Burmese and Birman cats have the longest life expectancy of purebred cats (2024)

Birman and Burmese are 2 purebred cats with longer than average lifespans due to a lower prevalence of HCM than in other breeds

Burmese and Birman cats have the longest life expectancy of purebred cat according to a recently published study conducted between 2019 and 2021 in the UK. The researchers don’t tell us specifically or in detail why they have the longest life expectancy of the purebred cats and even to the extent where their lifespan …

Read more

Sphynx cat breed has the shortest life expectancy of 6.68 years

Sphynx cat

A comprehensive UK study conducted in 2019-2021 and published in 2024 concluded that the Sphynx cat breed “had the shortest life expectancy at year 0 among the analysed breeds at 6.68 years. Being entire, purebred and with a non-ideal body weight were significantly linked to a decreased lifespan.” The word “entire” means unsterilised. The …

Read more

Sometimes male cats can’t be neutered for this reason

Feliway diffuser may stop this

Sometimes male cats cannot be neutered. And it is entirely legitimate to leave them unsterilised and “whole”. This occurs when the cat cannot be put under a general anaesthetic. A veterinarian needs to put a male cat under a general anaesthetic to remove their testes. A cat with early-stage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or any …

Read more

HCM in male and female Bengal cats and humans, a comparison

HCM in humans and Bengal cats

I’ve spotted a peculiar anomaly in the story about HCM in Bengal cats. In case you didn’t realise it, Bengal cats are said to be predisposed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Maine Coon cats have the same problem by the way as do some other cat breeds e.g., Ragdoll and British Shorthairs. I will take …

Read more

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects 10% of British Shorthairs

Sadly, there are studies, one of which I am reading right now, which confirm that this very popular cat breed (particularly the blue) suffers from a high prevalence of HCM, often of early onset and with a significant male sex predisposition. In other words, male cats are predisposed to get it at a young …

Read more

Cat breeds prone to HCM

Bengal cat HCM

Cat breeds prone to HCM are: Maine Coon, Ragdolls, British Shorthairs, American Shorthairs, Devon Rexes and Bengals. All these breeds are extensively discussed on this website. Please start by clicking on this page. Update: see comment below. Gail tells us that the relatively rare Ocicat is also predisposed to developing HCM. All, but the …

Read more

follow it link and logo