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Jesse Grady, Mississippi state university

“You think of how much can I age in human years?” is a question I hear quite often. People who like the pets, to assign the characteristics of the people for them. And we want those to you our animals healthy as long as possible.

It may seem silly, the result of the love that the owner for their pet and the bond between people and animals that exist between them. But the definition of “truth,” your pet is actually very important, because it helps the vet we prescribe care for patients of our animals more suited to the stage of our development.

People often say that a year for us like seven years for dogs and cats. And it really means something, because people realize that, with the optimal care, a medium-sized can live about part seven-what the owner of it will do. Thus, was born the equation “seven years for every human years”.

Not all are medium size, so from the beginning, the rules have been built based on the simplified. Dogs and cats in different proportions, and not just for humans, but also for themselves. This speed depends in part on the characteristics and the same size. Therefore, larger animals tend to live shorter than the smaller. And while cat change very little about the size, the size and longevity of dogs varies greatly from one to the other; You just need to compare the Chihuahua to the Great Dane.

Human life expectancy has changed over the years. And the vet can now give your pet we service medical care more superior than a decade ago. So now we have a better method to determine the golden rule, which stipulates that each year in the calendar of our correspond to the seven “five animal”.

According to the instructions on the life stages of the dog of the Association of Veterinary hospital in the United States, the vet today classified dogs into six categories: puppy, young, mature, mature mature, mature and old. The stage of development much more practical to assimilate their age rather than assign a number of simple; Even for people, only health guide based on the stage of our development rather than exact age of we.

The size of the dog, depending on breed, is one of the most determining factor to the longevity of the dog. At the individual level, nutrition and weight of the dog is maybe the most important factor.

But this still does not tell us the exact age of our pets. So, if you have started to find out if Rocky will be upcoming graduation or retirement preparation based on the number of “year of dog” which he had lived, knowing the stages of the life he can help. But to equate the stage of development that both dogs and people experiencing based on life expectancy, respectively of them only provide an approximation is small.

De forma similar, la Guía de las Etapas de la Vida Felina de la Asociación Estadounidense de Especialistas Felinos, en colaboración con la Asociación Americana de Hospitales Veterinarios, también clasifica a los gatos en seis categorías: cachorro, joven, adulto, maduro mayor y geriátrico. Pero, como la mayoría de gatos sanos tienen un tamaño similar, no existe tanta variabilidad entre las edades que se corresponden con cada etapa de desarrollo.

Estimar cuál es la edad de Rocky en años de perro o la edad de Calcetines en años de gato permite a los veterinarios determinar su etapa de desarrollo. Y eso es importante, porque esta información nos dice qué cuidados de salud requiere el animal de acuerdo con su etapa de desarrollo, permitiéndonos así prolongar su vida y, además, mejorar la calidad de la misma.

Con las personas, los médicos ya aplican este mismo concepto en forma de revisiones médicas específicas para cada edad. Así, al igual que un niño pequeño sano no necesita una colonoscopia, un cachorro sano no necesita que le controlen los niveles de tiroides. Sin embargo, una mujer adulta seguramente deba hacerse mamografías con regularidad, al igual que un gato adulto necesita revisiones anuales para comprobar si tiene parásitos intestinales. Por supuesto, la cantidad de precauciones que deberán tomarse dependerá en cada caso de los resultados que el médico y el veterinario obtengan al examinar a sus pacientes humanos y animales.

Y al igual que ocurre con las personas, el estado de salud general de una mascota puede influir en su “edad real” tanto para mejor como para peor. Así que la próxima vez que lleve a su mascota al veterinario, pregunte sobre su etapa de desarrollo e infórmese sobre sus necesidades concretas. Controlar cualquier anomalía en la salud de su mascota y ayudarlo a mantener un peso saludable contribuirá a que logre vivir una vida plena y larga.

 

Jesse Grady, Clinical Instructor of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University

Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en The Conversation. Lea el original.

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