Golden Retriever
I don't know what happened to the golden retriever, but it's sad that such a wonderful breed has so many health issues. In the 1970s goldens lived about 17 years, today it's around 9. Our Haylie die...
Forum Discussion
The following is an interesting article from Johns Hopkins.
Basically they did a statistical study and concluded that 2/3 of cancers were "bad luck" related to the length of life and the other 1/3 other contributing causes like genetics, environment, diet, etc.
I too have noticed that Goldens are more prone to cancer now than 30 years ago. We've had 5, two made it to 15+, one to 12, one to 10 and Jill is approaching 13 and healthy. I think expected the life span is closer to 10 than 7.
Maybe we need to add a few flat coated retrievers and water spaniels into the gene pool and mix European gene pool with American.
Doug, DVM
Basically they did a statistical study and concluded that 2/3 of cancers were "bad luck" related to the length of life and the other 1/3 other contributing causes like genetics, environment, diet, etc.
I too have noticed that Goldens are more prone to cancer now than 30 years ago. We've had 5, two made it to 15+, one to 12, one to 10 and Jill is approaching 13 and healthy. I think expected the life span is closer to 10 than 7.
Maybe we need to add a few flat coated retrievers and water spaniels into the gene pool and mix European gene pool with American.
Doug, DVM
