As it turns out, the dog years to human years ratio is not exactly 7:1. Some vets would even say that for the first 2yrs of life, dogs age almost 9 years for every human year because they 18 the common age among humans for sexual maturity. Then, it slows down and speeds up according to physiological or behavioral markers in the life of the dog.

This is a popular myth. For a rough guideline though, the formula is 10.5 years per human year for the first 2 years, then 4 dog years per human year for each year afterwards. However, dog size, breed and diet play an important roll in it's life expectency. See the links below for Dog Age Calculators to find out the closest "human age" for your dog. http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm http://www.daytondailynews.com/community/content/community/pets/guides/calculator.html

Well, cat and dog years are a kind of made up way for explaining to people what stage an animal is in it his/her life, so the owner can relate to a stage of their own life. For instance, at 2-3 years old, a cat or a dog is more like a teenager in terms of their development. What you really need to know is how old animals generally live, and then compare their life span expectation to your own. For instance, the reason that 1 dog year = 7 people years is this: dogs generally live about 12 years (average - I'll explain shortly). So when they are 12, it'd be like us being 84, which is about the human life expectancy. BUT, this is the problem; some breeds can live up to 18 years, others usually only make it 5 years (aka Irish Wolf Hound), so the 7 human years per dog year doesn't really work. But, in general, this is how you can think about ages that animals will live: Small dogs usually live longer than large dogs; mutts live longer than pure breeds. Cats generally live longer than dogs. A really old cat would be 18 years old, but most make it to about 15 or 16 if they are well taken care of and don't have a huge medical problem. Birds can have really long lives, for instance big parrots can live to be over 80 years old! Some smaller birds only live to be about 8-10 years old. So in general, it's very difficult to come up with a "dog years" type equation for those animals!! What you can do, however, is this: Find out what type of animal you have, and how long it generally lives (you can do an internet search for this information) Figure people live to be about 85 years old. Take the age you think your animal is going to live, and divide 85 by that number. It will give you a general "animal to human" year ratio, so you can figure out where in his/her life your pet is compared to people!! It's not very scientific, but it's always fun. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/vet00/vet00068.htm

Ahhh Heck as long as they are in good health, Just be thankful for all the time you have them alive & try not to determine when they will die !!!!