Indoor cats live substantially longer than cats with outdoor access, whatever the breed.
| Breed | Size | Lifespan | Energy | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Shorthair | Medium | 15-20 years | Moderate | The 'all-American working cat' story implies a hardy, mixed-heritage constitution, but this is a closed pedigree… |
| Bengal | Medium | 12-16 years | Very high | Bengals carry real wild ancestor genetics from the Asian leopard cat, and depending how many generations removed… |
| Birman | Medium | 12-16 years | Moderate | Birmans are marketed as a calm, especially healthy longhaired breed, but they carry a distinctly higher-than-ave… |
| British Shorthair | Medium | 12-20 years | Low | The round 'teddy bear' face and dense plush coat of the show standard sit on a breed that Cornell's feline healt… |
| Burmese | Medium | 10-16 years | High | The extremely rounded, short-faced 'contemporary' Burmese head comes from a gene that is lethal in double dose —… |
| Manx | Medium | 12-16 years | Moderate | The same gene that gives Manx cats no tail also frequently disrupts how the spinal cord forms — one cited study … |
| Norwegian Forest Cat | Large | 14-16 years | Moderate | This breed is marketed as a hardy, naturally-evolved landrace with few health problems, which is true for most i… |
| Ragamuffin | Large | 12-16 years | Low | Ragamuffin breeders lean hard on the phrase 'hybrid vigor' from outcrossing to domestic longhairs, but the breed… |
| Ragdoll | Large | 12-17 years | Moderate | Ragdolls are sold almost entirely on their limp, placid 'floppy' temperament, but that same breed carries a spec… |
| Russian Blue | Medium | 15-20 years | Moderate | Russian Blues are one of the few purebred cats without a well-documented breed-specific genetic disease, so the … |
| Savannah | Large | 12-20 years | Very high | A Savannah is a serval hybrid, and how legal it is to own one depends entirely on the generation (F1 being close… |
| Somali | Medium | 11-16 years | Very high | Because it's a longhaired Abyssinian, the Somali inherited the Abyssinian's unusually high rate of pyruvate kina… |
| Tonkinese | Medium | 12-16 years | Very high | The Tonkinese is a Siamese-Burmese cross bred to be a 'best of both' companion, but that also means an extremely… |
| Turkish Angora | Medium | 15-20 years | High | A white Turkish Angora — especially one with blue eyes — carries a meaningfully higher risk of being born comple… |
| Turkish Van | Large | 13-17 years | Very high | The Turkish Van's popular reputation as a friendly, water-loving lap cat doesn't fully match the data — a 2021 b… |
Pick two and put them side by side, then read the full cat guide for costs and daily time.