Cats often live long enough to develop age-related brain changes similar to those seen in older humans.
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Photo Credit: Heidi-Ann Fourkiller
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Feline Models of Human Aging
The Core Concept: Domestic cats naturally develop age-related brain deterioration that closely mirrors human aging, offering a comparative biological model for studying neurodegenerative diseases.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: Unlike laboratory animals with artificially induced diseases and limited lifespans, companion felines share human environments and live long enough to naturally develop comparable brain atrophy, including overall structural shrinkage and ventricular expansion.
Origin/History: Published in Biology Open as part of the Translating Time project, the study represents a collaboration among researchers at the University of Bath, Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, and the École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Synthesis of 3,754 biological data points encompassing brain imaging, blood chemistry, neuropathology, and behavioral milestones across mammalian species.
- Development of a sophisticated, nonlinear biological age-mapping model that replaces simple linear age ratios, demonstrating that biological aging rates fluctuate and that a feline in its mid-teens corresponds to an octogenarian human.
- Utilization of clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to observe specific structural neurodegenerative alterations.
Branch of Science: Neuroscience, Gerontology, Veterinary Medicine, and Comparative Biology.
Future Application: The establishment of large-scale, cross-species veterinary health databases, analogous to the UK Biobank, to leverage real-world clinical data for advanced translational research.
Why It Matters: Integrating advanced veterinary diagnostics with human medical research provides an accurate, real-world model for natural cognitive decline, accelerating the study of dementia and extending healthy lifespans across species.
Domestic cats age in ways remarkably similar to humans and show comparable age-related patterns of brain deterioration, according to an international collaboration between the University of Bath, Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine in the US, and École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse in France.
This research, published in Biology Open, offers new opportunities for studying human aging and age-related diseases for two key reasons:
- Pet cats—unlike many laboratory animals—can live long enough to develop age-related brain changes similar to those seen in older humans.
- Cats have shorter lifespans than humans, meaning the factors affecting aging can be studied at a much faster rate in cats than in humans.
Current research often relies on laboratory animals, where diseases are artificially induced and lifespans are limited.
For the new study, scientists led by Dr. Christine Charvet at Auburn University, together with Brier Rigby Dames, now a research associate in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Bath, examined 3,754 data points collected across humans, cats, and other mammalian species.
These data points covered brain imaging, blood chemistry, disease-related patterns, and behavioral milestones such as eye opening and the onset of playful behavior. The aim was to compare how aging unfolds across humans, cats, and other mammalian species.
The MRI work showed that cats and humans share similar age-related changes in brain structure, including overall shrinkage, expansion of the ventricles (the hollow spaces inside the brain filled with fluid), and other structural alterations.
These brain changes are found in conditions commonly associated with aging. Both humans and older cats can develop age-related neurodegenerative changes later in life.
PhD candidate Brier Rigby Dames said, “It was interesting to see that cats show patterns of age-related brain atrophy similar to those observed in humans. These findings add to growing evidence that companion animals can provide valuable insights into aging.”
Mapping Aging Across Species
Rather than using simple age ratios—where one year in humans is equivalent to a given number of years in cats—the researchers developed a sophisticated biological model based on measurable age-related changes.
This approach reveals that aging in both species does not progress at a constant rate but instead speeds up or slows down at different life stages.
Using this model, the team found that:
- Aging patterns later in life align particularly closely between the two species.
- A cat in its mid-teens corresponds to a human in their eighties.
- Not all animals reach the equivalent of human old age, but domestic cats do.
- Implications for Human and Veterinary Health
As a next step, the researchers would like to see greater ongoing collaboration between veterinary and human medicine, as they believe this could unlock new insights into how we age and how to improve health in later life. It could also accelerate our understanding of conditions such as dementia.
Study co-author Dr. Ryan Gibson, a veterinary neurologist at Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said a growing number of cat owners are requesting advanced brain imaging for their pets to diagnose disease, providing an excellent opportunity to study aging animals living alongside humans in real-world environments.
He said, “This expanded clinical access creates meaningful opportunities for translational research (research that bridges the gap between scientific findings and health care), improving our understanding of aging and neurologic disease in ways that can benefit both feline and human patients.”
Looking to the future, Brier Rigby Dames said, “There’s potential to develop large-scale veterinary health databases for companion animals, analogous to human health databases such as the UK Biobank. These kinds of resources could enhance our ability to study aging and disease using real-world clinical and owner-reported data collected across species.”
For this study, Ms. Rigby Dames worked with the team to analyze thousands of data points across the lifespans of cats and humans while undertaking her PhD in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath. She contributed to the analysis of veterinary clinical records, blood-based aging biomarkers, and neuropathology to generate cross-species age alignments.
Additional information: This study is part of a long-term project called Translating Time, which equates ages across species. Dr. Alexandra de Sousa, honorary lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, was also involved in this study.
Resource material: Translating Time
Published in journal: Biology Open
Authors: Capucine Januel, Elijah Morrow, Ryan Gibson, Amanda Gross, Alexandra A. de Sousa, Brier A. Rigby Dames, and Christine J. Charvet
Source/Credit: University of Bath
Edited by: Scientific Frontline
Reference Number: ns062226_01
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