# Outdoor Cat Lifespan



## Erenya (Jul 22, 2014)

I've seen a lot of figures being bounced around stating that outdoor cats only live an average of 2 years, and being my OCD self, I decided to look into these statistics.

Considering the UK - as firstly I live their and secondly as most of the people here seem to live there - it's really, really hard to find a UK based study - but I did find the following report:

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/how-long-do-cats-live-cat-health-facts: average outdoor lifespan = 5.625 years

*additional factors to consider*

1.) The oft quoted 3-5 year life span for outdoor cats is attributed to the Childs & Ross paper from 1986, "Urban cats: characteristics and estimation of mortality due to motor vehicles". Whilst Childs & Ross do indeed give this figure, their study also identified that 90% of cats killed by traffic accidents (the largest killer of felines) had not been neutered. These cats are recognised as having wider ranging home territories and roam further than neutered cats.

In fact of all the cats killed by traffic during their study, only 20% were ever identified as owned cats, with the remaining 80% likely being stray or feral.

Furthermore, their study identified that a representative sample (212) of the 2721 dead cats removed from the streets of Baltimore in a three year period, 20% had belonged to more than one household within the previous 2 years and a very small proportion were kittens or juveniles - if the average for an outdoor cats life span is 2 years, wouldn't there have to be a large proportion of juvenile cats or kittens found dead to skew the numbers down to 2 years?

2.) in a 2004 study in Cambridgeshire, 128 cats who were involved in traffic accidents were identified and of these only 50% were under 3 and over 71% of the animals survived the incident

3.) The 2 year lifespan is not in relation to Owned cats, it is in relation to feral cats who are unvaccinated, un-neutered, must source their own food and who are out at all hours.

4.) no scientific study has ever been done on the combined risk factors of being outside - only on vehicular incidents.

Basically - it's a case of lies, lies and damn statistics. There have been very few scientific studies done on the lifespan of indoor v outdoor cats, the two referred to above and one from 1974 which is no longer available as even an abstract it's so old. I couldn't find any studies done on the combined risks associated with allowing cats outside - not one....

What is clear is that it's not necessarily the case that letting your cat outside is a 2 year death sentence.

Yes, letting your cat outside to roam freely *WILL* increase the risks to it's health & wellbeing and the average lifespan of cats permitted to roam will be lower. After all, indoor cats just don't get hit by cars and don't get attacked by feral animals. But any figures being thrown around are based on only 2 scientifically based reports, and scientifically based reports really are the only reports worth considering.

There is also no report out there that separates the average life span of a feral un-neutered, unvaccinated un-owned cat from an owned, neutered, vaccinated cat that is allowed to roam. All 'outdoor' cats are lumped together as one

One clear factor that emerges is that owned neutered cats are significantly less likely to be hit by a vehicle than feral unneutered cats. and that's really all that we can say with confidence.

so make up your own minds as opposed to believing statistics that may not be representative of your situation.


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## SageFemme (Jul 30, 2014)

Interesting post. When I read that outdoor cats lived until 4 or 5 I was shocked  All our cats have been outdoor cats, and the youngest any of them died was 14. Our oldest was 22. But we do make sure they are all neutered so maybe they stay closer because of that. Our current cat spends most of his time in our garden, and sometimes the neighbours garden but doesn't really venture too far from the house.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

Interesting post. I hadn't realised so little research had been done. I think it also depends on thr environment that the cats live in. If you own a cat and live close to a busy road where resources your cat wants are on the other side (eg hunting grounds or people who feed your cat) then the chances of road traffic collision are higher. If you live in an area with low traffic or an area with high traffic but all resources are in reach without needing to cross dangerous roads then the cat will be ay low risk. 

I live within 100m of a busy road but in all other directions there are no roads for over a mile. All the aspects attractive to my cats are in the directions away from roads and regularly monitoring my cat's wanderings using a gpaws tracker I have confirmed she never approaches the road but does roam a fair distance within woodland and along the river to favourite hunting / resting locations.


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## oliviarussian (Sep 2, 2010)

I stood at the bustop outside my house only last week observing a young (looked about 6-8 months) black cat bolt across this busy road about 5 times in the course of the 10 minutes being narrowly missed by a couple of cars.... It made me incredibly sad and little tearful imagining the odds of this little darling being alive in a years time.... Can't fathom what it's 'owners' are thinking of!


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

There are so many variables.....
I had read that it is more common for young cats, under 2, to suffer fatality in RTA than older cats which seems to be contradicted by your information.
Also, I think it is accepted that keeping a cat inside overnight is wise even if it is allowed to roam in the day.


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## Erenya (Jul 22, 2014)

I think basically the only thing that can be drawn from the research I've done is that there really hasn't been much scientific research done at all!!

Most of these arbitrary lifespans given must be considered spurious at the very least. Until some good concise research is done, Owners just have to do what they feel is best based on their own knowledge of their cats and the area they live in. 

It's always going to be an incredibly hard decision, whatever people choose to do


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## Polski (Mar 16, 2014)

I've always thought that the research was seriously flawed or lacking.

Take 50,000 free roaming outdoor cats owners, 50,000 escape proof/large enclosure outdoor cats owners and 50,000 strictly indoor/harness walked cats owners and follow them until the end of their cats lives then you may have some more accurate figures.

Illnesses, accidents, behaviour problems, etc etc should all be logged to then find out if cats suffer from being outdoor, escape proof outdoor or strictly indoor because lets face it we don't _really_ know and I don't place longevity above animal happiness.


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## Jiskefet (May 15, 2011)

Young cats are more likely to be hit by a car, because cats do learn to pay more attention to traffic over time. So if they survive long enough to get wise, they will be more likely to live to a ripe old age.

I lost 2 young cats and 1 slightly older cat (who, at the time was no longer living with me but on a farm, and got run over by a visitor in his own farmyard) to the road, but Catweazle is now 15 and has always been an outdoor cat. All my cats are, and have always been, outdoor cats, and out of the 17 cats I have owned in my adult life, only 2 (well, 3 if you count Klaatu) got into a RTA, and the only 2 other cats that died young had an incurable disease.

I have recently lost 2 ten to eleven year-old cats to disease, but so far all my other cats have reached ages of 14 to 19 and died of age-related problems.


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## Finfendy (Sep 9, 2014)

In my time as a free roaming cat owner I have lost 2 cats under 2 years old, had others that lived until 16 and 18 (he was a proper wanderer too) and currently have 1 at 17 (she is not free roaming any more).
So the average of my cats is about 11 years!


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## Erenya (Jul 22, 2014)

I do wonder if some sort of survey amongst members here would give a more accurate portrayal of figures. I mean we have a wide range of owners, areas, types of cat, indoor/outdoor, experienced cat owners & new cat owners etc etc.

mmm..... the possibilities...


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Erenya said:


> > I do wonder if some sort of survey amongst members here would give a more accurate portrayal of figures. I mean we have a wide range of owners, areas, types of cat, indoor/outdoor, experienced cat owners & new cat owners etc etc.
> >
> > mmm..... the possibilities...
> 
> ...


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## Erenya (Jul 22, 2014)

chillminx said:


> Erenya said:
> 
> 
> > But if you could find some way to devise a survey that would avoid such an argument developing then that might work.
> ...


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## Canine K9 (Feb 22, 2013)

Dollie lives outside, but she is completely feral. Born as a stray. 
She is 8 years old now. No way would she cope living with people all the time.
She spends a lot of time (most of her time) in our garden.
Sometimes she goes into the neighbours gardens. 
I don't like it though, and am still trying to convince her to live in a shed and run


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## moggie14 (Sep 11, 2013)

Interesting post, thank you 
What might make it harder in the UK to accurately find stats is that councils that find dead cats after RTAs do not check for a microchip - therefore all cats they find would be deemed strays I guess 
I signed a Facebook petition recently that is hoping to make it mandatory for councils to check for a chip but sadly this does not happen at the moment.


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## lilythepink (Jul 24, 2013)

Its impossible to judge the age of feral cats though. Its probable that young cats get run over and unsprayed cats don't live as long either. Not really any way of telling a true study.

I have several feral cats, all neautered, none vaccinated all well fed and plenty space to hide in winter. The 2 oldest are 10 years old.

I live on the roadside and we have had casualties but its usually the 2 to 3 year olds who have been run over....not the very youngest as I would have thought.

I don't see any reason why we can't have a poll on the forum..anybody getting nasty doesn't need to bother posting.


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## MinkyMadam (Apr 12, 2014)

Surely it would be tricky comparing apples with apples. Many cats are a mix of indoor/outdoor and the proportion of time they spend outdoors, the time of night/day when they're out, the location, what they get up to etc must be huge variables.


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## Erenya (Jul 22, 2014)

true, you can't cover every single factor - but considering how little information is currently out there it could be interesting. Irrespective, it would take at least 50 people to give you a large enough sample to gain any valid insight


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