Spring 2001
What is a Senior Pet?
Consider, for example, that most female cats and dogs will have their first heat by the age of 6 months, which according to this system would mean human puberty at three and a half!
Longevity varies with breed. In general, the smaller the dog, the longer its lifespan- so a Foxie might be getting pretty long in the tooth at 14 or 15, whereas a Great Dane who makes it to 9 or 10 is doing very well indeed.
As a generalisation, we would consider our patients to be in the "senior" category by the time they’ve reached 8 years old. Certainly at this stage it is appropriate to start giving consideration to the sort of potential medical problems that we discuss in these pages. |
You may be wondering whether or not your pet qualifies as a GVH "senior" patient. Many people think that 1 dog or cat year is equivalent to 7 human years, but unfortunately things aren’t quite that simple. 
Most cats are reaching their winter years around 15 or 16. As with people, there is also a lot of individual variation in when a dog or cat is "old": we all know some people in their 90s who look to be in their 60s, and unfortunately the reverse is also true. 