Diet histrory of BCs that have attained very old age.

[Lori Perry]

I'm curious about what dogs that have attained above average age have been fed. I'd like to hear from people that have BC's that are 13 years or older. I realize genetics plays a big part but I wonder if there are commonalities in the way the seniors were fed throughout their lives.

[Mark Billadeau]

Peg (13 probably will retire from trialing this spring) fed diamond and diamond naturals since 18months

 

Duncan (died at 15) fed diamond most of his life

 

Moss (died at 15) fed purina and diamond most of his life

 

Gyp (died at 15) fed diamond until about 6 then royal canin urinary after bladder stones

[Lori Perry]

I should expand this question to; are there other factors beside genetics and nutrition that contributed to your dogs longevity?

[Maralynn]

Weight is a big one for dogs in general. Purina and Eukanuba have both published studies. Their findings both seemed to point toward weight, physical and mental exercise/activity and, with Eukanuba, routine blood work to catch potential issues early on.

[urge to herd]

Samantha, died at 15, fed mostly on Natural Balance or similar

 

Shoshone, died at 15, maybe even 16, fed mostly on the same type of kibble.

 

 

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[CSW]

Choco died at 17. Was fed IAMs (different formulas at different times) kibble and canned. No table scraps, walks almost everyday. Greenies was his favorite treat. Only other daily treat was IAMS bones. Chewed rawhide produced in the USA only occasionally, not often, did not consume rawhide. LOVED baby carrots.

 

Now IAMS is not such a great brand, but when we started him on on it it was a top brand, recommended by the vet when I asked what was the best food.

[simba]

My dad had a border collie that lived to seventeen or so, fed mostly on table scraps. They did a lot of 'leftover potato, bread, rice, vegetables, with meat scraps and gravy' stuff. All cooked.

[Smalahundur]

I think there is way too much emphasis on diet when it comes to health issues/life expectancy in dogs (think of the wild and wacky claims circulating in the barf/raw feeding world...).

Probably because it is where owners have a lot of control.

[waffles]

I think there is way too much emphasis on diet when it comes to health issues/life expectancy in dogs (think of the wild and wacky claims circulating in the barf/raw feeding world...).

Probably because it is where owners have a lot of control.

I agree. And I am someone who feeds raw. Diet is in my opinion a smaller part of the equation than genetics.

 

My grandfather is 98 with no known medical conditions in his life other than a hip replacement at 92. His 4 sisters all lived into their 90's, one with untreated breast cancer for almost 10 years (stubborn lady who refused treatment). None followed any kind of rigid or different diet than other average people.

 

Of course lifestyle and diet affects any animal's health but we can all find dogs or cats who ate low end kibble, expensive kibble or raw who lived well past the normal age for their breed.

[Riika]

Well, I'm still young and my dog hasn't died yet but she is 12, in pristine health (always has been-she's never had a health related vet visit. Only injuries), and until about two years ago was fed the cheapest, nastiest, dog food on the market.

 

I think there is way too much emphasis on diet when it comes to health issues/life expectancy in dogs (think of the wild and wacky claims circulating in the barf/raw feeding world...).

Probably because it is where owners have a lot of control.

I agree. I remember reading a book one time in which a man was celebrating his 100th birthday. When asked what his secret to such a long life was, he replied, "There is no such thing. One person will say it is because they ate lots of meat, others, because they were vegans." etc.

 

I do believe diet is the single, most important thing that a person can modify for the health of humans or animals. It can drastically increase the quality of life, but I don't think it makes you live longer.

[Liz P]

If dogs make it past 12 without cancer and are otherwise in good health (good weight, no heart disease, kidney failure, etc), they can generally live to be quite old. Just like in humans, dogs have cancer peaks (ages when cancer is more common). In dogs, the largest peak is at 10 to 12 years old. We have a saying in veterinary medicine, "Never buy new stuff, especially a new collar, or a big bag of dog food for their 11th birthday."

 

I don't know if it's becoming more common or if I am just more aware, but hemangiosarcoma is taking a lot of Border Collies before their time. I lost two of mine to it at age 11. Relatives of theirs have died of it as young as 7 years old, though most were 9 to 11 years old. A friend lost her bitch to it at 12 years old. A son of that dog, sired by another who died of HSA, just died of it at 9 years old. This is something that is difficult to breed away from given that you are often several generations down when it rears its ugly head, but we KNOW many cancers have strong genetic tendencies.

Mitral valve disease (heart disease) is reported as being quite common in Border Collies in the UK. It's not something I had personally seen or heard of in friend's Border Collies. It's very common in toy breed dogs though. This spring my 9 year old started to struggle during work. I couldn't find anything wrong with him aside from a new heart murmur, so took him to a cardiologist who diagnosed him with MVD. She isn't the first cardiologist who has mentioned to me that she is seeing and hearing about a lot more heart disease in Border Collies, including mitral valve disease and aortic stenosis.

 

This is certainly something I have been thinking about a lot lately. I foolishly assumed I would have several more good years of partnership working with Sage. His dam made it to 14 and he even had a relative who ran in Open at 14. It doesn't look that way for him though. I hate seeing a dog's body failing, especially when it happens too early.

ETA, my grandmother just celebrated her 98th birthday! She loves candy, eats bacon all the time and has a rum and coke every afternoon.

[Maralynn]

Interesting what you say about mitral valve disease, Liz. My Missy had it. It was diagnosed at 9 but was well controlled with basic meds. She was still doing great when diagnosed with HSA at 12.

 

After I lost Kipp (at 9) to lymphoma I was talking to his breeder. Apparently there were a few dogs in that line that he knew of that ended up with lymphoma.

[Gloria Atwater]

I'm curious about what dogs that have attained above average age have been fed. I'd like to hear from people that have BC's that are 13 years or older. I realize genetics plays a big part but I wonder if there are commonalities in the way the seniors were fed throughout their lives.

 

 

My old Jesse lived to 14. I was a lot less scientific about foods in his younger days, so he probably got a lot of Pedigree kibble and later on maybe Premium Edge kibble. Nothing fancy. Earlier on we had a BC-spaniel mix who lived to 16. I know all she got was Pedigree kibble.

 

Also, years ago some friends of ours had a BC and a Cattle Dog mix who both lived to 16 - pretty sure all they fed was grocery store kibble. Sometimes genetics trumps everything, I guess. But I feel better feeding my dogs better quality foods now. Maybe they won't all live to 14 or 16, but ... I like giving them a better chance. My dad made it to 93 and mom is now 89, still ticking, and I wonder if it's at least partly because mom spent her younger years working as a hospital dietitian and brought that sensibility to family meals!

 

 

 

~ Gloria

[LauraV]

I feel like a lot of people here with older dogs or have had older dogs didn't have the knowledge about the quality of dog food, so i dont think the answers will vary. I do agree with Gloria who just said sometimes genetics trumps everything. I believe recognizing when a dog needs to see the vet and doing so promptly mixed with a good blood line is a huge factor. Keeping them at a good weight is also very important as well. Border collies in general don't have as many major health conditions compared to more popular breeds. I do think as they gain more popularity, we will see an increase in major health conditions.

[diane allen]

The original question was about diet, but this IS the "health and genetics" section! ;-)

 

My Lucy (ABCA registered, but adopted by me when she was almost 4 yr old): no idea what she ate for the first 4 years of her life - probably fairly inexpensive kibble. Came slightly overweight, but lost it readily as she was VERY active. Then fed raw (various iterations of it over the years), or in later years, cooked. Had arthritis in her feet - too much fetching as a youngster I think (and no doubt agility contributed some). Had non-cancer masses on her liver, removed at age 14 (gulp), along with her spleen (something looked "funny" there - turned out to be an old hematoma). No other identified health issues. With GOOD vet care (especially her internal medicine vet near the end), she lived to be 16 and 4 months.

 

And yeah, while it's probably true that some folks attribute too much to raw diets - I firmly believe it is best!

YMMV,

diane

[herdcentral]

Yeah my great uncle lived into his nineties and he was a pack a day smoker with more than a few good shots of whisky to wash it down.

 

My longest lived dog was 17 and she had a diet mainly of pedigree, back in those days that was the most expensive food so had to be good right? lol

 

My dogs have all lived from 14-17 yo but they have all been cattle dogs. My oldest BC is 6 so no idea what his lifespan will be.

 

I have read new research that suggests adding yellow /orange vegies to their diet on a regular basis cuts their cancer risk by 70% and green leafy vegies by 80%.

 

So I make them up a pumpkin/ spinach and whatever puree with a few sardines thrown in every week. Otherwise they get Blackhawk (Australian) and Wellness core (USA) kibble plus some commercial BARF and fresh meat when I kill a sheep or it is on special in the supermarket, plus bones.

 

I keep them all lean and fit and hope genetics does the rest

[mum24dog]

A few days ago a friend lost an 11 year old raw fed bc to stomach cancer.

[herdcentral]

I have known a few agility Border collies go between 8 and 11 from cancer mainly lymphoma. I think stress could be a factor as well, given that stress is known to be a likely contributing factor to human cancers. Also there are a lot of chemicals in the environment and dogs are probably pretty close to it by sniffing, licking, digging rolling etc.

[mum24dog]

My friend's dog shared a home and lifestyle with 7-8 other dogs ad was one of the least stress dogs I've known.

 

Only a sample of one of course.

[GentleLake]

^^ And assuming the friend also feeds the other dogs raw and they're healthy, it's not proving the raw feeding was the cause either.

 

The border collie mix I just lost in July at probably a couple months shy of 18 was raw fed for the last 10 years of her life and minimally vaccinated. I adopted her at ~6 and she was known to have had no veterinary care at all (and probably crappy food) for the 4 years prior to adoption. One DHLPP and rabies at 6 and nothing other than the rabies required by law for the rest of her life.

[Alchemist]

I had a Border collie who was almost 18 when I finally put her to sleep. This was quite a while ago (1993), and she ate pretty lousy food (because I didn't know better, and because there weren't as many options then). Supermarket stuff - Purina Puppy Chow until she was a year old, then whatever kibble the supermarket had, topped with some canned food. Table scraps. Her last few years I was buried with finishing my PhD, and then we had our first child when she was 17, so she didn't get a lot of exercise at that point either .

 

My current dogs eat much better, and have an infinitely better quality of life. I hope they'll live as long, but I'm not counting on it.

[mum24dog]

^^ And assuming the friend also feeds the other dogs raw and they're healthy, it's not proving the raw feeding was the cause either.

 

The border collie mix I just lost in July at probably a couple months shy of 18 was raw fed for the last 10 years of her life and minimally vaccinated. I adopted her at ~6 and she was known to have had no veterinary care at all (and probably crappy food) for the 4 years prior to adoption. One DHLPP and rabies at 6 and nothing other than the rabies required by law for the rest of her life.

I wouldn't dream of jumping to any such conclusion. Just an example of bad things happening to raw fed dogs just like others that are fed differently.

[GentleLake]

Yep. I had a dog, raw fed from a puppy, who died at barely 3 years old.

 

Never did find out what killed her. Vet badly misdiagnosed her then ignored a severe adverse reaction (vomiting blood) to the inappropriate medication.

[Lori Perry]

I appreciate all the great responses. I believe genetics is the biggest contributor to longevity. I also believe diet, weight, exercise, stress and disease prevention (via minimal vaccines and regular vet care) are contributing factors.

[LauraV]

To be honest, I get all 3 of my dogs vaccinated every year. They get rabies, distemper/Parco combo (5 in 1),bordetella, and lepto. I had a dog who was 14.5 years old who also got vaccinated every year (died from rimadyl). My current 3 are ages 16, 6, and 2. I live in the suburbs and they can encounter and get sick from a lot of things in our area that the vaccines cover. I know many people here may disagree with me on how often I get them vaccinated.