August 16, 2024, 5:38 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
As a dog owner, you often wonder whether you are doing everything right and giving your dog enough love and attention. However, according to a study from the USA, this is not as crucial as another social factor, which is five times more likely to keep the animals healthy.
Many dog owners are concerned about their pets’ health. They often ask themselves whether they can afford medical treatment for their pet or whether their dog gets enough exercise, fresh air, or love. While all of these things are important, according to a new study, another factor has five times more influence on the health of dogs. PETBOOK gives an overview of what really keeps dogs healthy for a long time.
5 Factors that influence how long dogs remain healthy
The health effects of various factors have already been well studied in humans. For example, an urban lifestyle with a low income and little exercise is statistically more likely to result in reduced mobility and an increased risk of disease.
Biologist Brianah McCoy and her colleagues from Arizona State University in the USA wanted to determine whether similar correlations could be demonstrated in dogs. A first study in this field, in 2023, already proved a correlation between the size of the dog and the expected lifespan.
To determine which factor had the greatest influence, the researchers used data from the Dog Aging Project conducted in the USA. This is the world’s largest dog health initiative, and the data collected there is available to veterinarians and researchers. For this study, McCoy and colleagues examined completed questionnaires for 21,410 dogs.
From this enormous data set, they selected five factors defined as strong variables in a statistical analysis. These included the animal’s environment, the owners’ household income and age, and social interactions with children and other dogs.
Which dogs are healthy for a long time? The data at a glance
All the isolated factors had a clear influence on the health of dogs. At the same time, the following correlations emerged:
- Higher income was paralleled by better animal health, although more diseases were diagnosed
- Dogs that lived with other pets were healthier
- Stable economic conditions also led to better health
- Having many children in the household had a negative impact on dogs
- Older owners tended to have healthier dogs than younger owners
- Dogs that exercised frequently remained mobile well into old age
- Dogs that lived with children exercised the least
- Young dogs living with older owners exercised the most
Social contacts are five times more important than money
How can these results be explained? According to the data, social-environmental factors could have a positive or negative influence on our dogs in the long term. For instance, owners with a higher income tended to detect more diseases in their dogs. Yet these dogs were, on average, healthier, likely due to receiving higher-quality treatment. The authors write in their study that this result points to the role that finances play in the ability to diagnose diseases.
However, according to the data, this factor should not be overestimated. Even though income positively affected dogs, another factor had five times as much influence on how long they remained healthy.
Dogs living in households with other pets had better health scores and fewer disease diagnoses than dogs with fewer animal companions. It did not matter which other animal was involved – cats also had a positive influence. This suggests that social enrichment in the form of other animals has enormous health benefits for dogs.
Children and young owners have a negative effect on dogs
Like humans, increased social contact appears to be associated with health benefits in dogs. However, it all depends on the type of contact.
Dogs that lived in households with more children had statistically fewer illnesses but were in a poorer state of health. The scientists explain this by the dogs’ changed status in these households. Families with many children usually spend more time and money on the children than the animals. These dogs also tended to get the least exercise.
Do older owners have healthier dogs?
However, what puzzled the researchers was the observed positive influence of older owners on young dogs. An analysis by the Dog Aging Project previously found that older owners had more active dogs, which was associated with better health. Unexpectedly, however, this correlation was not found in older dogs with owners of advanced age.
According to the scientists, this data also shows how important it is to understand how age affects lifestyle. This allows conclusions to be drawn about the health of pets and companion animals.
So, if the positive influence of an older owner on a younger dog can be proven, this could also have a significant impact on animal welfare. This is due to the tendency for young dogs to be less frequently adopted by older individuals. According to the study by McCoy and colleagues, however, this could change for the better.
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Sources
McCoy, B. M., Brassington, L., Jin, K., Dolby, G. A., Shrager, S., Collins, D., … & Snyder-Mackler, N. (2023). Social determinants of health and disease in companion dogs: a cohort study from the Dog Aging Project. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 11(1), 187-201.