- Posted by Bruce from DC (B) on December 20, 2002 at 21:35:37
In Reply to: How long are cats supposed to live? posted by rcrump on December 19, 2002 at 17:07:18:
Sad to say, my experience is that 18 years is about it. I had two animal shelter cats I got as kittens; they both lived 18 years +/- a few months. One got cancer and died in my lap; a few months later, we had to put the other one down. She had a stroke or something that left her blind and unable to walk straight. She could eat, sleep and find the litterbox, but was otherwise pretty unresponsive and never purred -- quite the opposite of her former self. So, we figured her quality of life was about zero and had her euthanized.However, we have two successor shelter cats, we got as kittens who are now 8 and a third cat my wife collected as a kitten from a stable where we used to ride in West Virginia.
I read a review of a book out recently about the psychology of cats. The review was very interesting in describing some of the guys' findings. One tidbit was the author's assertion that domestic cats are descended from a wildcat that, unlike lions, for example, was a very solitary animal. So it is rather amazing that cats socialize with their human companions as much as they do.
Dogs, of course, are pack animals. So joining the human "pack" comes easy for them.
Best wishes with your furry guys -- you've had a long and happy time together I'm sure.
