COMPARATIVE LONGEVITY OF PET DOGS AND HUMANS - IMPLICATIONS FOR GERONTOLOGY RESEARCH

The effect of breed and body weight on longevity in the pet dog was an alyzed and a method was developed to standardize the chronological age of dogs in terms of physiological time, using human year equivalents. Mortality data from 23,535 pet dogs were obtained from a computerized data base of North American veterinary teaching hospitals, and the me dian age at death was determined for pure and mixed breed dogs of diff erent body weight. Body size in the dog was inversely related to longe vity. Within each body weight category, the median age at death was lo wer for pure breed dogs compared with mixed breed dogs. The difference between the standardized physiological ages of mixed bread dogs of th e same chronological age in the smallest and largest body weight categ ories varied from 8 to >15 years, and between large and small pure bre ed dogs, the disparity was evert greater. Laboratory research to explo re the biological basis for these breed and body weight specific diffe rences in life span among dogs may provide additional clues to genetic factors influencing senescence.