But not everyone agrees, and rescuers say those definitions can be a death sentence to older animals in need of homes.
Dr. Emily Pointer, staff internist and medical coordinator at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York, said she considers the last third of life the sunset years.
“That seems fairly crazy,” she said of the AMVA designations. “I would never consider a person in their 40s or 50s to be senior.”
The AVMA said the oldest cat on record was 34, the oldest dog was 29.
Forget the notion that seven dog years equal one human year, the AVMA said. A 7-year-old dog weighing less than 50 pounds (23 kilograms) is like a 44- to 47-year-old human; 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) equals 56- to 60-year-old humans; 15 pounds (7 kilograms) is like a 76- to 83-year-old; and 20 pounds (9 kilograms) is like a 96- to 105-year-old human, the group said.
Pet health improved in the 1950s and 1960s when commercial dog food and vaccinations became popular and spaying and neutering increased, said Stephen Zawistowski, ASPCA executive vice president and science adviser.
Technology has advanced and today’s owners are more willing to go the distance for their pets, Pointer said.
“In the past, if your cat was diagnosed with diabetes, the recommendation was probably to euthanize the cat. Now, a lot fewer people are willing to do that because it’s a treatable disease,” Pointer said.
Kristin Dewey of Los Angeles has an 18-year-old Ragdoll cat named Cokie. He fell from an 80-foot (24-meter) palm tree 16 years ago and seemed OK until four years ago when something temporarily paralyzed him and left him incontinent.
“Indoor-only cats that are loved and treated like family start to get old around 15 but can still live good lives until 19 or more. They may be a little creaky and have some health issues, but so do we all,” Dewey said.
Pointer agreed: “Well-loved pets live longer than unloved pets.”
“We find that most dogs become geriatric after age 12, and that at 12-ish they are like humans at 65,” said Judith Piper, founder and executive director of the rescue group Old Dog Haven in Lake Stevens, Washington. Most shelters consider dogs old at 8, Piper said, so Old Dog Haven works with dogs 8 and up.
The group tries to place the 8- to 12-year-olds they rescue from shelters and find final refuge homes for those over 12. At age 14, Solomon is one of those final refuge or hospice dogs. Part Dalmatian and part German shepherd, he has been with Lisa Black for 30 months. Black owns the Stardust Salon and Spa in Seattle and Solomon goes to work with her every day to greet customers. “If they don’t like him, it’s not the place for them,” Black said.
“Old dogs are usually good with other dogs and housebroken. They are easy and don’t require a lot of trips to the park. They are usually happy with us and do whatever we want,” she said.
Losing them is hard, she said, but you focus on the dog. “It’s what Old Dog Haven does so they don’t end up alone in a shelter. We give them a happy ending,” Black said. “Even if the time they have with the dog is short, it’s worth it,” Piper added. Dori Repuyan of Columbus, Ohio, says Tucker, a 60-pound (27-kilogram) German shepherd-beagle mix her family rescued nine years ago is between 11 and 13.
She worries that calling dogs old so young will cost them good homes because “people don’t want old dogs.”
Tucker started showing his age a few years ago, Repuyan said. He stopped running with her, limited his walking and had trouble jumping on the bed. He started going gray and when he tore a ligament, developed weight problems. Repuyan and her husband had two children and it seemed to depress Tucker, she said.
They rescued Phoebe, a small, young dog that brought Tucker out of his funk. However, Tucker now sees the vet more often, gets a supplement for arthritis and is no longer allowed on the stairs.
“It’s not so much that pets are living longer than their life expectancy, although they are, but we are taking better care of them and they are surviving longer. Sixty is the new 40 is true for pets,” said Fadra Nally, a writer and blogger from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Nally figures large dogs should be old at 8 and small dogs and cats old at 9 or 10.Tracie Hotchner of Bennington, Vermont, author of “The Dog Bible” and “The Cat Bible,” believes the AVMA’s numbers are right.
