# Animal Years

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 8, 2002, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822 "2002-05-08T00:54:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cabana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cab0a1/32.png) [@cabana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabana)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822/1 "2002-05-08T00:54:00Z")

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Dogs age seven dog years for every human year. Humans, Urban Legend/Hollywood-myth-wise, get itchy after 7. Twinkies have…well, we’re not really sure. But: how many cat years hath a cat, in the human v. feline equation?

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822/2 "2002-05-08T01:42:52Z")

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1. The seven year thing is nonsense; dogs AND cats have entirely different maturation and aging cycles from humans.

2. The oldest cats live to their late 20s, IIRC.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822/3 "2002-05-08T02:12:53Z")

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**Cecil Adams** on [Is it true one “dog year” equal seven “human years”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_010b.html)

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**Author:** ![cabana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cab0a1/32.png) [@cabana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabana)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822/4 "2002-05-08T17:50:33Z")

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Nametag: I know about the different maturation times betw. cats and dogs. And maybe the 7 dog years for every human _is_ nonsense, but I was wondering if there is, however non-sensical it maybe, a number of cat years per human years.

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**Author:** ![DonJorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@DonJorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonJorge)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822/5 "2002-05-08T18:16:21Z")

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Snopes (Urban legends) has a listing for both dogs and cats, at [http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/dogyears.htm](http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/dogyears.htm)

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**Author:** ![DonJorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@DonJorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonJorge)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-years/107822/6 "2002-05-08T18:47:19Z")

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Snopes (Urban legends) has a listing for both dogs and cats, at [http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/dogyears.htm](http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/dogyears.htm)