If you have a pet, you’ve probably heard this one before: one regular year is like seven years for dogs and cats. Well, according to a veterinarian from the Mississippi State University, there’s actually a bit of logic behind this. People observed that with optimal healthcare, an average-sized, medium dog would on average live one-seventh as long as its human owner – and, so the seven “dog years” for every “human year” equation was born.
The thing is, not every dog is “average-sized” so this seven-year rule is most certainly an oversimplification. On top of that, dogs and cats age differently not just from people but also from each other, based partly on breed characteristics and size. Bigger animals tend to have shorter life spans than smaller ones do. While cats vary little in size, the size and life expectancy of dogs can vary greatly – think a Chihuahua versus a Great Dane. Then there’s also another factor to consider, which is that life expectancy has also changed over the years—both for pets and humans.
Considering all of this, how do you calculate how old your pet is in terms of human years? For the answer to this rather complicated question, take a look right here.
