boxes may need to be changed to larger boxes to accommodate a larger cat, and you may need additional litter boxes for a multi-cat household. The same goes for things like the litter itself, for toys, for beds, and more.

This is also the age when certain early-onset diseases can start to become apparent, especially during the later years of the young adult stage. The two most common issues tend to be dental problems and obesity, though, so keep a careful eye on those.

The Third Stage: Mature Adult

The third stage of the development of a cat is the mature adult stage. This is when they're firmly settled in as a mature, older cat. They're starting to slow down and are generally going to prefer spending time snuggling, napping in the sun, or hanging out and spending time with you instead of playing or running to and fro, but they generally still have some energy and will always have their moments.

This stage lasts from the time the cat turns 7 to about the time they turn 10. It's more or less equivalent to middle age for people, ranging from our 40-60-year age spans.

During this time, a generally healthy cat will still only need vet checkups once a year. You'll still need to keep an eye on them for changes in behavior and signs of illness, but by the time you're seven years deep into being a cat parent, you're going to have a pretty good grasp on what to watch for.

At this age, you want to keep an eye on changes in appetite, hydration, vocalization, evening activity, mobility, grooming, and litter box habits. You'll also want to watch for signs of vision issues, as this is the age when some cats start to lose their sight.

Vets will be checking more on abdominal, muscle, and bone health at this age. They'll check for heart and lung health, of course, but they'll also be checking thyroid levels, kidney function, eye performance, and tooth health if your cat still has otherwise healthy teeth until this point. The older they get, the more the vet will check for signs of joint pain and arthritis.

Frequently, this is the age where things like kidney issues come forward, which usually require careful dietary management. Be prepared to shift to a healthier (and more expensive) food and to have a medication you'll need to start giving your fur baby. If they start showing signs of mobility issues and pain, you may also need to make adjustments to make it easier for them to access their litter box and their bed.

When petting and grooming your cat, be sure to keep an eye out for lumps and other signs of disease. Cats can develop all manner of tumors, many of which are benign but may still need to be removed so they don't put pressure on a joint, but some of which can be cancerous. It's a terrible and terrifying thing to experience, but it's the reality for cats as they get older.

The Fourth Stage: Senior

The fourth and final primary stage of life for a cat is the senior cat stage. During this time, your cat will be showing their age. Any age over 10 is a good age for a cat to reach, though, of course, some cats have lived much longer than that. This is equivalent to older middle age for humans, all the way to our senior and twilight years.

In the senior years, your cat is going to be slowing down. They'll be less mobile, less agile, and more prone to sleeping the day away rather than playing, though their playful side will still be apparent when they're in the mood.

Vet checkups during this time should be at least once every six months, and if your cat has any known issues, it may need to be every three months or even more frequently.

As they get older, your cat will likely start to develop some kind of issue. They may get less effective at grooming, so you may need to pick up the slack. They may develop a neurological disorder. They may lose their teeth or their eyesight. You may find signs of cancer, and they may need surgeries to remove tumors, chemotherapy to help, or even amputation in the case of a joint or limb-based tumor that can't be safely removed otherwise.

You will almost definitely need to adjust your home's layout for the comfort and accessibility needs of your cat, and you'll probably need to watch for litter box issues simply out of incontinence.

For some cats, you may even notice a behavioral regression. Some cats seem to return to the kitten stage, even if their bodies don't really support it. This is a cognitive issue, and while it's not immediately harmful, it can indicate other issues that will need support.

It's harder to generalize across the senior years for a cat because some cats might pass away relatively early, while others seem to hang on like nothing in the world can possibly disturb them. The best we can do as cat parents is provide the best, most comfortable lives we can and enjoy our moments with them.

So, now that this article is all wrapped up, I'd like to turn to you, the readers! Do you have any memorable stories about your furry little babies that you'd like to share? I'd absolutely love to hear them, so be sure to share your stories in the comments section!