Dog Life Expectancy - A Calculation For Life By Patricia Ellison At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

How long will my dog live? This question is asked by many people concerned with how long their dog is expected to live. Some people guess by thinking of their age in dog years. It’s important to know that the actual life expectancy is based on a variety of things that many people are not aware of.

Though you can’t specify the difference in age and expectancy with an exact formula, it is possible to make some educated guesses based on the information that is available about your dog’s breed, size, and the environment in which he lives.

There are other things that make a difference in how long your dog will live as well. The diet you feed him; we have complete control over our pets’ diet. Consider the amount of exercise they get to control any issues regarding overweight, and whether or not there are any health problems related to the breed. All these play a role as well.

Certain breeds like Chihuahua dogs are expected to live between fifteen and sixteen years. Dogs that are a bit larger like Border Collies are only expected to life between ten and thirteen years. As you look at dogs that are even larger such as the Great Dane are only expected to live between seven and eight years.

You might want to use a breed calculator if you’re confused about how long your dog is expected to live. These give surprisingly accurate results based on the size and breed of dog.

If you still want to calculate your dog’s age in dog years you might know that popular theory has that one human year is the same as seven dog years. As you’ve probably guessed, this is not an accurate calculation because different dogs age at different speeds.

The calculation comes in because when a dog is one year old they are considered to be full grown and at their peak mental and physical condition. In fact, only 8% of dogs live past fifteen years and 16% of them die because of things like heart disease and cancer.

This is a difference as human lives are spared when they get an incurable disease, there are dogs that are euthanized because they develop some kind of disease. Some consider this to be one major reason you can’t expect to compare dog years and human years.

As long as your dog doesn’t get any diseases you might not even see the effects of aging in your dog for quite some time. When you do start to notice it you’ll likely see a decrease in activity levels. Your furry friend might take more frequent naps and also sleep longer than ever before.

Some dogs also experience a downturn in their skin condition, appetite, and may begin to lose their teeth. Loss of hearing and vision are not uncommon either.

Dogs and humans are quite different, but they do experience some of the same things as they age. There are some medications for dogs, that save lives and extend life expectancy, although not as many as are available for humans

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