Top 4 Ways To Extend Your Dog's Life Expectancy, From Vets

Dog's naturally have a shorter time on Earth than humans, but our canine companions spend their entire lives doing what they love, so a shorter lifespan doesn't equate to them missing out on much. Still, it is always incredibly painful when it's time to say goodbye to your furry friend.

There are plenty of ways that pet owners can extend their dog's lifespan and boost their quality of life to make their few years on Earth the best that they could possibly be.

Dr. Aziza Glass is the pet food company Freshpet's expert veterinarian, while Dr. Gerardo Perez-Camargo is the firm's vice president of research and development. Perez-Camargo has a particular focus at Freshpet on developing ways to extend a dog's life expectancy.

The vets told Newsweek that love, care, and good-quality food is the key to a healthy elderly dog and can unlock a few extra months or years than the average for its breed.

Regular Vet Checks

"Being proactive in your dog's veterinary care is the best way to detect and monitor preventable diseases," Glass told Newsweek.

"This includes consistent physical exams: annual for adults and puppies, biannual for seniors. These exams provide the opportunity for early detection of disease and therefore faster initiation of treatment.

"It also makes it easier for the pet parent to be compliant with recommended wellness care, including, but not limited to, vaccinations, heartworm testing, parasitic preventatives, blood work, and more," she added.

It goes without saying that a dog that has a chronic disease such as hypothyroidism or diabetes, requires regular vet checkups as a necessity. These regular checkups can help keep a disease under control and extend a poorly dog's lifespan.

"It is crucial that diagnostic tests are performed at the recommended intervals to confirm the ideal dosage of their medications. This maximizes the success of the treatment which in turn improves your dog's quality of life," Glass explained.

A Nutritious Diet

Second to ensuring that your dog is attending all the necessary veterinary checkups, is making sure that they are feasting on healthy and fresh food. Feeding your dog a balanced and nutritious diet can also ward off any diseases and prevent the need for serious veterinary treatment.

"Pet obesity is one of the leading chronic diseases seen in veterinary medicine and for the most part, it's preventable," Glass said.

"If your dog is a picky eater, feeding [them] fresh food is a great way of appealing to their appetite. By feeding fresh, you'll also be providing tasty and nutritious vegetables, fruits, and proteins packed full with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants that will support your dog's whole body," she added.

Clean Teeth

On top of watching what they eat, dog owners should keep a close eye on what they're using to keep their pet's teeth clean. Dog's mouths shouldn't smell, or even be stained, and both unpleasantries can be prevented by brusing their teeth at least twice a week or by using dental chews.

Veterinarians often come across periodontal disease, which is easily preventable by keeping your dog's teeth in good shape. Yellowed or tainted teeth that haven't been maintained can be a sign of progressive dental disease, which left untreated can cause infection, difficulty in eating, weight loss and even loss of teeth.

"Make sure to schedule routine dental cleanings with your primary care veterinarian one to two times a year. At home, try brushing your dog's teeth every day or a minimum of twice a week to slow the progression of periodontal disease," Glass advised.

Healthy Weight

Pet obesity itself can have fatal consequences if not controlled by a healthy and balanced diet. According to Glass, roughly 25 to 30 percent of pets are considered obese in the U.S.

While obesity in dogs can result in death, before things get to that stage, excessive weight gain can increase the probability of dogs developing diseases such as diabetes or osteoarthritis.

"Obesity also drastically impacts your dog's quality of life. It impacts their energy, mobility, comfort and more. Be observant of your pet's weight and work with your primary care veterinarian or a veterinary nutritionist to create a weight-loss plan to get your pet to an ideal weight," Glass told Newsweek.

To complement your dog's healthy and calorie-controlled diet, the veterinarians recommend pet owners exercise their dogs regularly to keep their weight down and their activity levels up.

"Keeping your dog active will strengthen their cardiovascular system and either help them lose weight or maintain a healthy one," Perez-Camargo explained.

The amount of exercise that a dog needs will depend on its breed and size, but according to both veterinarians, exercising your dog regularly is a must for extending their lifespan.

Most of the Freshpet vets' advice overlaps, to extend your dog's lifespan you need to get them down to the vets regularly to safeguard against diseases, but to prevent the preventable in the first place, you need to ensure that your dog is fed a healthy and balanced diet. This and frequent exercise also inhibits obesity, which can shorten a dog's lifespan, while disciplined tooth brushing can prevent dental disease.

Love Is Key

The final part of all these nuggets of advice is in making your pet feel loved and involved in everyday family life. Dogs are pack animals and they thrive on operating in a close-knit team that keeps them mentally stimulated and emotionally fulfilled.

"Our dogs need mental stimulation. There is such a thing as being too much of a couch potato. Dogs can get bored. Those that have a lack of enrichment often develop behavioral problems like anxiety, destructive tendencies and stress," Perez-Camargo said.

He added that mental stimulation in later years can help strengthen and exercise the cognitive functioning of older dogs. Lastly, it is important to make your dog feel loved and cared for.

"The human-animal bond is defined as a mutually beneficial relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behavior and positively impacts the wellness and wellbeing of both," Freshpet's research and development VP added.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.