[Music] what's up groovy cat people jackson galaxy your cat daddy doing the cat dance
if you didn't watch the show batman he would do the bat dance
but because i'm doing it it's the cat dance totally apropos of nothing
today what we're talking about is not batman nor robin nor the penguin nor the joker catwoman
no we're talking about the life stages of cats if you haven't watched my last installment on this
the first installment which was the kitten and teenage years take a look at this video
there in the meantime today we're going to be talking about the adult ears now we're
grown-ups last time we left off we were talking about teenagers and how crazy and demanding and
out of control they can possibly be while they're trying to find their their niche in life by by the
about the end of the second year they're about 25 years old in human years of course all of these
things are kind of malleable they're guidelines the prime stage at about six years we're talking
about the 40s we're talking about in you know 40 to 43 years old 7 to 10 we're talking about
human years about 55 56 years old and then we get into the senior years which will be our next video
so what happens in the adult stage of a cat's life it's funny because i was thinking about this
and i was thinking about you know in that kitten video man every two seconds it was like and then
they hit another marker and then they're into this and then they're into and every month every week
sometimes was a new stage a new place where your kitten is developing well the fact is at about
two years old three years old they've got the life of cat pretty settled there's no more of that just
crazy energy that just erupts out of nowhere and suddenly you've got like the 310 to yuma parading
through your living room in the middle of the night that for the most part should start to calm
down now of course there's plenty of you out there and i'm one of you who's got one cat and now one
cat has got peter pan syndrome and they'll still be like playing tarzan on the drapes or whatever
but in terms of your adult cats they're settled right now what our job becomes
during the this prime time of their life is first of all just to make sure they're still
just energized by the world around them that we're not allowing them to just go into that
place where they just fend for themselves from an enrichment perspective from a health perspective
from uh eating and sleeping and and their whole routine in life we still need to exert control
if only to get them into a healthy circadian rhythm and a healthy weight if cats are not
getting that exercise if they're not getting that routine play in if they're if their environment
is not being enriched that's when you wind up calling me and being like what am i going to
do my cat's doing xyz because we haven't gotten them into a routine that sticks hope i'm making
sense because i'm making a video and it would be terrible if i made a video that made no sense
the first thing i want to talk about is exercise up until this point up until from kitten to
teenage years there's spontaneous bursts of energy first just with their litter mates and the other
kittens around them and their mom then they graduate to toy play to external play with with
with other objects that are not just their litter mates but then it just becomes a bunch of you know
furry mice and crinkles and whatever laying around the house that nobody's playing with
that's because you're not stepping in and playing the role of playmate so this is that time where
you really need to bear down as their guardian and say we're going to play every day and play means
that we're going to get you to run around a little bit jump a little bit or hunt a little bit you
know when we're kids we can make life exciting no problem at all because everything is an adventure
as we become adults as we you know transition into our 20s and as cats transition out of their teen
years then adventure is not every single day but we have to make those adventures when we can we
have to make excitement while we can and you can do that with your cat by just finding the right
type of play for them and also varying the toys that you bring in don't expect that one single
toy that one thing that all through their kitten hood that one little sock on a string was just
amazing and then all of a sudden it's not anymore we want to keep your relationship
with your cat fresh during this time there's nothing more important honestly i mean maybe
nutrition and i'm going to get into that in a second but exercise but play every day
keeps your cat physically and behaviorally vital as they transition from from teenager
to those prime adult years to the mature adult years
the second thing i want to talk about is nutrition because i i just think it's important that
we acknowledge our part in this that we fall into routines and suddenly we're left with a routine
that shouldn't be there for instance giving our kittens treats because it's fun to watch them
play with it and eat it now they're expecting it all the time now our cats are treat machines and
their metabolism is slowing down a little bit we got to watch out for their weight and this
is that time where if you haven't committed to it yet get into it as early as possible that your cat
eats meals at a certain time you're not free feeding them you're not letting them
graze whenever they want to graze because it just takes them out of a physical rhythm of a circadian
rhythm that to to me is a key to a cat's health is keeping them in that that that rhythm of
their lives and as always if you haven't watched any of my other nutrition videos
if you're feeding your kittens or teenagers dry food or dry anything now they're adults
it's time to put down the twinkies and pick up the apples so to speak go for wet food your cats are
obligate carnivores we want to make sure that we are setting them up for a nice long life now as
their activity level just naturally decreases just a little bit and they're getting just a little
more set in their ways and if our nutritional plan isn't in place we may see the beginnings
of of diabetes for instance because your cat is getting obese we want to be making sure that we're
watching their weight the whole time and as you've heard me say at infinitum if your cat is eating
a meat based diet one high in in hydration high in meat content then you shouldn't have to worry
about it too much and especially if you're not free feeding them and you're not giving them
treats all the time but you do want to just just really dial that in because by the time they're
about seven years old that's a that's the prime time for things like diabetes the beginnings of
kidney disease these are the times when we start to see things maybe break down a little bit
make sure again variety is a spice of life when it comes to play and when it comes to nutrition we do
not want our cats just eating one thing one flavor one texture their whole life because there's gonna
come a point where they're gonna get bored of that too and now you're stuck with you know an older
cat and you're trying to find new things for their palate and they're just rejecting it and that's
that's what i'm saying everything that you do now is what you're setting up for their senior years
one other thing that i want to make sure we talk about is environmental enrichment because
again a kitten or a teenager knows how to find fun somewhere they know how to get into the nooks and
crannies of the house and hide somewhere and be that little bush dweller underneath the table and
cover themselves with a tablecloth and pop out and scare you or just find this one spot in a
window that they can reach and just hang there and eventually that gets old and and that's just
to be expected you know and for us i think one of the greatest things that we can present our indoor
cats is that feeling of being able to get up in the world to get vertical in the world to have
a choice being able to have spots in windows to follow the sun around the house to to watch birds
or traffic or whatever the basics of environmental enrichment as they get into their prime years is
really important i really want to always encourage your cats to move to whatever degree so having a
bunch of blankets on the floor a bunch of beds on the floor doesn't really serve anybody having them
up on couch level having shelves where they have to climb to get up on something having something
like beds that go in windows or cat trees that that face windows these are ways that we can
keep our cats active keep them searching and also give them a sense of choice the wonderful thing
about vertical cadification is that as their lives go on you can say you know what what
if i just remove this component now he has to jump instead of just walk across these shelves
that's great at this age from three to six the prime years now once we get into seven to ten
maybe you wanna put that shelf back so that now they're just walking across the upper shelves
and as they get older than that we can then bring it down even further to accommodate older joints
limited vision etc but right now this is when we're setting it up coming out of the teen years
where everything is just everything now we're getting into the adult years where something has
to take its place and and it has to be consistent consistency is really key for these adult cats
so what's the difference between the prime years which we've already established is around three to
six years old and the mature years the mature years now we're mature adults and now we're
between seven and ten years old not a whole ton except for that activity level starts to decrease
we become more and more sedentary more and more sort of ritualistically glued to what we know
day after day we all need fresh challenges things that make us feel alive and not stuck in a rut so
all the things i'm telling you play nutrition or interactive toys environmental enrichment
these things become that important during the prime years because then you get to adjust
it if their motor was not already running from three to six it's a whole lot harder to start
it up from seven to ten and a heck of a lot harder once they get into their senior years we're gonna
start seeing the body show a little bit of wear and tear you want to be hyper vigilant watching
their bodies are they suddenly avoiding jumping up or down from some place that's key because at
that point you can start doing something about that arthritis whether it's conventional means
whether it's things like acupuncture now is the time to start it so that they don't compensate
and by the time they are seniors their hips are not doing so well along with their knees right or
or their spine is compensating for other parts of their body the more compensation happens the more
the entire system breaks down dominoes start to fall in the cat body so let's keep those dominoes
upright as long as we possibly can that's your key job at the seven to 10 mature phase of their lives
keep it up and adjust they don't play the way they used to we'll find something that keeps play alive
if they don't jump anymore well that's great then we just go around the room on the floor that's all
good keep that mind sharp keep cat tv happening outside the window keep that that hunter mind
sharp so as i said at the very top of this video sure all of this is important keeping play going
and finding new challenges nutrition really dialing that in and making sure you're watching
weight and you're guiding them through life in a healthy way environmental enrichment cat tv
all types of exciting things watching their bodies as they get older all of the stuff i'm talking
about is important the most important thing is the relationship you have with your cat all of
these things that i'm saying are contained those are all tools the relationship is the toolbox
and that is the gift of growing old together with a cat because we explore what it is to
have a deeper relationship from human to cat and that is the biggest takeaway that i can give you
from this age and these stages our next ages and stages we're getting into the senior and the super
senior years of a cat's life which is super exciting so stay tuned alright in the meantime
if you guys haven't subscribed yet to this channel i don't understand what you're waiting for
i'm waiting i'm waiting yes go ahead and subscribe hit the bell while you're at it because we
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the premiere is coming as well don't forget to ask me questions in the comments because that's
how we get ideas for brand new videos and don't forget to put a lot of love on your cats and on
your humans and on your dogs and on everybody surrounding your life because it is so vitally
important these days and speaking of that all light all love and all mojo to you bye guys
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