# Dog Lifespan Records And Diet



## Todd

Hey guys. Sorry if I put this in the wrong category. Not sure where else it would fit. Anyway, there's been a lot of talk here on the forum about the average lifespan of dogs fed as opposed to dogs fed kibble. Raw Fed Dogs provided an article with a study on this, but I believe that there's a BIG problem with that study. When they stated the average lifespan of dogs fed kibble they didn't mention quality of kibble There's a HUGE difference between let say IAMS and Origin, right??? Who ever conducted that study was VERY unspecific. 

Anyhow, here are a few articles recording the oldest dogs whom ever lived and the articles also mention their diets. Did these dogs eat kibble??? I don't think so! They didn't eat raw, but ate a home cooked diet which is still superior to kibble. Would you consider this proof that making your own meal for your dog is better than kibble? This is too much of a coincidence not to be. I understand this wasn't an official study and only involved a few dogs, however this IS evidence to me. Check these excerpts out and then the full articles;

Bluey (June 7, 1910 – November 14, 1939) was an Australian cattle dog owned by Les and Esma Hall of Rochester, Victoria, Australia, which, according to an anecdotal report, lived 29 years, 5 months and 7 days, but the record is unverified.[1] Bluey's diet included regular meals of kangaroo and emu.

Perhaps coincidentally, Bluey's owner Esma Hall lived to age 103. Rumors that she was fed on a diet of kangaroo and emu herself are unsubstantiated.

Another dog, Bramble, from Somerset, England, lived for 27 years on a vegetarian diet. (There's also been some controversy here on the forum about dogs fed vegetarian diets. I don't agree with this whatsoever, but this still is interesting)

Full article links;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluey_(Australian_cattle_dog)

Vegetable-Eating Dog Lives to Ripe Old Age of 29; Also: Who is the Oldest Dog in the World; And: How to Make Your Dog Live 1.8 Years Longer


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## dogtrainer1507

My first dog was 21 when he passed and I will be honest my parents probably fed him the cheapest dog food there was. Not saying feed your dog crap but I think that is a pretty long life. And he enjoyed every minute of it


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## Todd

dogtrainer1507 said:


> My first dog was 21 when he passed and I will be honest my parents probably fed him the cheapest dog food there was. Not saying feed your dog crap but I think that is a pretty long life. And he enjoyed every minute of it


I also know a 15 year old dog feed crap. I think it just has to do with genetics in this case. Only sure way to help your dog reach its full lifespan potential is to feed a healthy diet though. Crappy kibble is a gamble.


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## dogtrainer1507

I totally agree. I'm guessing that most of the dogs forum eat better then their owners, I know most of my clients dogs do.


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## Todd

dogtrainer1507 said:


> I totally agree. I'm guessing that most of the dogs forum eat better then their owners, I know most of my clients dogs do.


Exactly:biggrin:


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## rannmiller

I haven't had any of my dogs long enough for them to die, but my oldest dog, Kati, was "supposed" to die around 8.5 years of age because she got hit by a car when she was younger so the stupid vets thought she'd have kidney damage and wouldn't live too long. Well she was certainly headed that way when she was on Hill's prescription K/D formula for the next 8 years. When I got her into my full possession I switched her to a better kibble and she did a little better. Then I switched her to raw and she's doing tons better! She's now 12 years old and I'm now fairly certain she's going to be like one of those feisty old ladies who just keeps on truckin' and lives forever.


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## whiteleo

I believe that in the old days dog food sold in the grocery stores probably wasn't as bad as it is now by any means. The bottom line has taken it's toll on the quality of everything out there, production costs, inflation etc. So, I can see where dogs back in the day could live longer than they do now. Absolutely everything in this country is not made the way it was back in the day.


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## Todd

rannmiller said:


> I haven't had any of my dogs long enough for them to die, but my oldest dog, Kati, was "supposed" to die around 8.5 years of age because she got hit by a car when she was younger so the stupid vets thought she'd have kidney damage and wouldn't live too long. Well she was certainly headed that way when she was on Hill's prescription K/D formula for the next 8 years. When I got her into my full possession I switched her to a better kibble and she did a little better. Then I switched her to raw and she's doing tons better! She's now 12 years old and I'm now fairly certain she's going to be like one of those feisty old ladies who just keeps on truckin' and lives forever.


That's wonderful!!!!! You should be very, very proud of yourself for basically saving your dog's life!! 12 years already when the vet said 8? Way to go!:smile:


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## xxshaelxx

I saw someone in a post in another thread on here that said something about dogs living to a ripe old age on crap kibble, but if they were on a better kibble, they maybe would have lived even longer? Perhaps that 29 year old vegan dog would have lived to 37 on a high quality, high protein kibble? Or perhaps that 21 year old dog would have lived to be 26? Or so on and so forth? I mean, we'll never know, but it's something worth thinking about, in my opinion.

Wish I knew who said that and where, because I feel bad taking their idea and not giving them credit. XP


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5

xxshaelxx said:


> I saw someone in a post in another thread on here that said something about dogs living to a ripe old age on crap kibble, but if they were on a better kibble, they maybe would have lived even longer? Perhaps that 29 year old vegan dog would have lived to 37 on a high quality, high protein kibble? Or perhaps that 21 year old dog would have lived to be 26? Or so on and so forth? I mean, we'll never know, but it's something worth thinking about, in my opinion.
> 
> Wish I knew who said that and where, because I feel bad taking their idea and not giving them credit. XP


well i think most of us were thinking that its common sense =p.

so dont feel bads.


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## harrkim120

dogtrainer1507 said:


> My first dog was 21 when he passed and I will be honest my parents probably fed him the cheapest dog food there was. Not saying feed your dog crap but I think that is a pretty long life. And he enjoyed every minute of it


What kind of dog was he?


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## dogtrainer1507

He was a sheltie beagel mix. I loved that dog he had the cutesy little bowed legs and loved to hunt. He was a horrible puppy but when he passed even my dad was crying and he didn't even cry when I got married. I thought he would happy to be getting rid of me guesshe liked the dog better. Hehe


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## Grizcat68

*15 year old lab*

My yellow lab is currently a couple months away from 15 and still going strong! Healthy diet of Iams, pizza crusts, and bread once in a while


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## RawFedDogs

Your dog is living a long life in spite of everything you can do to prevent it. Good for him. :smile:


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## ruckusluvr

wow! i bet he would be 20 if he ate a balanced healthy diet!


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## jiml

as some have said. A lot has to do with genetics and the individual. As with people some can eat unhealthy and never have any diet related problems others die at 45 of heart failure. your odds are better on the healthier diet.


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## northdog

*Please advise me*

My last dog died at 8 - kidney disease. My puppy (8 months now) wants to live longer. I don't understand what kind of kibble is best. Origen is high protein 70%, I think. I put her on it (recommended by one vet). Then she got sick, diarrhea, and the next vet said it was bad for her. Vet didn't say why. Puppy is better now, though. Most other kibble products are significantly lower in protein - Nutro Natural Choice is 26%. How can 2 dog food products be so extremely different??


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## dobesgalore

RawFedDogs said:


> Your dog is living a long life in spite of everything you can do to prevent it. Good for him. :smile:


LOL!!! :biggrin:


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## buddy97

northdog said:


> Origen is high protein 70%- Nutro Natural Choice is 26%. How can 2 dog food products be so extremely different??


among other things, one is full of alot of meat product, the other one is not.

orijen is 40% protein.....they claim 70% meat content on the kibble, not the same as saying 70% protein.


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## VolvoRottie

whiteleo said:


> I believe that in the old days dog food sold in the grocery stores probably wasn't as bad as it is now by any means. The bottom line has taken it's toll on the quality of everything out there, production costs, inflation etc. So, I can see where dogs back in the day could live longer than they do now. Absolutely everything in this country is not made the way it was back in the day.


Very true, when I was a kid in the 1960s, my first dog Daisy ate Alpo nearly exclusively along with my mom's then terrific home cooking. We would look into the ALPO can and it looked just like Dinty Moore Beef Stew sold today for human consumption; our dog got real beef and yes it had veggies in there along with the fat and gravy of cooking it, it smelled pretty good and that dog loved it to pieces. Today ALPO Is crappy dog food and isn't at all what it was back then. Daisy lived until she was 15 but she was a small Wire-haired Fox Terrier and a maniac her whole life. 

My next door neighbor had a hunting dog reject, a Pointer named Ben who was fed the cheapest crap from WalMart his whole life; he was 19 yrs old when he died. 

I think our dogs lived a long time back then due to not only better food but genetics and maybe less horrendous chemicals in the environment. 

I feed my 11 yr old Rottie kibble now, but when she arrived here as a shelter save/rescue, she was 2 yrs old and a living skeleton. Her fur was dull and flaky, and she had a lot of goo in her eyes. She not only was fed good food immediately , she was fed human food for a year as I was really worried about her health. Turns out she was young and bounced back, and has great hips if not shoulders. Then in yr 2, I transitioned her to Candae kibble [before they changed the recipe and lost many customers due to reactions like diarrhea, and I mixed in home-cooking like baked chicken/veggies and brown rice and my own good broth. I made that once a week in my oven and soon, Zev looked like a million bucks and frankly had the energy of 5 dogs. She's been eating either Candae or Chicken Soup for Dogs mixed with my home cooked food for 9 yrs now and the dog is never sick; she is lame unfortunately due to old age and bi-lateral Shoulder OCD from too much jumping off our 5 ft. tall deck into the grass in our yard [bypassed the stairs for yrs.] chasing squirrels. She was a 99 lb dog and top loaded like many Rotties and of course, her weight is in the front, so her shoulders took a pounding for yrs. If you follow my links in my profile you can see her picks. She looked great until she was 10 yr old. Now she looks and acts old sadly. I'm heartbroken thinking about it. 

I also used to take her hiking in local forests here for hours at at time multiple times a week; and she was off leash running in a local park when we didn't hit the woods/state parks daily as I was SAHM. Exercise kept her lean well until 9 yrs old and she only gained weight in the last 2 yrs as her shoulder OCD got worse; I feed her 10 caps of 1200 mg. Fish oil a day for that arthritis and pain per my vet. I don't like to use Rimadyl or similar drugs if I can help it. 

I hope the exercise and good diet prolong her life but I'm realistic if dreading the idea that cancer still statistically kills most of her breed and many others as well. Diet mainly can't stave off cancer caused by environmental factors despite our efforts. 

She's my oldest dog so far; most of the others died of cancer around 9 yrs old. :frown:


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## magicre

VolvoRottie said:


> Very true, when I was a kid in the 1960s, my first dog Daisy ate Alpo nearly exclusively along with my mom's then terrific home cooking. We would look into the ALPO can and it looked just like Dinty Moore Beef Stew sold today for human consumption; our dog got real beef and yes it had veggies in there along with the fat and gravy of cooking it, it smelled pretty good and that dog loved it to pieces. Today ALPO Is crappy dog food and isn't at all what it was back then. Daisy lived until she was 15 but she was a small Wire-haired Fox Terrier and a maniac her whole life.
> 
> My next door neighbor had a hunting dog reject, a Pointer named Ben who was fed the cheapest crap from WalMart his whole life; he was 19 yrs old when he died.
> 
> I think our dogs lived a long time back then due to not only better food but genetics and maybe less horrendous chemicals in the environment.
> 
> I feed my 11 yr old Rottie kibble now, but when she arrived here as a shelter save/rescue, she was 2 yrs old and a living skeleton. Her fur was dull and flaky, and she had a lot of goo in her eyes. She not only was fed good food immediately , she was fed human food for a year as I was really worried about her health. Turns out she was young and bounced back, and has great hips if not shoulders. Then in yr 2, I transitioned her to Candae kibble [before they changed the recipe and lost many customers due to reactions like diarrhea, and I mixed in home-cooking like baked chicken/veggies and brown rice and my own good broth. I made that once a week in my oven and soon, Zev looked like a million bucks and frankly had the energy of 5 dogs. She's been eating either Candae or Chicken Soup for Dogs mixed with my home cooked food for 9 yrs now and the dog is never sick; she is lame unfortunately due to old age and bi-lateral Shoulder OCD from too much jumping off our 5 ft. tall deck into the grass in our yard [bypassed the stairs for yrs.] chasing squirrels. She was a 99 lb dog and top loaded like many Rotties and of course, her weight is in the front, so her shoulders took a pounding for yrs. If you follow my links in my profile you can see her picks. She looked great until she was 10 yr old. Now she looks and acts old sadly. I'm heartbroken thinking about it.
> 
> I also used to take her hiking in local forests here for hours at at time multiple times a week; and she was off leash running in a local park when we didn't hit the woods/state parks daily as I was SAHM. Exercise kept her lean well until 9 yrs old and she only gained weight in the last 2 yrs as her shoulder OCD got worse; I feed her 10 caps of 1200 mg. Fish oil a day for that arthritis and pain per my vet. I don't like to use Rimadyl or similar drugs if I can help it.
> 
> I hope the exercise and good diet prolong her life but I'm realistic if dreading the idea that cancer still statistically kills most of her breed and many others as well. Diet mainly can't stave off cancer caused by environmental factors despite our efforts.
> 
> She's my oldest dog so far; most of the others died of cancer around 9 yrs old. :frown:


my malia was a five week old rescue who emerged from the georgia woods....she was dying, for real and we never expected her to live...her skin was so thin that the immune boosters would leak out....so we just comforted her...
when she turned ten, the dog who could outrun a lizard in georgia couldn't outrun anyone anymore....

we put her on raw and now she is trotting again....her physical appearance...while grey in some areas is that of a younger dog.....she is muscle bound as the vet said on saturday...her teeth are pearly white and she no longer limps.

she runs circles around the three year old pug, whose beginnings were also suspect....

both are doing so much better than they did on home cooked, on better kibble, on anything....

i don't know if it will extend her life, but she's a damned sight more lively today and that's what counts, for me.....


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