Shop by style
Legends & history
Featured
See them painted before you pay
One free preview, no card needed — then pick the styles you love.
How old is your pet in human years? Not seven times their age — the real figure, using veterinary guidance and adjusted for size.
In human years
29
Mature adult
The long, steady middle. Weight and dental checks matter most now.
The second figure comes from a 2019 DNA-methylation study of Labrador Retrievers. It runs older than the veterinary chart for young dogs and younger for old ones — a useful second opinion, not a verdict.
It is the most repeated piece of pet folklore there is, and it fails immediately at both ends. A one-year-old dog can breed, hold a territory and has finished growing — no seven-year-old child is any of those things. Meanwhile a fourteen-year-old Great Dane, at ninety-eight by the old rule, has in truth outlived almost every dog of its breed. The rule survives because it is easy, not because it is true.
What actually happens is front-loaded. Dogs and cats race through infancy and adolescence in roughly two years, then settle into a slower adult decline. Body size then splits the picture apart for dogs: the bigger the animal, the faster the second half runs.
Medium dog, 21–50 lb. Use the calculator above for other sizes — at twelve years a small dog reads 64 while a giant breed reads 94.
| Dog age | Human years | Small / Large / Giant |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 15 / 15 / 15 |
| 2 | 24 | 24 / 24 / 24 |
| 3 | 29 | 28 / 30 / 31 |
| 4 | 34 | 32 / 36 / 38 |
| 5 | 39 | 36 / 42 / 45 |
| 6 | 44 | 40 / 48 / 52 |
| 7 | 49 | 44 / 54 / 59 |
| 8 | 54 | 48 / 60 / 66 |
| 9 | 59 | 52 / 66 / 73 |
| 10 | 64 | 56 / 72 / 80 |
| 11 | 69 | 60 / 78 / 87 |
| 12 | 74 | 64 / 84 / 94 |
| 13 | 79 | 68 / 90 / 101 |
| 14 | 84 | 72 / 96 / 108 |
| 15 | 89 | 76 / 102 / 115 |
| 16 | 94 | 80 / 108 / 122 |
Cats vary far less than dogs — a Maine Coon and a Siamese age at broadly the same rate, so no size question is needed.
| Cat age | Human years |
|---|---|
| 1 | 15 |
| 2 | 24 |
| 3 | 28 |
| 4 | 32 |
| 5 | 36 |
| 6 | 40 |
| 7 | 44 |
| 8 | 48 |
| 9 | 52 |
| 10 | 56 |
| 11 | 60 |
| 12 | 64 |
| 13 | 68 |
| 14 | 72 |
| 15 | 76 |
| 16 | 80 |
| 17 | 84 |
| 18 | 88 |
| 19 | 92 |
| 20 | 96 |
Small (up to 20 lb / 9 kg)
Adds about 4 human years annually after age two.
Medium (21–50 lb / 9–23 kg)
Adds about 5 human years annually after age two.
Large (51–100 lb / 23–45 kg)
Adds about 6 human years annually after age two.
Giant (over 100 lb / 45 kg)
Adds about 7 human years annually after age two.
Because dogs do not age at a steady rate. A one-year-old dog is already physically adult — closer to a fifteen-year-old human than a seven-year-old. The pace then slows down and, crucially, it slows down at a different speed depending on size. The seven-year rule dates from the 1950s and no veterinary body still uses it.
Large dogs age faster after adulthood. A Great Dane is considered senior at about seven, while a Jack Russell of the same age is barely middle-aged. Nobody fully understands why bigger dogs burn through life faster, but the effect is large and consistent, so any honest calculator has to ask for size.
Dogs follow the American Veterinary Medical Association framework: about 15 human years for the first year, roughly 9 more for the second, then 4 to 7 per year according to adult weight. Cats follow the 2021 AAHA/AAFP Feline Life Stage Guidelines: 15 by year one, 24 by year two, then 4 per year.
A 2019 study measured chemical changes on dog DNA and produced the formula 16 × ln(age) + 31. It was built from Labrador Retrievers only, so it ignores size entirely. We show it beside the veterinary figure because the two disagree in an interesting way, not because it is more accurate for your dog.
Treat it as a good estimate, not a measurement. Breed, weight, dental health, neuter status and plain genetic luck all shift the real figure. Your vet, who can look at teeth, joints and bloodwork, will always give a better answer than any chart.
Cats are senior from about eleven. Dogs depend on size: roughly eleven for small breeds, ten for medium, eight for large and seven for giant breeds. The practical consequence is the same in all cases — vets recommend moving from yearly to twice-yearly check-ups.
Sources: American Veterinary Medical Association canine age guidance; 2021 AAHA/AAFP Feline Life Stage Guidelines; AAHA Canine Life Stage Guidelines; Wang et al., Quantitative Translation of Dog-to-Human Aging by Conserved Remodeling of the DNA Methylome (2019). This page is general information, not veterinary advice.
Turn a phone photo into framed wall art — renaissance, pop art, or a quiet memorial piece for the ones who have gone.