Life expectancy tables for dogs and cats derived from clinical data

Abstract

There are few recent and methodologically robust life expectancy (LE) tables for dogs or cats. This study aimed to generate LE tables for these species with clinical records from >1,000 Banfield Pet hospitals in the USA. Using Sullivan's method, LE tables were generated across survey years 2013–2019, by survey year, and for subpopulations defined by sex, adult body size group (purebred dogs only: toy, small, medium, large and giant), and median body condition score (BCS) over life. The deceased population for each survey year comprised animals with a recorded date of death in that year; survivors had no death date in that year and were confirmed living by a veterinary visit in a subsequent year. The dataset totaled 13,292,929 unique dogs and 2,390,078 unique cats. LE at birth (LEbirth) was 12.69 years (95% CI: 12.68–12.70) for all dogs, 12.71 years (12.67–12.76) for mixed-breed dogs, 11.18 years (11.16–11.20) for cats, and 11.12 (11.09–11.14) for mixed-breed cats. LEbirth increased with decreasing dog size group and increasing survey year 2013 to 2018 for all dog size groups and cats. Female dogs and cats had significantly higher LEbirth than males: 12.76 years (12.75–12.77) vs. 12.63 years (12.62–12.64), and 11.68 years (11.65–11.71) vs. 10.72 years (10.68–10.75), respectively. Obese dogs (BCS 5/5) had a significantly lower LEbirth [11.71 years (11.66–11.77)] than overweight dogs (BCS 4/5) [13.14 years (13.12–13.16)] and dogs with ideal BCS 3/5 [13.18 years (13.16–13.19)]. The LEbirth of cats with BCS 4/5 [13.67 years (13.62–13.71)] was significantly higher than cats with BCS 5/5 [12.56 years (12.45–12.66)] or BCS 3/5 [12.18 years (12.14–12.21)]. These LE tables provide valuable information for veterinarians and pet owners and a foundation for research hypotheses, as well as being a stepping-stone to disease-associated LE tables.

Life tables of annual life expectancy and risk factors for mortality in cats in the UK

“…Interestingly, the life tables built using the clinical records from Banfield Pet Hospitals in the USA showed the opposite effect, with consistently longer life expectancies in purebred cats than crossbred cats. 1 Close inspection of the results from both studies shows that the life expectancy at age 0 of crossbred cats in 2019 is not appreciably different between ). This difference might result from a combination of factors, such as study design and study population, the composition of popular cat breeds in the countries, general health for the same breed in the countries, veterinary care and euthanasia decision-making.…”

“…2,4 Various factors have previously been suggested to be associated with a shortened lifespan in cats, such as male sex, 1,2,4,5 specific breeds (eg, Bengal and Ragdoll) 2,4 and non-ideal body condition. 1,3 There are two main ways of reporting the overall mortality of cats described in the literature: average (mean or median) overall ages at death and, more recently, life table methods. The average overall ages at death have been investigated and reported using various data sources, including primary veterinary caseloads, 2 insurance databases, 4 mortality cases reported by veterinary clinics and hospitals, 5 and cases examined post mortem.…”

Effect of Aging on the Immune Response to Core Vaccines in Senior and Geriatric Dogs

“…According to the Ethical Committee position of the University of Milan, residual aliquots of biological samples that were collected under the owner’s informed consent can be freely used for research purposes without any formal approval (EC decision 29 October 2012, renewed with the protocol n. 02-2016). For each patient, different key information was recorded: (1) age: seniors and geriatrics (the age category was determined according to the size of the dogs, following the aforementioned rule that larger dogs age earlier than smaller ones and vice versa [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]); (2) breed (purebred or crossbred) and breed size: small (<10 kg), medium (≥10–<25 kg), and large (≥25 kg); (3) sex and reproductive status: intact or neutered male or female; (4) health status: healthy or unhealthy, considering as unhealthy only animals with clinical problems that could affect immune function (none of the unhealthy dogs were, however, being treated with drugs that might interfere with the immune system (neither immunosuppressive nor immunostimulant): for example, none of the oncological patients was under chemotherapy) (see below Results section); (5) vaccination history, considering the time elapsed since the last core vaccination: ≤1 year, >1 year–≤3 years, or >3 years.…”

Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Mulberry Leaf Powder on the Growth Performance, Lipid Metabolism Parameters, Immunity Indicators, and Gut Microbiota of Dogs

“…Obesity is the most common nutritional disease which is characterized by the accumulation of adipose tissue to the point that health is adversely affected in dogs. When a dog is overweight or obese, it puts additional stress on its body and can lead to a variety of health problems, including joint problems, diabetes, respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, and even shortened lifespan [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In people and animals, obesity is a multifactorial condition involving diet, a level of physical activity, behavioral factors, socioeconomic factors, environmental exposures, genetics, metabolism, and the microbiome [ 14 ].…”