How old is "senior"?

**therapydawg** · 04-12-2007, 09:45 PM

May be a silly question, I know according to the dog food bags, 7 is a senior.

My girl will be 7 on Monday..she cetainly doesn't act like a senior, although I have noticed she seems to be hanging out in her bed more often lately. She has started to grey just a little on her chin...she is beginning to look like the elderly NH residents that she visits!

Felix · 04-14-2007, 05:35 AM

"Senior" ... i gues that will depend on how the dog act ???

Our first Labrador was indeed a senior at 7, but our second wasnt even close to a senior at 8 year's of age, so i gues that's it all up to the dog

**whitelab21** · 04-19-2007, 12:09 PM

I agree.. my boy will make 7 first of May. But he hasn't slowed down much. I can tell he can't do some of the things he used to do or do them as fast but he definitely doesn't want to slow down. I started noticing some stiffness after our trips (hicking in rough terrain) so I started him on supplements. It just seemed that 6 1/5 was sort of a slow down point for him, but not by much, Iguess i just realized he wasn't a puppy anymore.
my vet said she will give him a "geriatric check" on his next years annual visit (thats when he turns 8 ).
but as far as feeding them special senior diets and giving them special senior treatment, your dog will let you know when its time

**LindaC** · 04-20-2007, 10:24 AM

I also agree, my Lab Cocoa is 7 1/2 years old and shows no signs of slowing down, he's always had an abundant amount of energy. The only signs of him being 7 years old is the gray he's beginning to show around his mouth. He'll always be my baby!

**talleyJudy** · 04-22-2007, 08:46 AM

There is a very interesting chart combining weight and age at this site (I tried copy & paste, but it would not work :P ), the chart is near the top of this very long and interesting page.

http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/care.fr.html

According to this, Auggie is the equivalent of 72+ in human years. ;D

(for instance, labby/Laura's Boomer was the equivalent of 99+ when she died.

Good job Boomer. :-* )

**imported_Ninemiler** · 04-24-2007, 10:46 AM

I can tell you that some days my Bessie (almost 13) acts like the old lady that she is. However, on other days she gets a wild hair and acts like a sassy 3 year old.

Last night after work was one of those episodes. She was so incredibly BAD that I could have killed her! We live in a very rural area and she decided to run through the hills, the meadows, across creeks and eat every smidgen of deer poop she could find. She wallowed in mud holes, ignored my calls, slipped out of her collar and essentially ran MILES while I tried to chase her down. After she exhausted me...I gave up and figured she'd come back to the property when she was good and ready. She did - let herself into the house via the doggie door, plopped down on the carpet and decided to simply wait for her dinner.

My two younger dogs watched this entire episode and luckily they weren't sucked into Bessie's sassy cyclone. They kept looking from Bessie to me, and I could tell they were just thinking, "Oh -oh. Bess is in BIG trouble."

My temper eased once Bess settled down. She had muddy paws, a deer turd stuck on her lip and 10,000 cockel burrs tangled in her coat. I just couldn't stay mad at that old, white face.

**therapydawg** · 04-24-2007, 02:47 PM

Thank you all for your responses!

Miss Grace is not acting like a senior yet and the food I have her on is an All Stages formula, so I am just gonna play it by ear in terms of treating her as a "senior". We saw the vet on Friday (just vaccines & routine blood work) and he is very happy with her physical condition. She appears to have some changes in the knee she had surgery on a couple years ago (both the vet and I thought it seemed a little thicker than usual) but she shows no pain on palpation or ROM and has shown no signs of favoring it, so he is not too concerned at this point but we will watch it. I have started her on some Glucosamine/Chondroitin, mostly because of that knee, and to hopefully slow down any degenerative joint changes as she ages.

Ninemiler ~ That Bess sounds like quite the character! She is such a sweet looking old gal!

Felix · 04-28-2007, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by therapydawg

Thank you all for your responses!

Miss Grace is not acting like a senior yet and the food I have her on is an All Stages formula, so I am just gonna play it by ear in terms of treating her as a "senior". We saw the vet on Friday (just vaccines & routine blood work) and he is very happy with her physical condition. She appears to have some changes in the knee she had surgery on a couple years ago (both the vet and I thought it seemed a little thicker than usual) but she shows no pain on palpation or ROM and has shown no signs of favoring it, so he is not too concerned at this point but we will watch it. I have started her on some Glucosamine/Chondroitin, mostly because of that knee, and to hopefully slow down any degenerative joint changes as she ages.

Ninemiler ~ That Bess sounds like quite the character! She is such a sweet looking old gal!

If the vet is happy, the Labrador is happy .. then you will be happy! ;D

**therapydawg** · 04-29-2007, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by Felix

If the vet is happy, the Labrador is happy .. then you will be happy! ;D

That is what I am going with for now! Thanx again!

**mistonia** · 06-12-2007, 05:33 PM

our 8 1/2yo lab was starting to look old and act her age, and stiffen up til the pup come and its really re youthed her spirit. we used to shou at the pup for annoying her til we realised she was as game and encouraging her to swing of her ears so we let them be now. And all we have to do is mention beach and shes like a pup again all excited and energetic.