Pet life ranking： modern ＂pet-loving＂ way can shorten the life of dogs by 6 years.

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In recent years, more and more urbanites choose to keep pets as companions. After a busy day’s work, it is undoubtedly a "charging moment" for pet owners to be greeted by pets at home, and the fatigue is instantly forgotten.

However, there are also many people who also love pets, but they dare not take the step of raising pets, not because of the cost and energy consumption brought by breeding, but because they are afraid of the sadness after losing their "family".

After all, compared with the life span of people, the life span of pets is mostly short. So, what kind of pet can bring relatively long-term companionship?

Text | Big Meng Ni | Roxie Diagram | Four Elephants Design Department

01

What kind of pet do you want to have longer company?

They are also "good friends of human beings", and the life span of different pet breeds is very different.

Hamsters with an average life span of only two or three years have turtles that can live for more than 30 years … … and most pets have an average life span of less than 15 years.

For example, the average life span of our most familiar pet dogs is about 10~13 years; The average life span of pet cats is slightly longer, which is only 12~15 years.

But this is only the average value. In fact, even if it is the same species, the life expectancy of different varieties is not consistent. Take pet dogs as an example, the general rule is that the bigger the body, the shorter the life span. The average life span of large dogs is about 9 years, while that of small dogs can reach 12 years.

It can be said that the companionship of more than ten years is the cornerstone for pets to establish close feelings with their owners.

02

Do pets and owners grow up together?

In many families, pets grow up synchronously with children, and the process of children growing up from babbling toddlers is also the process of pets entering old age from childhood. From this perspective, a pet’s life is also an important part of family memories.

Because the absolute length of pets’ life span is not as long as that of human beings, their growth rate will naturally not be completely synchronized with human beings. Taking pet dogs as an example, there has always been a saying that "a dog born for one year is worth seven years to human beings". Is this really the case?

In fact, the age conversion between dogs and humans is not linear, but variable.

Pet dogs grow very fast when they are young, and they can develop into a state of about 20 years old in half a year. But after rapid adulthood, the pace of maturity of dogs will gradually slow down. When the dog lives to be seven or eight years old, the aging rate will further slow down. At that time, when the dog is one year old, it is probably only equal to one or two years of life.

In many families with pets and babies, there will be a warm scene of pets looking after babies. In the eyes of human parents, it may be that children of the same age are playing with them, but in the inner world of dogs, it may be that mature "middle-aged dogs" are fulfilling their responsibilities and helping young people at home to take care of their cubs.

03

The average life expectancy of people is rising, but pets are declining.

Pets, which occupy an important position in the family, have also buried emotional hidden dangers for their owners-once their lives come to an end, they will bring a huge psychological blow.

It is precisely because of the rising status of pets in the family that human capital investment in pet medical care and even pet funeral has reached an unprecedented height. Many people spend a lot of money to treat their pets, and some people spend a lot of money to do things for their pets, just to let the hairy children go smoothly.

In the last decade, pet medical and pet funeral industries have ushered in a spurt of development. In 2023 alone, 1,920 pet funeral-related companies were established in China, while the total number of related companies established in the decade from 2003 to 2012 was only 64.

Although the time and cost that pet owners are willing to invest have soared, unfortunately, unlike the rising trend of human life expectancy, in less than 50 years (1970-2016), the average life expectancy of pet dogs has been shortened by 35%, from 17 to 11 years.

Why on earth is this?

In 2014, The Kennel Club, a British kennel club, investigated the causes of death of 5,700 pet dogs. The data shows that cancer is the biggest killer affecting its life span, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total, even exceeding the death of aging.

Among the dogs who died of cancer, the causes with the highest proportion were bone tumor (3.99%), lymphatic tumor (3.18%) and brain tumor (2.81%). The biggest killer that threatens human health also takes the lives of pets.

Ten years ago, The Kennel Club did the same research. The proportion of dogs that died of natural aging in that year was 17.8%, but now it is only 13.8%, that is to say, the number of pet dogs that died of diseases or accidents increased by 4% in ten years.

What is frightening is that the shortened life span of pets may be related to the popular lifestyle. According to the speeches of relevant insiders, the following three possibilities can be summarized:

First of all, genetic inheritance, artificial breeding of purebred dogs with similar blood vessels, easy to lose genetic diversity, greatly improving the probability of congenital genetic diseases; Secondly, pet dry food has changed the original diet structure, which is difficult to meet the demand of nutritional diversity, and long-term single nutrition source will affect its resistance; In addition, modern pets are often trapped in high-rise houses, and daily dog walking activities can not fully meet their activity needs, especially for large dogs.

The process of raising pets is not only that pets accompany people through a journey, but also that humans spend their lives with pets. Under the restriction of natural conditions, no matter what efforts are made, this is also a banquet that must end, but the time of sincere treatment will not live up to it. In addition to the investment of time, money and love, it is necessary to adopt scientific parenting methods to make this period of time longer and longer.

Original title: "Pet life ranking: modern" pet-loving "way to shorten the life of dogs by 6 years"

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