To People With Long-lived Dogs

[Teebs]

Our old dogs, Boxer - lived till 11, SBT - 14 and Cattle dog 10 (he went missing when he was 10, no idea what happened to him :D )

All fed on cheap food, chum/pal scraps, whatever Mum and Dad could afford

oh, and they all had tinned food!

[hortfurball]

Didn't read everyones replies so don't know if this was said but maybe these days it isn't down to diet .. just unhealthy lines?

A lot more BYB these days and who really knows that the pedigree registered puppy you buy isn't from a BYB?

My first dog was fed supermarket foods and she lived to a ripe old age .. that is going back 15ish years since she passed on. She was a real farm dog and with what I'm certian were healthy strong parents.

Supermarket food has changed from how it was, I personally think it's worse.

Aren't humans a lot more sicker these days from a diet that our grandparents did wonders on, back in the day?

Pretty sure Kuges would be a BYB mutt, so that doesn't affect the outcome either. I think sometimes you're just lucky.

[shmoo]

The family dog when I was a child was a JRT, lived to 16 and her only health problem was a slight heart murmur in the last year of her life. Lived on My Dog he whole life.

My current dogs have a BARF diet and premium dry food. Shall see how long they live!

eta: Glenda the family dog died around 5 years ago now.

Edited April 18, 2010 by shmoo

[sas]

The mutts my family had growing up all lived long lives and were fed super market foods.

I personaly believe longevity is in the genes.

Also what is considered a great age for a Kelpie wouldn't be what is considered a great age for a Giant Breed.

Edited April 18, 2010 by sas

[chuckandsteve]

My 19 year old pom X was feed cat food from the supermarket. lol

Wouldn't eat dog food. She did get gum diease and lost her teeth but I think it was more her breed are prone to it and she was 17 at the time

[Monah]

All our dogs have been longlived on all sorts of diets. Same with cats. All have been very healthy until their final few months.I think it's like humans, my parents smoked since the age of 14, lived through the blitz, starved, lived on 'bread and dripping', never exercised etc., same with grandparents etc., all lived (mum still here) well into late 80s and 90s.

I feed my dogs mainly raw these days, and they are very very healthy, fingers crossed they live until at least 16!! :D

[persephone]

dogs who live completely outdoors or in kennels their entire lives have shorted life spans.

tell that to our old workers, who mostly get PTS or die at around 14/15 .

Food - mostly just bones/meat/offal with a cheapish dry food when meat is scarce. They live outdoors ,work very hard,have basic vacc's and see a vet only in emergencies.

[Souff]

I personaly believe longevity is in the genes.

Also what is considered a great age for a Kelpie wouldn't be what is considered a great age for a Giant Breed.

I agree. Some breeds are not going to live as long as other breeds, with the occasional exception.

Also, every time a dog has to have an operation, or recover from some sort of trauma, their immune system takes a dive and you rarely see a dog that has had a lot of serious health problems along the way go on to be an old dog.

The dogs that are kept healthy along the way, and particularly keep the dental health good, you have got a better chance of seeing your dog through to old age.

And then you can look forward to them being slightly odd, a little bit stiff in the mornings, and have a touch of dementia. :D

Souff

[~Anne~]

The mutts my family had growing up all lived long lives and were fed super market foods.

I personaly believe longevity is in the genes.

Also what is considered a great age for a Kelpie wouldn't be what is considered a great age for a Giant Breed.

I agree, but also that environment and luck also come into it.

The debate about which is the best type of food to feed dogs borders on hysterical mania at best. I am so tired of hearing people say that commerical foods kill dogs or that commercial feeders are somehow slack in their care of their dogs.

Dogs can and do live to ripe old ages when fed barf or raw and they can and do live to ripe old ages when fed commercial diets.

[Souff]

dogs who live completely outdoors or in kennels their entire lives have shorted life spans.

tell that to our old workers, who mostly get PTS or die at around 14/15 .

Some breeds have all the natural gear to live completely outdoors, if necessary, and still kick on to old age.

Souff

[teekay]

Very interesting reading. Makes me wonder if I'm wasting my money on the premium dry foods.

[stormie]

Maybe all the preservatives in the tinned foods was what kept them all going so long!

[Little Gifts]

I have a staffy that came to live with me due to neglect when she was about a year old. As a result of the intial neglect she has had numerous operations over the years - several of which I never thought she'd survive.

She is almost 16 now and still going strong despite chronic pancreatitis, diabetes and cancerous growths everywhere. The best thing I ever did 10 years ago (when she was diagnosed with the pancreatitis) is simplify her diet. She eats very controlled amounts of Hills Science WD - dry and wet, twice a day. She has never once turned her nose up at it despite the blandness. She never worries about what the other dogs are eating either. She no longer gets any snacks or leftover bits of toast or fat off the steak or half a biscuit at morning tea time (neither does my other dog). Those things were killing her really and she stopped missing them a long time ago. I have replaced them with talking and pats which do much more for her longevity.

Our only problem is her teeth as she can't have any bones and she has never been keen on having them cleaned for her. I do however give her vegetarian pigs ears every now and then which doesn't make her sick and helps with her teeth a little.

[goldenluv]

I have a staffy that came to live with me due to neglect when she was about a year old. As a result of the intial neglect she has had numerous operations over the years - several of which I never thought she'd survive.

She is almost 16 now and still going strong despite chronic pancreatitis, diabetes and cancerous growths everywhere. The best thing I ever did 10 years ago (when she was diagnosed with the pancreatitis) is simplify her diet. She eats very controlled amounts of Hills Science WD - dry and wet, twice a day. She has never once turned her nose up at it despite the blandness. She never worries about what the other dogs are eating either. She no longer gets any snacks or leftover bits of toast or fat off the steak or half a biscuit at morning tea time (neither does my other dog). Those things were killing her really and she stopped missing them a long time ago. I have replaced them with talking and pats which do much more for her longevity.

Our only problem is her teeth as she can't have any bones and she has never been keen on having them cleaned for her. I do however give her vegetarian pigs ears every now and then which doesn't make her sick and helps with her teeth a little.

sorry to go off topic by what are vegetarian pigs ears

[Little Gifts]

My vet sells these vegetarian pigs ears. Don't know exactly what is in them except there is no meat. They are made in some kind of pigs ear mould so they look like the real thing but without the veiny bits. Obviously they taste ok as all 3 of our dogs prefer them over the real thing. 3 for $5!

[chuckandsteve]

My Pom X that was 19 got hit by a car at about age 8. Was never vaccinated or taken to the vet. (except when she got hit by the car) All our animals lived a long time youngest was 17 and given cheap food and not taken to the vets. They were well loved inside when they wanted to be. I think you will find most animals live a long time so long as they dont get cancer or another diease (ie one that is not old age related)

[mutt lover]

My dog Lady who is still here is 17 next month, was a shelter dog and very very sick when I got her was back to vet every 2nd week for different things when i first got her and it took at least 12 months before she come good.

Anyway she's been fed science diet dry food for sensitive stomach's and either science diet light can or boiled chicken and vegies, A family dog we had when I was growing up "Bundle" was fed on pal, dry food and bones and lived till he was 17 also died from pancreatic cancer.

[Cordelia]

Aren't humans a lot more sicker these days from a diet that our grandparents did wonders on, back in the day?

Not really.. considering that lifespan years ago was much lower than it is today... and we have better medical assistance to keep people alive longer as well. What killed people 50yrs ago, isn't so much a death sentence these days (depending on what it is of course).

[kimzy]

I totally agree with Soufs comment about dental health being importanat. Our Toy Poodle recently got here wings this last year. She lived to the ripe old age of 19, we had her teeth cleaned until she was almost 16 and she had them when she died. Well, most of them She started off with nutros or eukanuba with science diet canned. She had that for the first 1/3 of her life with treats like chicken, chicken necks or the odd bone to chew on. Then we changed to different drys and mince with rice for a while. The last 5 years of her life she had supercoat dry (her preference) and chicken breast in strips or whatever meat we were eating slightly grilled on the outside and raw in the middle. She never had any major health problems and had an active lifestyle with lots of swimming. Our kitty lived to 17 and he ate whiskas and canned wet or whatever meat the dogs were eating.

my childhood dogs both lived to 15 and 17 and they ate cheap dogfood, whatever we could afford. I guess we can just do our best and hope for the best.

[MavericksMission]

My childhood dog who passed over the rainbow bridge early this year at the age of 16, only ever had supermarket brand food..

She was a Kelpie Cross.

She has My Dog canned food for her last couple of years and Optimum Mature Dog.

When she was younger, I'm pretty sure that she mainly had Pedigree Pal, wet & dry!

ETA: She got regular bones & table scraps.

Edited April 19, 2010 by MavericksMission