Smart tools for every question

What these cat care tools do

PurrQuery's cat care tools turn the questions owners ask most often into a number, a schedule or a short list you can act on. There are six live tools, covering your cat's age, daily calories, pregnancy, vaccinations, weight and name. All of them are free and none needs an account. Each tool page explains its result in plain language, and the age, calorie, weight and name generator pages go further, with full written guidance and named sources.

Which tool should I use?

• To find out how old your cat is in human years, or which life stage they are in, use the cat age calculator.
• To work out how much to feed each day, use the cat calorie calculator.
• To estimate a due date and follow a pregnancy week by week, use the cat pregnancy calculator.
• To build a vaccine schedule and keep boosters on time, use the cat vaccination tracker.
• To check whether your cat is a healthy weight, use the cat weight checker.
• To pick a name with a meaning behind it, use the cat name generator.

How each tool works

Cat age calculator

The cat age calculator converts your cat's age into human years using the widely used conversion: about 15 human years for the first year, 24 at two years, and roughly four more for every cat year after that. In the first year it counts month by month, because a kitten changes faster than a yearly figure can describe. It also places your cat in a life stage from the 2021 AAHA/AAFP Feline Life Stage Guidelines (kitten, young adult, mature adult or senior) and shows how often a vet visit is usually recommended at that stage. For what changes as a cat gets older, read Senior Cat Care.

Cat calorie calculator

The cat calorie calculator starts from resting energy requirement, the calories a cat needs to stay alive at rest, which is 70 times body weight in kilograms raised to the power of 0.75. That figure is multiplied by a factor for life stage and neuter status (1.2 for a neutered adult and 1.4 for an intact one, for example), with separate factors for kittens, pregnant cats and nursing cats, and it is adjusted for activity and body condition. The factors come from the 2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines and the Merck Veterinary Manual. The result is a daily starting amount to adjust by watching your cat's weight, not a prescription. How Much Should I Feed My Cat? shows how to turn it into portions.

Cat pregnancy calculator

The cat pregnancy calculator counts forward from the mating date to a due date, using a gestation length for your cat's breed (between 63 and 66 days in the tool's table, and 65 for a mixed breed). It then shows the current week, the days remaining and what usually happens at each stage, with a window of a few days either side because a due date is an estimate. If you do not know the mating date, you can tick the signs you have noticed and get a rougher estimate with its margin of error stated. The tool also tells you when a pregnancy has run long enough that it is time to call a vet.

Cat vaccination tracker

The cat vaccination tracker builds a schedule from your cat's date of birth (or approximate age) and the shots they have already had. FVRCP and rabies appear for every cat because they are core vaccines under AAFP guidance. FeLV, Bordetella and Chlamydophila only appear when your answers about lifestyle and exposure make them relevant. The schedule follows the AAHA/AAFP feline vaccination guidelines and Cornell's vaccination guidance, and it is a plan to take to your vet, who decides what your cat actually needs. New owners can start with The Complete Guide for New Cat Owners.

Cat weight checker

The cat weight checker combines your cat's weight with a body condition score, based on how the ribs, waist and belly look and feel, to show whether your cat is underweight, lean, ideal, overweight or obese, and it gives an estimated ideal weight range. Body condition scoring follows the WSAVA guidance vets use, and the weight-loss advice draws on Cornell and AAHA guidelines. A weight log kept in your own browser lets you watch the trend, because a steady change matters more than a single reading. If your cat is losing weight without trying, that is a reason to call a vet, not to change the diet; see How to Tell If Your Cat Is Sick.

Cat name generator

The cat name generator picks from 178 hand-chosen names, each with a plain-language meaning, and you can narrow the list by gender, style, breed, personality and more. It can suggest a matched pair for two cats, and the favorites you save are kept in your own browser.

How accurate are the results?

These tools give estimates based on published averages, and every cat is an individual. The human-age figure is a comparison, not a medical measurement. A calorie figure is a starting amount to adjust by watching your cat's weight, and a due date can be out by several days. A vaccine schedule is a plan to discuss with your vet, not a substitute for one. Nothing here is a diagnosis. If your cat seems unwell, or a result surprises you, ask a vet.

What happens to what you enter

The age, calorie, pregnancy, vaccination and weight tools work out their results in your browser, and nothing you enter is sent to our server. The weight log and your saved names are kept in your own browser, so clearing your browser data removes them. The name generator sends us one thing, the name itself, when you save one, so we can keep a count of the most-saved names. Like most sites, we do use an analytics service, which is described along with cookies in the privacy policy.

Sources

• 2021 AAHA/AAFP Feline Life Stage Guidelines
• National Research Council: Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2006)
• AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines
• Cornell Feline Health Center: vaccinations
• WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines: body condition score

The age, calorie, weight and name generator pages list their full sources at the bottom.