New Study Busts the 7 ‘Dog Years’ Myth and Explores Data That Could Help Humans Live Longer

[Michie]

A new study into how long dogs live busts the myth that each of our years is seven for dogs—and could even help humans live longer.

A commonly-held belief is that dogs age seven times faster than us, so a one-year-old dog is like a seven-year-old child.

But large breeds age ten times quicker than us and some small dogs can be half of that.

Now scientists are studying the genomes of 10,000 dogs in a long-term study called the Dog Aging Project.

Continued below.
New Study Busts the 7 ‘Dog Years’ Myth and Explores Data That Could Help Humans Live Longer

 

[muichimotsu]

Yeah, both dogs and cats at a year old are practically a teenager or young adult already (a 6 month old cat can already start having kittens, which can lead to 3 generations being born almost within a year), so the aging rate is relative anyway and slows down significantly after a point. But that assumption ignores variations that we see with domestic versus feral animals and the latter life expectancy being barely 10 years, iirc versus upwards of 17-20 for animals that get vaccinations and such, living in a stable environment