Here is how I was taught and it makes sense to me. Cats and dogs age the same their first year and then it is determined by size. A cat or dog is 14 human years old when they reach 1 year old. How did they figure this, well, both cats and dogs could have raised a litter by 1 year old. Now, here is how it changes.
Cats age 4.5 years for every year, after year 1. So an 11 year old cat would be 14 + 4.5 x 10= 59 years old. I see a number of cats that reach 20 years old, but within the next year many pass. Lets look at the numbers at 20 a cat would be 19 x 4.5 = 85.5 + 14 = 99.5 years old and at 21 a cat would be 104 and we equate this back to our life. We see a number of people reaching 99.5 but few reach 104 although they do. The oldest cat I have seen was 26 years old.
Dogs you look at weights the bigger the dog the faster they age.
Small Breed Dogs: 5-6 years/1 human year Medium Breed Dogs: 6-7 years
Large Breed Dogs: 7-8 years/1 human year and Giant Breed Dogs: 8-9 years
So a small 11 year old dog would be 14 + 10 x 5 = 64 years a medium 11 year old dog would be 14 + 10 x 6 = 74 a large breed dog would be 14 + 10 x 7 = 84 and a Giant Breed Dog would be 14 + 10 x 8 = 94
Thats why you see Great Danes with silver hair as early as 4-5 years old. The oldest dogs I have seen were both German Shepherd male intact dogs and both were 21 years old and the owners had owned them for this long. These two dogs don't follow the rules and by our measurements would be 14 + 20 x 7 = 154 years old, but in general it seems to make sense to me and I see alot of dogs. Good preventative care, nutrition and exercise is the key to a good health life. No different than our lives.
Did you know that cats and dogs don't have
a joint that attaches the shoulder blade to the body wall like we do. So how does it attach? Facia, muscles, tendons and ligaments work well together to strengthen the attachment to the rib cage and chest. This means that when a dog or a cat jumps on to the floor the front legs must absorb the force exerted by the body weight of the animal and this can cause muscle tears or pulled muscles. A general rule of thumb is "if they bear weight" on the limb it's probably not broken and probably a pulled muscle which can be very painful and can greatly reduce the pets activity. There are some prescription medcation to reduce inflammation and pain when these things occur check with us when this happens.
Do you have a cat or dog that is diabetic or that you suspect may be then check out these websites.
