Dealing with Aging Animals
Dealing with Aging Animals
How to recognize Old Age signs in your dog
The effects of time are noticeable in people and animals. Old age comes quickly, and there are many signs that your dog is aging and entering the so-called “third age.”
Your dog is getting old, the moment of old age. The aging stage in our pets arrives, and it is necessary to consider some signs that will indicate when our pet started this stage.
It is also important to consider certain precautions to live this stage better. Old age is not an illness but evidence of the ordinary and progressive degeneration of the animal. As in humans, aging promotes the appearance of some diseases.
The two phases indicate your dog is aging.
In the first phase, the animal begins to age at the cellular level. We will notice how its coat starts to change, turning gray in some areas, such as its paws and muzzle. The animal also has little mobility and a low level of activity.
In the second phase, the canine aging process is accelerated. The sense of smell is lost, and the fur turns white. The shine of the fur changes to an opaque tone and, also, changes in behavior begin to occur.
In this second phase, the dog becomes more likely to suffer from kidney and heart disease.
Signs that your dog is aging by size.
Very small dogs weighing less than 5-10 kg can be considered mature when they reach 7-8 years of age and elderly when they reach 12.
Dogs weighing less than 50 Lb. come of age at 6-7 years and are old by 10 years. Large dogs between 60 and 100 pounds are considered mature at 5 years old when they reach 8 years.
When they are over 5 years old, very large dog’s age very quickly and do not usually go beyond 10 years old.
The Race also Matters:
The breed of the dog is another critical factor that affects its average age. So, by way of example, a boxer usually lives less than a German shepherd.