The longest-lived breeds of cats, together with Birmans and Burmese, stay greater than twice so long as the shortest-lived breed, based on a examine of hundreds of pet cats within the UK.

“By way of life expectancy, there was little or no analysis accomplished on cats,” says Dan O’Neill on the Royal Veterinary School within the UK. “They’re type of invisible to science, particularly in comparison with canines.”

To study extra about cat longevity, O’Neill and his colleagues analysed knowledge on 7936 cats that died between 2019 and 2021, taken from vets within the UK.

General, cats had a life expectancy of simply over 11.7 years. Feminine cats outlived their male counterparts, with an anticipated lifespan of 12.5 years in contrast with 11.2 years.

Crossbred cats tended to stay longer than purebreds, with the 2 teams having anticipated lifespans of 11.9 and 10.4 years respectively.

Twelve breeds, together with crossbreeds, had 15 or extra deaths within the knowledge – sufficient to estimate their life expectancy. Topping the longevity listing are Birman and Burmese cats, each with life expectations of 14.4 years. On the backside are Bengal cats and sphynxes, with life expectations of 8.5 and 6.7 years respectively.

Not like with canines, how lengthy cats stay doesn’t seem to correlate with traits corresponding to physique measurement.

“Cats are boring – the variance between cats is often simply the size or color of their hair,” says O’Neill. “We’re not speaking like in canines, the place some breeds have twisted spines or no muzzles.”

The crew additionally created what are often called life tables, which predict the typical remaining lifespan of cats at totally different ages and can be utilized to assist cat house owners resolve the best way to deal with their unwell pets.

“In case your cat is 11 or 12 years outdated and is barely anticipated to stay one other 12 months, then it’s in all probability not price doing surgical procedure, for instance,” says O’Neill.