How Old is My Dog?

Eight in ten people consider their dog a member of their family. So, it is not surprising that43 percent of dog owners celebrate birthdays, according to a study done by Purina Pet Institute. The celebration includes a new toy, or a special trip to the park. But a doubt emerges when we try to calculate how old the dog is in human years. 

Once upon a time, it was an easy task to translate the age of a dog into human years. All you had to do was multiply the age of the dog by seven. But now it seems that it’s not so simple. If Sparky is ten years old, he’s not necessarily as old as a seventy year old human. Think about this: If it were truth that one dog year is like seven human years, a dog at the age of one would be like a human at the age of seven. But a human can’t reproduce at the age of seven, while a dog can reproduce at the age of one.

A two month puppy is approximately like a 14 month baby; a 6 month puppy is like a 5 year old kid; an 8 month puppy is like a 20 year old human; a dog at the age of three is like a person at the age of thirty; a five year old dog is like a forty year old person; and a dog who’s seven years old is like a human who is forty six. What is more, according to the BBC, not every breed ages in the same way. Besides, dogs may age at different rhythm at the different stages of their lives. And size is fundamental to determine how old the dog really is.

Ezequiel Olivieri y Julieta Balduzi, directors of a website devoted to pets, explained, “Statistically, the bigger the dog, the less they live. The biggest ones have a life expectancy of 12 years and the smallest ones can live up to 16 years or more. This depends, of course, of the quality of the food, the hygiene and the life style”. They then added, “It’s fundamental to take into account that a dog reaches its definitive size in its first year, that’s when we can evaluate its size”.

A source from the BBC explained, “If you think in the statistical correlation between the life expectancy and body size in mammals, generally, it tends to be positive: Gorillas, elephants and wales live much longer than hamsters and mice”. Therefore, a Rottweiler should live longer than a Yorkshire. But it’s actually the other way around. This is because small dogs have a shorter youth and a longer adulthood. They grow faster during their first 24 months, but their growing slows down as they mature. As strange as it might seem, a small dog at the age of two is older than a big one of the same age; but the small dog will be younger than the big one when they are both 5.

What's Eating Your Pet?

Every human being has had a mosquito or flea bite that they just wanted to scratch completely off, yet pet owners often do not pay any attention while their dog is scratching away. Being less furry than our four-legged friends, we can look right at an itchy spot and usually identify it. Dogs and cats, however, do not know why they itch so badly. They have no knowledge of insects that bite, or allergy flair-ups. Our best friends rely on us to help them.

Worse than a terrible itching that the dog does not fully understand, the pooch can also get heart-worms from insect bites. The worm grows to astronomical lengths in the chambers of the heart, eventually killing your best friend, if not caught by a relatively inexpensive blood test by a vet. You are the only thing that stands between your dog’s misery, and possibly even death. Preventative measures can be taken by you, buy purchasing a product that has a strong reputation for safety. Frontline and Revolution are two of the ones most highly recommended for safety by most vets.

There are very inexpensive products on the shelves that have a reputation for being dangerous to a pet’s health. Make sure you call your vet before buying a cheap product. In fact, most vet offices have staff that does not charge a dime to answer a question about the reputation of any brand, when called on the phone. Flea and tick sprays are usually not a wise idea, although they are incredibly inexpensive. Cats, with their propensity to groom themselves for long periods of time when anything unusual is on their fur are quite susceptible to poisoning from sprays. Cats have licked off the temptingly affordable sprays on the shelf, and have died from poisoning. Many owners have contacted the manufacturers of such sprays, and were met with denial that the product was the cause of the pet’s illness. Despite many negative articles found online about these cheap products, the manufactures have been able to keep these sprays on the shelves for literally decades.

Another preventative step is to keep your lawn cut to a short height. A short lawn holds the moisture of morning dew for a shorter time, as well as helping the grass dry after a rain. Dry, short grass is less likely to harbor nests of mosquitoes, and fleas. Also, search your exterior property for standing water in any container, tire, or deep crevice. Mosquitos breed more than rabbits if standing water is available.

Your vet can identify potential allergy attacks on your four-legged buddy. Unfortunately, it may be more common than you would think. Just because you are not allergic to grass, pollen, or ragweed, does not mean that your pet is not. You can’t see what’s in the air. When you think you are doing your pet a big favor to let them sit in the sunshine, in the yard, you may be sending them out to enjoy lounging in something as nasty as what poison ivy is to you.

Be on the ball. Watch your pet for even the slightest of scratching. Use preventative measures, and call your vet’s staff for free advice over the phone. Pets can’t do this for themselves. You’re it!