Ageing of Dogs

[MartinL]

I've got 4 dogs. Father aged about 13, mother of 12 and 2 daughters of 9. All in the weight range 17 > 25 kg so 'medium sized' dogs I suppose.

 

They live outside but, until recently, have all been very healthy.

 

I've had to take mother and one daughter to the vets recently and both times (different vets) the vet has said "They're old now. Maybe they won't live long".

 

I've never had dogs before coming to Thailand so have no real experience of their longevity but "old" at 9 seems wrong to me. I'd accept that the father is old at 13, maybe mum too.

 

Do dogs have a shorter lifespan in hot countries like Thailand?

[Polar Bear]

The life expectancy for pet dogs in the UK & US is typically 10-14 years, but it varies by breed and size. For a mutt, size/weight is a bigger factor. For an otherwise healthy mutt that weighs 20-25kg, I'd expect a lifespan of around 11 or 12 years, but obviously that's only going to be a very general figure and there will be considerable variation between individuals. However, I would consider most medium/large dogs to be seniors at 9 or 10. For very small/toy breeds, if they don't die young because of congenital defects, then I'd consider them to be seniors at about 11 or 12. For giant breeds, most are senior by 5 or 6.

[connda]

5 minutes ago, Polar Bear said:

The life expectancy for pet dogs in the UK & US is typically 10-14 years, but it varies by breed and size. For a mutt, size/weight is a bigger factor.

If your dogs are well cared for, I'd expect the same life-span as in the US.  Mix breed Thai dogs are pretty resilient.  Feral dogs and dogs without owners.  A whole lot less. 

[Steiner]

Depends on food and vaccinations.
Dogs on average live 50% of the years they did in the 1970's.

Yearly vaccinations are totally unnecessary and can cause a lot of issues with dogs, cancers being one of the biggest.
Puppy vaccinations should last the dog for life, but then vets would lose a fortune on yearly jabs.
The American Veterinary Assn did actually do the right thing and say this once, for about a fortnight, then they retracted it under a tsunami of push back from vets.
How many measles and tetanus jabs have you had?
Definitely not every year!
My dogs get their puppy jabs and a titer test every 6 yrs.

Kibble, irrespective of the brand, is total rubbish, it's like giving them McDonalds every day.
Dogs never need to eat a carb in their entire life but kibble is full of fibre and totally disrupts their stomach acidity and is simply terrible for them.
So that is another massive factor in longevity.

So for a Thai vet who sees dogs jabbed yearly, fed kibble and rarely walked, 13 would be positively Methuselah like.
 

A great source is Martin Goldstein's book The Nature of Animal Healing or listen to his talk with RFK Jnr on spotify.