How Old Is Old?

Have you ever wondered how old old is in the Warriors world? Have you ever thought about how long the elders live? I have, and I know that I am not the only one. Many different people have asked these very questions, and I have heard several different opinions on the subject. My personal opinion, which may or may not be right, is that the elders are much older than many people think.

First of all, let's look at life expectancy. Now, the life expectancy of your average kittypet is 12-15 years old or so, but you really can't expect the Clan cats to live as long as pampered kittypets, can you? The warrior cats have hard lives, so their life expectancies are probably closer to that of most feral cats, who have considerably shorter lives then their domestic counterparts. The average feral cat only lives to be about 2 years old due to the many dangers that are out there in the wild. Personally, though, I believe that the Clan cats have life expectancies that are at least a little longer then that of normal feral cats, seeing as to they are sentient, they care for one another, and they are able to treat some diseases.I think that a warrior can probably expect to live to be 3-5 years or more.

However, just because the life expectancy is 3-5 years old or whatever in the Clans, it doesn't mean that cats die of old age or become elders when they're that young. Just because an age is a life expectancy, it doesn't make it old. For example, in Swaziland, the country with the lowest life expectancy in the world, people can expect to live to be 32 years old. But you would never say that a 32 year old was old, would you? Of course not, and nobody in Swaziland would say that that is old, either. There are probably many people older then that in that country, and certainly no one is going to retire at age 32, that's for sure. The reason why the life expectancy is so low in Swaziland (and, sadly, many other countries) is because so many people die young from things like rampant diseases, hunger, and war--but not old age. And it's the exact same thing for the warrior cats. They are always being killed by hunger, disease, battles, Twolegs, and etc. This causes the life expectancy of the cats to become very low. However, if a Clan cat is lucky enough to survive all these bad things, I do not believe that it will be considered an elder or die of old age until it is around 6-10 years old or so. This seems logical to me, and I cannot find anything in the books that proves me wrong, except for the fact that Mousefur, who became an elder in Starlight, is called young several times in the first series. I have come up with two theories for why that is.

The first theory is that the Erin Hunters just made a mistake. Perhaps they simply forgot that they described Mousefur as young in the first series. It's very hard to remember everything you've ever written, and it's not like Mousefur was being called young constantly, so her age might have been very easy to forget.

However, if you don't want to blame the authors, I have another theory for why Mousefur was described as young in the first series but old in the second. Maybe "young" is older then we think. Cinderpelt was called young at the time of her death, and she was around 3 years old at the time. Mousefur might have been 3 or even 4 when Firestar joined ThunderClan, so she became an elder two and a half years later when she was five or six. Personally, I think that the first theory is more likely, but this one is possible as well, so I don't know. My main point, though, is just that I am pretty sure that Mousefur does not prove that the elders are only 3 years old or something.

However, please keep in mind that this article is just my opinion, and it is not necessarily true. I did look some stuff up, but I am NOT some sort of expert in aging in cats or whatever, so everything that I have written here could very well be complete and utter nonsense. I don't think it is, but it might be, so please remember that I've been honest and told you all this before you rip my fur off for writing something completely false. Anyway... now that I'm done writing my article and pleading for my life, there is really nothing else for me to write. So, goodbye, everyone; thank you for reading this, and may StarClan light all of your paths.