Overview
This is the result of a quick-and-dirty survey carried out in early 2000 on how long greyhounds live and what they die of. It is not, by any means, a carefully done scientific survey, but hopefully will be of interest to those involved in greyhound welfare.
Two questions were asked:
These questions were posted on
GREYHOUND-L and greyhound-placements-l in February 2000. The survey entries (142 in all) were taken from a) replies directly arising from the survey posting and b) death notices in GREYHOUND-L digests from the last few years (cross-checking to avoid duplicates).Average age of death was 10.
The ages that more greyhounds died at than any other age were (equally) 12 and 13.
The biggest single cause of death was cancer (44%), in particular, bone cancer (22%).
To draw a rough comparison with humans, a greyhound aged 12 could be considered to be in his seventies.
To better understand the results, look at the
charts at the end of this document. These are set against charts for age and cause of death for humans, to put the data into some kind of perspective.Age At Death
I think the average age of death is a little on the low side, for two reasons:
Cause of Death
If humans didn’t smoke, overdose on unhealthy food, and lie around all day, the rate of heart disease might go down to that of greyhounds – and (because you have to die of something) the rate of death from cancer might go up. The proportion of deaths from heart disease and cancer together is about the same in humans and greyhounds, but greyhounds have less heart disease and more cancer than humans.
Bone cancer is common in greyhounds (as it is in many large breeds). It stands out among the causes of death because it is extremely painful and the treatment (which can prolong active, painfree life for an average of a year) is extremely expensive.
Over the long run, the insurance companies, not you, make money from pet health insurance, but the margins are fairly narrow. If you not are able to keep a few thousand stashed away in case your dog is diagnosed with something like bone cancer, or you don’t think you can save that much before the dog is six, then you should seriously consider taking out pet health insurance.
Please send questions and comments to Maria Hamilton, maria@dales.rmplc.co.uk.
The data may be used as long as it is accompanied by a link to this page, http://gurk.demon.co.uk/greyhoundsurvey.html
If you draw any interesting conclusions from it please let me know!
Thanks go to all the people on GREYHOUND-L and greyhound-placement-l who contributed to the survey. What you see here is anonymous data, but the original data was not anonymous. There was a name for almost every line in the table below. It sounds simple enough to write down a dog’s age and cause of death, but it is often a very painful thing to do.
Greyhounds: Age at Death
Humans: Age At Death
Greyhounds: Causes Of Death
Humans: Causes Of Death
Greyhounds:Age of Death By Cause Of Death
|
Reported cause of death |
Classified As |
age at death |
|
euth (aggression -> dogs + humans) |
behavioural |
3.00 |
|
haemorrhage (unexplained) |
bleeding |
5.00 |
|
internal haemorrhaging |
bleeding |
5 |
|
blood disease |
blood disease |
11.5 |
|
autoimmune hemolytic anemia |
blood disease |
10.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
14.8 |
|
bone cancer (chondroplastic osteosarcoma ) |
bone cancer |
13.8 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
12.80 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
12.50 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
12.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
12 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
11.50 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
11.00 |
|
bone cancer (pts: inoperable spine tumor) |
bone cancer |
11.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
10.5 |
|
Osteosarcoma |
bone cancer |
10.50 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
10 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
9.5 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
9.5 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
9.50 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
9.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
9.00 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
9.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
8.50 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
8.50 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
8.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
8 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
7.50 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
7.00 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
7.00 |
|
bone cancer |
bone cancer |
7.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
7.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
6.00 |
|
bone cancer (osteosarcoma) |
bone cancer |
3 |
|
adenocarcinoma |
cancer |
16.80 |
|
cancer (liver?) |
cancer |
15 |
|
fibrosarcoma |
cancer |
14.5 |
|
adenocarcinoma |
cancer |
14.4 |
|
cancer (pancreatic) |
cancer |
14 |
|
cancer (lung tumor) |
cancer |
13.5 |
|
colon cancer |
cancer |
13.00 |
|
thyroid/throat cancer |
cancer |
13 |
|
lung cancer(mast cell tumors) |
cancer |
12.75 |
|
cancer |
cancer |
12.50 |
|
fibrosarcoma |
cancer |
11.7 |
|
fibrosarcoma |
cancer |
11.50 |
|
liver cancer |
cancer |
11.50 |
|
liver cancer |
cancer |
11.00 |
|
lung cancer |
cancer |
11.00 |
|
lymphoma |
cancer |
10.50 |
|
mast cell cancer |
cancer |
10.00 |
|
Hemangiosarcoma |
cancer |
10.00 |
|
cancer |
cancer |
10.00 |
|
Brain Tumor |
cancer |
8.50 |
|
haemangiosarcoma |
cancer |
8.00 |
|
lymphosarcoma |
cancer |
8 |
|
cancer |
cancer |
8.00 |
|
brain tumor/seizures |
cancer |
7.00 |
|
brain tumor |
cancer |
6 |
|
lymphoma |
cancer |
6.00 |
|
Leukemia |
cancer |
6.00 |
|
lymphosarcoma |
cancer |
5.50 |
|
lymphoma |
cancer |
5.00 |
|
brain tumor/seizures |
cancer |
4.00 |
|
heart attack? |
heart failure |
15.00 |
|
heart problem |
heart failure |
13.00 |
|
heart attack |
heart failure |
11.60 |
|
heart attack |
heart failure |
11.50 |
|
cardiomyopathy |
heart failure |
10.50 |
|
heart disease |
heart failure |
10.00 |
|
dilated cardio myopathy |
heart failure |
9.00 |
|
heart problem |
heart failure |
8.5 |
|
congestive heart failure/brittle bones |
heart failure |
7.00 |
|
kidney failure (following epilepsy) |
kidney failure |
13.2 |
|
kidney failure (following vestibular disease) |
kidney failure |
13 |
|
kidney failure |
kidney failure |
9.50 |
|
injury (complications from old track injury) |
misadventure |
14.50 |
|
post op comps/spleen tumor |
misadventure |
13.00 |
|
streptococcal toxic shock |
misadventure |
12.80 |
|
infection : bad teeth/gums |
misadventure |
12.00 |
|
perforated intestine |
misadventure |
12.00 |
|
RTA |
misadventure |
12 |
|
heart attack (during X rays) |
misadventure |
12.00 |
|
dog attack |
misadventure |
10.5 |
|
broken leg / complications |
misadventure |
10.00 |
|
streptococcal toxic shock |
misadventure |
9.40 |
|
streptococcal toxic shock |
misadventure |
7.30 |
|
heat stroke |
misadventure |
7.00 |
|
streptococcal toxic shock |
misadventure |
6.90 |
|
heart attack (post surgery) |
misadventure |
3.50 |
|
Accident (RTA) |
misadventure |
3.00 |
|
malignant hyperthermia during neuter |
misadventure |
2.00 |
|
old age |
old age/related |
15.7 |
|
old age |
old age/related |
15.2 |
|
sudden following longterm kidney probs |
old age/related |
14.9 |
|
old age |
old age/related |
14.8 |
|
old age/brain tumor/kidney failure |
old age/related |
14 |
|
old age |
old age/related |
14.00 |
|
pneumonia |
old age/related |
13.5 |
|
old age/vestibular |
old age/related |
13.00 |
|
CDS (Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome) |
old age/related |
13.00 |
|
pneumonia/heart/kidneys/Cushings? |
old age/related |
12.50 |
|
seizures/arthritis meds comps |
seizures |
16.00 |
|
seizures/arthritis meds comps |
seizures |
15.00 |
|
epilepsy complications |
seizures |
6 |
|
seizures |
seizures |
5.00 |
|
seizures |
seizures |
5.00 |
|
old age/spinal problems |
spinal problems |
14.50 |
|
spinal myelopathy |
spinal problems |
9.00 |
|
paralysis/ruptured a disk |
spinal problems |
8.00 |
|
FCE and resulting paralysis |
spinal problems |
7.50 |
|
stroke following longterm liver probs from poisoning |
stroke / blood clot |
14.6 |
|
stroke/aneurism |
stroke / blood clot |
12 |
|
blood clot |
stroke / blood clot |
8 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
12.7 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
12.6 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
12.20 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
11.9 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
11.3 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
11.3 |
|
sudden |
sudden |
10.3 |
|
hips/immune problems |
sundry disease |
12.50 |
|
paralysis/cancer/?tick disease? |
sundry disease |
11 |
|
Laryngeal Paralysis |
sundry disease |
11.00 |
|
liver failure |
sundry disease |
9.00 |
|
pancreatitis |
sundry disease |
9.00 |
|
lupus |
sundry disease |
8.50 |
|
disease |
sundry disease |
5.00 |
|
??Tylan-related? |
sundry disease |
3.00 |
|
Erlichiosis -> haemorrhage |
tick disease |
7.50 |
|
babesiosis |
tick disease |
7.00 |
|
Erlichiosis -> haemorrhage |
tick disease |
6.50 |
|
unknown |
16.00 |
|
|
unknown |
16.00 |
|
|
unknown |
14.00 |
|
|
unknown |
14.00 |
|
|
unknown |
14.00 |
|
|
unknown |
13.50 |
|
|
unknown |
12.50 |
|
|
unknown |
12.00 |
|
|
unknown |
11.00 |
|
|
unknown |
unknown |
9.5 |