Dogs That Live To A Ripe Old Age

[haylz27]

Chum... My mum bought a can of that the other day for our dogs and one of them threw it up everywhere. No wonder we never buy it!

I can recall our kelpie x border collie that we had when I was a kid. She lived until the ripe age of almost 18. My nan's blue heeler lived until he was 17. Both were fed on normal dog food (probably like chum..) and no high quality foods. I guess it really depends on the individual dog though.

[SnoPaws]

My rescue Bullmastiff lived to 14

I was about 18 when I moved out of home and he was MY first dog and I have to admit I was pretty clueless ;)

He was 12 months old when I got him and had been starved during his first year due to the owners not being able to afford to feed him properly.

I bought whatever big bag of dry from the supermarket that was on special and he got a bucket :D of that everyday with all our scraps. He never got tinned food because the smell makes me dry reach however breakfast would be whatever cereal and toast my kids had not eaten and dinner could be anything from satay chicken and rice to the roast lamb (cooked :p ) bone and vegies. Later on his life we switched to Supercoat and lots of raw meat but still scraps. Wasn't unusual to find that he had raided my vegie patch and stolen a whole watermelon and was devouring it

He attended the vet once in his life when I first got him for his shots until he got bone cancer, was never desexed, lived outside until his last years and was wormed about once a year. He rarely got walked but the kids and I spent hours outside everyday with him

[lovemymutts]

Interesting isn't it!

I remember watching a documentary about Juliette DeBaraclay Levy (spelling) and a woman on the dvd bred I think Bernese Mountain Dogs & said after changing to an 'all natural' diet suggested by Juliette her dogs were living to 16.

But my rellies who are all farmers have working dogs that are fed on pal, chum or some other cheap dog food from stock feed places & they all live til a good old age (14+) unless fatally injured. They do get the odd scraps from killer sheep as well. & my grandparents cat who lived on their farm was fed dry food its whole life with the odd rabbit chucked in & that was at least 25 when it went off to die, no one knows its exact age only it was at least that old.

My dogs get supercoat, raw food, canned food, rolls, bones, scraps when I run out of their food, sardines every now & then & they are all very healthy. They also get plenty of exercise. My old CCR x boy is 12 now & I would say he's probably got a good couple of years left in him, he has only just started slowing down now due to arthritis in his back legs & a heart murmur.

[Moselle]

Chihuahua - lived to 18yo; home cooked meals and bits from my plate; Was vaccinated for the 1st 4 years of her life then no more; used to have fits until she was 5 and then had no more fits for the last 13 years of her life, I attribute that to my stopping her yearly boosters!

Border collie - 17 yo. Raw diet, mostly consisting of chicken and lamb shanks. Vaccinated for the first two years of his life and then no more jabs.

Boxer - 16 years - Puppy shots and then a booster 12 mths later. Fed a puppy formula for 2 years along with raw chicken products.

[~Anne~]

Cindy, the Kelpie cross Lab that was owned by my first husband, was 16 when I met her and 19 when she died. She was fed dinner scraps, canned food (can't recall the brand) and no-name kibble from Franklins. No-one knows where she came from, she simply wandered into my ex's work as a pup.

The oldest Pug that I have ever known died last year (I think it was last year) at 17 years of age. She was fed Natures Gift tinned food.

Two of my current dogs are all heading into the early part of their senior years at 8 years of age, and almost 8, and Olivia is now 6 (but looks 100). The two eldest are fed primarily a raw and natural diet with kibble as well and sometimes Naturs Gift canned food. Olivia eats only her prescription kibble. I doubt Monte will live to be a very old dog due to his ongoing epilepsy, and possibly not Boof given that he has already had one low grade MCT removed... and I am not so sure Olivia will live forever either given her previous condition and treatment before she came to me.

I 100% agree that the longevity of a dog is primarily luck and genes.

[mita]

Our "Grandma' ( formerly 'Tessa[), lived into her 23 rd year. She was deliberately thrown from a car when a puppy & we came by soon after.

Gran was a little black with some white dog that looked like a cross between a poodle & a tibbie (but she may have been a Designed by God Dog from many generations back). Her nose was longer than a tibbie but she had that body shape & tail, but with a poodlely coat. Her personality was very laid back & self-confident. No ditziness.

After being desexed, she had absolutely no illnesses or need for vet treatment of any kind, until she was 19 yrs old. Then she was put under the care the UQ Vet Clinic. They put her on a special diet because older dogs' livers are not working as well. She also had some tooth surgery. The dental vet told us he'd be using anaesthetic techniques which are used for very sick human babies...so it'd go easy on her. In her 23 rd year, she began to show signs of marked cognitive decline & she was helped to heaven.

Our p/b Sheltie, Shelley, from a Qld registered breeder died in her 16th year. She, too, from the time she was desexed, never had an illness or needed any vet treatment, until the last 16 months of her life, when she started to become weak in her back legs. The vets said it was not treatable.

She, too, was eventually helped to heaven.

In Shelley's case, it couldn't have been personality. She was the original red-headed ditizy girl and drama queen ( we should have called her Lucy after Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy).

Edited August 18, 2010 by mita

[poodlefan]

Just out of interest, how many of the dogs people know of that lived to a ripe old age were fat?

[Guest]

My husbands Scottish Terrier lived for 14 years only ate table scraps and butchers offcuts, never went to a vet as there wern't any where he lived.

I also had a Border Collie that was fed the same way, lived to 14 also and never saw a vet, as I lived in the same place as my husband, and back then the dogs just roamed where ever they liked, not that they can do that here in the city, except in dog parks.

lablove

[OSoSwift]

Just out of interest, how many of the dogs people know of that lived to a ripe old age were fat?

The old male Kelpie was never fat.

Mum's Kelpie cross was overweight for probably of her life, but not obese.

[ravenau1]

Just out of interest, how many of the dogs people know of that lived to a ripe old age were fat?

Our German Shepherd was always on the lean side, never overweight.

[RallyValley]

My old girl Lilly is 14. She has been effected with arthritis/HD since the age of 5 (we were throwing the ball for her like 20 mins a day even as a young pup and she did these sliding stops, think rodeo horse) She was fed supermarket foods until the age 10 and has been overweight since she was 6 years old. Her diet is good quality now, she gets joint supplements and a cartophen. She is quite a large dog (maybe lab sized) so I think she has done quite well.

[~Anne~]

Just out of interest, how many of the dogs people know of that lived to a ripe old age were fat?

Cindy was what you would consider a tad 'broad around the girth'.

[Meea]

Gee the BARF people have gone quiet..

I suspect the preservatives in the early processed dog food must have helped us along.

All my dogs in the early days of table scraps and supermarket dog food lived well into their teens -even breeds not reknown for it. More recently I have had single digit life spans. What do we know?!

[mita]

Our German Shepherd was always on the lean side, never overweight.

Our 'Gran' who lived until nearly 23 yrs, owed one reason to a German Shepherd.

At age 3 yrs, then called 'Tessa', she was a confident bossy boss of big dogs (if she could get near them).

One day she slipped thro' the gate & took off to abuse a German Shepherd going by. He very rightly gave her one sharp nip (no skin broken). Tessa turned tail & came screaming home, 'That dog bit me!' Only to be told she deserved it. And she'd got off lightly. The GSD could have torn her to bits, but simply gave her a good correcting nip. She never, ever tried to boss a big dog, ever again. That GSD deserves credit for fixing up one factor that could have shortened Tessa's life.

Edited August 18, 2010 by mita

[westielover]

Gee the BARF people have gone quiet..

I'll let you know how long my BARF/RAW fed dogs go when they pass on ..... currently they are 10 yrs, 9 yrs, 5 yrs & 18 mths. :D The 2 westies are the oldest and people always comment on how good, healthy and young they look! The photos in my sig were taken in May this year.

The thing I find most interesting in this thread is the lack of vet visits ....... a lot of these old dogs rarely went to a vet which means they were rarely vaccinated and some were irregularly wormed etc. I find that fascinating and I reckon must be a major contributor to longevity!

Edited August 18, 2010 by westielover

[mita]

Well, our 'Gran' had no special diet (until she got to 19 yrs when the UQ put her on low-protein). She got the same as any other dog we've had. I wouldn't have known what BARF was. I suspect that her genes gave her a sound immune system, a sturdy but compact muscular-skeletal frame & a laid-back personality. Her environment gave her adequate food/shelter, a life free from excess stress and good physical maintenance (like worming, vaccinations etc).

[Nekhbet]

I think it depends more on the genetics then the diet solely. Plus being raised more on exercise then being locked up in yards or runs, dogs were fitter from the beginning.

My last shepherd lived until almost 15 years old. I cooked rice, pasta, veges and mixed in raw mince/eggs for her. Died of a tumour and arthritis mum had to have her PTS.

grandmothers entire rottweiler lived until 16 on whatever she had lying around. Used to snip up cooked bones for her with pliers. Saying that the dog by that age had a couple of mammary tumours, severe arthritis, cloudy eyes and looked like crap. Dad had to convince her to finally let the dog rest as a life now lying solely on concrete wasnt nice for her.

I see farm dogs come in to work and you can tell the ones that are fed on chum, pal or some other glorified horse food. Their coats are dry, they're not lean muscle and the older ones have stained teeth and usually 'joint problems' that they cant seem to fix. There is a difference between living at your peak and surviving. Not every dog can be its best on the smell of an oily rag.

[shepherdpower]

Hey, thanks everybody for your feedback. It IS interesting how many dogs that have lived to old ages have hardly been to the vet., and also not vaccinated regularly.

As you have all mostly pointed out, the immune system has a huge amount to do with longevity, as well as good genes, plenty of exercise, but as to the diet, it seems that there is no particular one that is more successful. I guess it is what suits each individual dog that is the key, as well as variety.

[rubiton]

BUt just as many have been to vets each year. All the ones I know of have been so again its not a pointer either way. Nor is exercise when dogs can live in a backyard and rarely go outside it or spend all the day when not eating on a bean bag. Obviously though exercise, vet treatment, feeding it on what it does well on etc can help prolong the good condition of a dog whose genes may result in them developing issues such as hip issues younger than you'd expect from old age.

And with the vaccinations prior to the early to mid 80s there was no heartworm problem nor parvo - can remember the vet saying that the family dogs now needed parvo jabs and heartworm as they now had to the 'new' dieases. And heartworm treatnment was originally a tablet every single day until later on the monthly ones came out.

AS for weight - well my OHs grandmothers dog was a Golden Retriever that was at least 3 times as big as he should have been around the girth (think hairy coffee table) and he only died recently aged about 14 or 15.

Edited August 19, 2010 by rubiton

[Rysup]

Agree its a combination of genes, breed, food, and good old fashioned luck.

My eldest is a Lhasa Apso. He is 14 1/2 and has not been vaccinated since he was 2. He's never been fat. Just potters around twice a day, sleeps and eats. Same breed, same care, almost same bloodlines, I had to have my 10 year old baby girl PTS a month ago as she was sick with cancer. I have heard of a lot of Lhasa's living beyond 24 years.