Is my dog already a Senior dog?

After what age is a dog really old and is it a senior?

Dogs often bring a lot of fun, but also occasional worries to a household. First as a young demanding puppy with all the jokes and antics that come with it. Then they are adults and everything often goes well. They listen well, hopefully have few problems and bring a lot of fun into the house. After a few years, we slowly notice that the dog is getting older. But from what age is a dog really old and is it called a senior dog?

The breed of dog determines when it is Senior

With dogs, the type of breed is very decisive in determining senior age. We call larger dogs old much sooner, because they live shorter lives than the average dog of a smaller breed. As a general guideline, a dog is a senior when it has lived 75 to 80 per cent of its expected life span. Dogs of smaller dog breeds that usually age therefore reach their senior age later than larger breeds. On average, however, we take around 8 years as the age at which a dog becomes a senior. Older dogs, like elderly people, may suffer increasingly from physical ailments. These can be minimal changes that are almost unnoticeable to very annoying complaints. We more often see age-related complaints in older dogs such as atrosis, kidney failure, a worse coat or more obesity. Unfortunately, we also see that the brain can deteriorate due to ageing or there seems to be less vision. Fortunately, not all symptoms are equally bad, but can sometimes be a reason to adjust the care of a Senior dog. Adjusting care is a very broad term and ranges from buying a thicker bedding mat to walking smaller bits more often to adjusting the food.

-This is an automated translation-