How long do greyhounds live?

[Acolyte]

As the title really - I have two rescue dogs, one greyhound and one lurcher, who are about 10-11 years old now. I have noticed they slow down considerably in the warm weather, and it got me wondering what the average life expectancy of a greyhound is? The greyhound has a mild heart murmur but otherwise everything is OK at the moment with them both (touching wood frantically

)

I had whippets before and would have expected them to go on to 17 or so, although I lost one at 15 with heart problems and one at 13 with a nose tumour

 

[CentrestageSHS]

Erm I would say between 13 and 16 is a really good age, although we had one PTS at 18 as he went off his legs??

 

[JAK]

I'd agree with the above, 13-16 for an average age, which is pretty good considering they're a fair sized breed!

 

[bonney]

I had a retired racer and he lived until he was thirteen.

 

[Acolyte]

Great, thanks everyone - got a few more years of enjoyment yet then

The greyhound is such a lazy trollop that it is difficult to tell whether her behaviour is getting more sedate or not

 

[JAK]

It is probably the very fact that they are such 'lazy trollops' that makes them quite long-lived for such a large breed - they never expend any unnecessary energy, so take a while to 'wear out'!

They're pretty healthy too generally, as a breed, certainly compared to many popular breeds, so it is usually often pure & simple 'old age' things that get them in the end!

 

[twinklinggem]

I lost my greyhound in march he was 14 and he slowed down a lot the last ix months of his life he found it difficult to climb stairs and he didn't like long walks anymore

 

[CentrestageSHS]

Yes, I find with greyhounds they don't go down with the usual old-age illnesses like heart problems, weight problems etc. We lost one to him losing his back-end and struggling to get up and walk so we had him PTS, another was out running round on the meadows at home and she put her foot down a rabbit hole and broke her leg. Another old boy we had went slowly blind and deaf and was really struggling to keep weight on. I used to work at some racing kennels and most problems were with their legs, and eyes/ears. But that is just my experience with the breed in general

 

[Acolyte]

I think that second one will be the same as mine - slowly going blind/deaf and weight problems.

I have struggled to keep weight on her for about the last 2-3 years, I have a selection of 4 different all-in-one products (Hills, James Wellbeloved, Pedigree & Bakers) together with 3 different selections of toppings (pilchards, tinned food, tripe) as she won't eat anything consistently. The Hills is the stuff that gets weight on her so I feed her as much as she will eat (usually max one mug twice a day) - luckily I get it at breeders rates from my mum

The lurcher is the opposite, eats anything and everything and puts weight on at the drop of a hat

He is on a diet at the moment so he doesn't love me at all

 

[CentrestageSHS]

IntroEventer, when my dog started to drop weight and lose it's appetite we took it to the vet's and everything and basically they said it was just old age but we ended feeding it cat food and kitten/puppy food. The vet gave us some like rusk biscuits to go with the baby food to stop him from getting dihoerrea (sp?). It worked really well and if he needed a particular pick-up we made him a chicken or beef or sausage type stew!! I know sounds silly but he would wolf down a warm chicken stew with gravy!!!!

 

[fmay]

Dogs, like people, obviosly age differently and it sounds as though your greyhound has decided to retire and take life at a slower pace - as long as he is healthy he could potter along like this for years

 

[Acolyte]

Now thats a good idea, hadn't thought of cat food - raw tripe is currently flavour of the month, but whatever I try I can guarantee she will go off it after a couple of days. Never mind, I'm quite happy to keep buying different things for her - I'm not ashamed to say that they are both quite indulged dogs

ETS: sorry, that should really be flavour of the day rather than the month shouldn't it

 

[CentrestageSHS]

Yep, apparantly cat food is a lot richer and they don't need to eat as much and also it has a lots of Oils in it too, especially the fishy flavours so it adds weight quite well!! You do have to just watch that they don't get dihoerrea when they first start on it as it is a lot more nutrient-rich than dog food!!!

 

[Acolyte]

I tend to add a couple of forkfuls of topping to an all-in-one food to encourage her to eat, so hopefully should not be enough to upset her - but having had the consequences of letting her drink too much milk all over the kitchen floor one night I shall feed with caution, thanks for the advice

 

[CentrestageSHS]

oooh, if the worst comes to the worst, feed cooked warm chicken with grated cheese on top, sounds really silly but that what my boy ended up eating sometimes when we couldn't temp him to anything else!!! He loved cheese!!!

 

[Acolyte]

My greyhound likes flapjack

- as I like it too I tend to buy it as a treat, but if I don't watch her she will pinch it when my back is turned

I have often thought that it would be something which would fatten her up nicely

The lurcher only likes normal dog food luckily (oh, and live chickens or pigeons

)

 

[rema]

My uncle used to race Greyhounds and when he gave up the kennels he kept his remaining dogs as pets,sadly the last two have both gone now but Rosie was 15 and Ron was 14.Both went downhill very quick and within 4 weeks of eachother.