The old canard about one "dog year" equaling seven "human years" received a trouncing in yesterday's Explainer column on Slate.com.
According to writer Christopher Beam, the American Veterinary Medical Association says the first year in a medium-sized dog's life is equivalent to the first 15 years in a human's life. The dog's second year corresponds to next nine years in a human's life, and every dog year thereafter equals five human years.
Note that I said a medium-sized dog. Statistically, smaller dogs tend to live longer than bigger ones, so the formula varies according to weight. (Fear not, arithmophobes, the National Pet Wellness Month website provides a Pet Age Calculator to help you cope with the variables.)
For cat owners, Franny Syufy's handy chart will help you convert feline years to human years, though you may note discrepancies between the figures there and the results you get using the Pet Age Calculator. A different chart provided by the AVMA may help clarify, or maybe not.
This is not — I repeat, not — an exact science.
Read more:
• How Do You Calculate Dog Years?
• The Seven-Year Glitch
• Chanel, the World's Oldest Dog
According to writer Christopher Beam, the American Veterinary Medical Association says the first year in a medium-sized dog's life is equivalent to the first 15 years in a human's life. The dog's second year corresponds to next nine years in a human's life, and every dog year thereafter equals five human years.
Note that I said a medium-sized dog. Statistically, smaller dogs tend to live longer than bigger ones, so the formula varies according to weight. (Fear not, arithmophobes, the National Pet Wellness Month website provides a Pet Age Calculator to help you cope with the variables.)
For cat owners, Franny Syufy's handy chart will help you convert feline years to human years, though you may note discrepancies between the figures there and the results you get using the Pet Age Calculator. A different chart provided by the AVMA may help clarify, or maybe not.
This is not — I repeat, not — an exact science.
Read more:
• How Do You Calculate Dog Years?
• The Seven-Year Glitch
• Chanel, the World's Oldest Dog
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