The Life of Our Cats

A couple of frequently asked questions at Wingham Wildlife Park are “how old are the cats?” and “what age we can expect them to reach?” It’s always a bit of a surprise for most people when they discover that most cat species, both big and small, actually live for a very similar amount of time. Most cat species are considered to be mature between 2-3 years old. Or at the very least, having become independent, moving away from their parents after learning the necessary skills to establish their own territories. There is very little wasting of time when it comes to growing up and making the most out of their adulthood.

For most cats out in the wild, anywhere past the age of 10 would be considered to be a very old member of the species. At this point, individuals begin showing their age and start to slow down. This would mean they then struggle to hunt and don’t bring down sufficient prey to sustain themselves. Starvation now becomes a very real risk. Also, as they get older, there is much greater risk of conflict as it’s far more likely for younger and more physically fit individuals to attempt to push older ones out of their established territories in an attempt to take over in the endless competition for resources, that is the life of being a wild animal. This, in turn, leads to a growing negative effect on their health as the combination of being elderly and frequent territorial fights will increase the chances of injuries, infection and illnesses. These often have disastrous consequences for these elderly wild animals.

At the park, however, for the majority of individuals, it’s a very different story. For cats in good zoos, there is far less pressure on them for their survival throughout their lives. This means for our cats, they have what would be considered a life of lazy luxury compared to their wild counterparts. Cats cared for in zoos are far more likely to reach older ages than that of cats in the wild with the average lifespan for the majority of species being 15-20 years. With significantly less pressure and competition for resources, their lifespan effectively doubles. There have even been individuals recorded to live even longer, such as a Bengal tiger called Bengali, who holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest known big cat at an amazing 26 years old.

However, it is still important to remember that, unfortunately, not every individual will get to these very top ages, as even with the best care possible, sometimes health issues can arise that cannot be treated. Our purpose, as their keepers, is to do the best we can for our animals and ensure they have the most comfortable lives that we can possibly provide.

At Wingham Wildlife Park, we can accommodate the increasing elderly ages of our cats and provide a higher quality of care than they could manage for themselves out in the wild in those later years. One of the two main reasons for averaging a longer lifespan is mainly down to their lack of a need to hunt. Out in the wild, the cats have to work incredibly hard to find food, often having to track prey for days before finding a meal. On top of it taking days to even find prey to hunt, more often than not their prey will actually evade and escape them, meaning they have to start the entire process again. This is why, particularly for old individuals, starvation becomes a very real threat, as with their decreasing speed and stamina, they simply cannot keep up with their prey. For our cats, there is zero risk of them ever starving, as we are always going to arrive with their food. That doesn’t mean we don’t make them work for their food, as we absolutely do! Through various forms of enrichment, we can stimulate their activity and prolong their feeding behaviours.

This could be something as simple as chopping up their feed into multiple pieces and scatter feeding it around various positions and heights around their enclosure, encouraging them to get on the move and be climbing around their enclosures. Other ways include hiding their food in tyres, barrels, sacks and of course all cats love a good box. Giving them something to tear up and break into is one of their favourite ways to make a mess. We can also hang up food, securing it in place so that they aren’t just able to immediately pick it up and take it back to bed with them; they have to engage with a tough game of tug of war to earn their meal.

The other main reason is that, naturally, with older animals, health concerns of various kinds can begin to appear. However, unlike out in the wild where they have no choice but to look after themselves, being in a zoo means they have a dedicated team of keepers monitoring them every single day and on top of this, should any injuries or illnesses ever occur. We have our vet with the specialist knowledge and experience in providing care and treatment for the animals through various different medications and even more direct intervention such as operations if required. Similar to how we humans have doctors and hospitals to help look after us.

One of the most common health issues we observe in big cats, particularly in the elderly, is arthritis. It’s exactly the same as humans can get, where the movement around joints becomes more stiff and painful, making it more difficult for individuals to move and climb around. This is a massive reason we always encourage our cats to be active and climbing around for their food/enrichment, to ensure they are using all their joints and muscles as effectively as possible throughout their life. Though should there ever be a need to, we can make suitable adjustments to how we provide care and accommodate any individuals with this condition to ensure they are as comfortable as possible. It’s important we have them working and being active, but we also don’t want them damaging themselves in the process. That level of premium service is something that can’t be achieved out in the wild.

The oldest of our big cats at the park is our beloved celebrity, Troy, who was born in 2011, with his birthday being 28th February. This makes him over 15 and a half (as of this blog being published); that’s a long way away from where he first arrived at the park at about 2 weeks old! The age he’s at now is effectively the equivalent of a person being about 80 years old. He’s still doing incredibly well, running around, rolling in the grass and bouncing all over his platforms as if he were still a much younger cat.  

On the opposite end of the scale, the youngest of our big cats are our recent additions. Our three Asiatic lion brothers: Theo, Thor and Rakesh, who recently turned 2 years old on June 5th. The trio still have a little bit of growing left to do before reaching full size and upon reaching maturity, all 3 of them will become incredibly important members of the breeding programme dedicated to helping protect this species from going extinct. The boys are at the equivalent age to human’s being young adolescents (around 16 years old), to which they certainly act the part. Often being very vocal with grumbles and shouting, trying to let all their keepers know how big and scary they are, as well as the fact that they’ll only do what they want!

For our small cat species, the oldest animal we have at the park is our grumpy old man, Roots the Eurasian lynx. Roots is now over 14 years old, having been born back in 2012 on 29th May. He now spends the majority of his day snoozing away in the shade, though this is hardly a surprise as all cats spend about 15-20 hours a day asleep. It’s a terribly busy schedule! He loves rumbling and grumbling at his keepers, reminding us not to be late with his food. He is, however, a massive fan of stinky stuff. One of his favourite things is some super stinky straw bedding from another animal’s enclosure, which he will roll around on and bury himself in without a care in the world.

The youngest of our small cats here is Lonan, our male Geoffrey’s cat, who is now over 3 years old. Lonan is another one of our relatively new additions here at the park, having moved here almost a year ago. He has settled in very well and has turned into a definite favourite of the keepers with his sassy little personality and character. He has also been getting along very well with his girlfriend Suki, who arrived even more recently. The pair are often seen snuggled together, and with some flirting going on, the romance is very much in the air.

By Andrew, Deputy Head of Carnivores