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- Dec 7, 2023
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Two months ago today, I adopted Maisie.
The shelter vets had determined Maisie was four years old. When I got her home, I immediately noticed that she was missing quite a few teeth. When I took her to my vet, she said there was almost no way she was that young, and would have estimated closer to 8-10 years based on her mouth. She is negative for both FIV and FeLV. She will have a full dental/likely full extraction done next month and I plan on asking the dentist if it looks like she has stomatitis or if her teeth look genuinely worn down.
As you can imagine, 4-10 is quite a large range! When I first got her, I actually assumed she was on the older side. She struggled to run and jump in ways that reminded me of my late cat, Lou, when his hips started going. However, after having her for a few weeks, I realized I was mistaken; she can run like wildfire now, and while she still can't make some jumps, she can leap up onto furniture and after toys without issue.
I did some digging by reaching out to her original rescue and learned that she and one kitten of hers had been rescued by a well-meaning lady who kept them confined to a small bathroom for a few months before turning them in. I feel like that plus the confinement of her shelter environments led to some muscle weakness that she overcame quickly in a home.
Case for her being older:
She still can't jump onto counters/tables the way my other cat (5 and a half years old) can. She does frequently miss jumps. (She just did as I wrote this!) She has a pure blue coat, save for a few white hairs growing in; there is a tiny batch of 10 white hairs behind her neck, and another clump lower on her back is blue but the roots are turning white. She does have some of the browning in her iris that my older cat developed. Her teeth, as mentioned, are terrible.
Case for her being younger:
I know we sometimes say our older cats play like kittens, but I really mean it with her. She loves to play. She LIVES to play. She would play 20 hours a day if allowed. She has so much energy. She almost never tuckers out. She loves--and I mean LOVES--wrestling with my other cat. She initiates it 90% of the time. Also, toys that most cats grow out of by the time they pass kittenhood are endlessly fascinating to her. She loves the tower of balls on tracks. She also will chase her tail around the legs of chairs if bored. She has a ton more stamina than my other cat, but still loves to be groomed by him.
This is a cat who will beg me to play with her until she is panting, and then STILL whine if I stop. Even as I write this, I have to keep stopping every few minutes because she is bringing me toys to toss for her--and I had her jumping and running around with a wand toy right before I began writing!
At the moment I am just assuming she is perhaps slightly older than my boy--6ish, perhaps. But I'm curious about what you all would think. Are there any clues or things I may have overlooked? I already do six-month checkups on all my cats and usually ask for full blood panels when they draw blood, so my behavior regarding her care wouldn't change much either way. I just would like to know if she is potentially older so I can keep a closer eye on certain things.
Random photos chosen from my collection.
The shelter vets had determined Maisie was four years old. When I got her home, I immediately noticed that she was missing quite a few teeth. When I took her to my vet, she said there was almost no way she was that young, and would have estimated closer to 8-10 years based on her mouth. She is negative for both FIV and FeLV. She will have a full dental/likely full extraction done next month and I plan on asking the dentist if it looks like she has stomatitis or if her teeth look genuinely worn down.
As you can imagine, 4-10 is quite a large range! When I first got her, I actually assumed she was on the older side. She struggled to run and jump in ways that reminded me of my late cat, Lou, when his hips started going. However, after having her for a few weeks, I realized I was mistaken; she can run like wildfire now, and while she still can't make some jumps, she can leap up onto furniture and after toys without issue.
I did some digging by reaching out to her original rescue and learned that she and one kitten of hers had been rescued by a well-meaning lady who kept them confined to a small bathroom for a few months before turning them in. I feel like that plus the confinement of her shelter environments led to some muscle weakness that she overcame quickly in a home.
Case for her being older:
She still can't jump onto counters/tables the way my other cat (5 and a half years old) can. She does frequently miss jumps. (She just did as I wrote this!) She has a pure blue coat, save for a few white hairs growing in; there is a tiny batch of 10 white hairs behind her neck, and another clump lower on her back is blue but the roots are turning white. She does have some of the browning in her iris that my older cat developed. Her teeth, as mentioned, are terrible.
Case for her being younger:
I know we sometimes say our older cats play like kittens, but I really mean it with her. She loves to play. She LIVES to play. She would play 20 hours a day if allowed. She has so much energy. She almost never tuckers out. She loves--and I mean LOVES--wrestling with my other cat. She initiates it 90% of the time. Also, toys that most cats grow out of by the time they pass kittenhood are endlessly fascinating to her. She loves the tower of balls on tracks. She also will chase her tail around the legs of chairs if bored. She has a ton more stamina than my other cat, but still loves to be groomed by him.
This is a cat who will beg me to play with her until she is panting, and then STILL whine if I stop. Even as I write this, I have to keep stopping every few minutes because she is bringing me toys to toss for her--and I had her jumping and running around with a wand toy right before I began writing!
At the moment I am just assuming she is perhaps slightly older than my boy--6ish, perhaps. But I'm curious about what you all would think. Are there any clues or things I may have overlooked? I already do six-month checkups on all my cats and usually ask for full blood panels when they draw blood, so my behavior regarding her care wouldn't change much either way. I just would like to know if she is potentially older so I can keep a closer eye on certain things.
Random photos chosen from my collection.
Best of luck!
