How long do cats live?

By the MeowWise team · Published 20 October 2026 · Last reviewed: 20 October 2026

A typical pet cat lives about 12 to 14 years, and plenty reach 18 or 20. The largest studies of veterinary records put a newborn cat's life expectancy at 11.7 years in the UK and 11.2 years in the US, while the median age at death among UK cats was 14 years. Female, crossbred, neutered cats kept at a healthy weight tend to live the longest.

Two ways to measure a cat's lifespan

You will see different numbers quoted for cat lifespan because studies measure different things. Median longevity is the middle age at death among cats that have died: half died younger, half older. Life expectancy at birth comes from a life table and estimates how long a newborn kitten can expect to live, counting every early death from accidents and illness. Deaths in young cats pull life expectancy below the median age at death, so both figures can be right at once.

UK cats: median age at death of 14 years (O'Neill et al., 2015)

Dan O'Neill and colleagues at the Royal Veterinary College used VetCompass, a database of anonymised records from first opinion vet practices. Out of 118,016 cats at 90 practices in England, they studied 4,009 cats with confirmed deaths. The median longevity was 14.0 years, with the middle half of cats dying between 9 and 17 years, and the oldest cat in the sample reaching 26.7 years.

Crossbred cats lived longer than purebred cats overall (median 14.0 years against 12.5 years), although individual breeds varied a lot. Among cats that lived to at least 5, being crossbred, lighter in body weight and neutered were each linked with a longer life. The most common recorded causes of death were trauma (12.2 percent), kidney disorders (12.1 percent), non specific illness (11.2 percent), cancer (10.8 percent) and mass lesions (10.2 percent).

The first UK cat life tables (Teng et al., 2024)

A newer VetCompass study by Kendy Teng, Dan O'Neill and colleagues built the first life tables for UK companion cats from 7,936 confirmed deaths in 2019. Life expectancy at birth was 11.74 years. The chance of dying in any single year stayed below 5 percent until year 9, then rose with age. Females could expect to live 12.51 years and males 11.18 years, a gap of 1.33 years.

Being entire (not neutered), being purebred and having a body weight far from the typical weight for the cat's breed and sex were all linked to a shorter life. Entire cats had 4.29 times the odds of dying before age 3 compared with neutered cats, and purebred cats had 1.83 times the odds of crossbreds.

US cats: 11.2 years at birth (Montoya et al., 2023)

A study using records from more than 1,000 Banfield Pet Hospitals in the US, covering 2,390,078 cats from 2013 to 2019, estimated life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years for cats overall. Female cats again outlived males, at 11.68 against 10.72 years, and life expectancy rose across the survey years from 2013 to 2018. The study also linked body condition to life expectancy. Cats whose median score over life was 4 out of 5 (overweight) had a higher estimate than cats at an ideal 3 out of 5 or obese cats at 5 out of 5, a pattern that differs from the UK finding. These are associations in clinic records, not proof of cause, so ask your vet what weight is right for your cat.

How long different cat breeds live

In the 2024 UK life tables, life expectancy at birth varied widely between the 12 groups analysed:

Some breeds had only a few dozen recorded deaths (18 for the Sphynx), so their estimates have wide margins of error. Treat breed numbers as a rough guide, not a forecast for your own cat. Our cat breeds comparison covers the health issues linked to each breed.

What helps a cat live longer

1. Neutering. Both UK studies linked neutering with longer life, and the early death gap was large.
2. A healthy weight. Weight far from the norm for a cat's breed and sex was linked to a shorter life in the UK data. Weigh your cat monthly and see our cat nutrition guide.
3. Fewer accidents. Trauma was the single most common recorded cause of death in the 2015 study. The 2024 authors suggest that keeping cats indoors, as is common for purebred cats in the US, could reduce deaths from accidents, fights and infection.
4. Regular checkups as cats age. Kidney disease and cancer become common causes of death in older cats. The 2021 AAHA/AAFP guidelines class cats over 10 as seniors, and our senior cat care guide explains how often older cats should see the vet. See also how often should a cat see the vet?

Every paper cited here is listed with its DOI on our cat research page. For common illnesses at every age, see our cat health guide.

General education, not veterinary advice. If you are worried about your cat, contact your veterinarian; in an emergency, go to the nearest emergency vet.