The life spans of animals that are commonly kept as pets is an important factor in picking out a pet. Would you acquire a pet that would probably outlive you? Not many people factor in the pet's life expectancy when picking out a pet. Some people only have a rough idea of how long a pet can live. I will give you some idea of what are the common life spans of some typical pets.
Some of the longer lived pets are tortoises and parrots. The common box tortoise can live up to 100 or more years. Parrots also have long life spans with 80 or more years old being common. There have been rare cases of both of those types of pets living up to 150 years. By comparison the smaller birds such as parakeets and finches live from 4 to 15 years with the average being about 7 years old. That bit of info came in handy for us since we had been considering another parakeet to keep our one lone parakeet company. We decided against it since our current parakeet is 8 years old.
Goldfish are a long lived pet with 20 years being common for well taken care of fish. Unfortunately most aquarium fish are treated as "throw away pets" and people erroneously think of fish as having short lives.
Horses use to be considered old when they were 20 years old but that was 30 years ago. Now horses are living well into their 30's because of better nutrition and better education of horse owners. In the past old wives tales use to govern the medical care of many horses thus leading to many premature deaths.
Cats can live anywhere from 15 to 22 years with 18 being the common life expectancy for them. Dog's life spans are governed by the size they are. The smaller the dog the longer the life span. Great Danes typically live for only 7 years where as the Chow-Chow will live to 15 years.
Hamsters and mice are the shorter lived pets. Most hamsters will live only 2 years with a 4 year old hamster considered to be very old. Mice live to 3-5 years old. Rabbits on the other hand can live to be 20 with 16 years old to be the average life expectancy.
Now that you know more about the typical life expectancies of some pets you can avoid giving someone a pet that might outlive them.
Some of the longer lived pets are tortoises and parrots. The common box tortoise can live up to 100 or more years. Parrots also have long life spans with 80 or more years old being common. There have been rare cases of both of those types of pets living up to 150 years. By comparison the smaller birds such as parakeets and finches live from 4 to 15 years with the average being about 7 years old. That bit of info came in handy for us since we had been considering another parakeet to keep our one lone parakeet company. We decided against it since our current parakeet is 8 years old.
Goldfish are a long lived pet with 20 years being common for well taken care of fish. Unfortunately most aquarium fish are treated as "throw away pets" and people erroneously think of fish as having short lives.
Horses use to be considered old when they were 20 years old but that was 30 years ago. Now horses are living well into their 30's because of better nutrition and better education of horse owners. In the past old wives tales use to govern the medical care of many horses thus leading to many premature deaths.
Cats can live anywhere from 15 to 22 years with 18 being the common life expectancy for them. Dog's life spans are governed by the size they are. The smaller the dog the longer the life span. Great Danes typically live for only 7 years where as the Chow-Chow will live to 15 years.
Hamsters and mice are the shorter lived pets. Most hamsters will live only 2 years with a 4 year old hamster considered to be very old. Mice live to 3-5 years old. Rabbits on the other hand can live to be 20 with 16 years old to be the average life expectancy.
Now that you know more about the typical life expectancies of some pets you can avoid giving someone a pet that might outlive them.
Comments
I've got a 5 month old kitten and a 2 year old cat. I hope they live to a ripe old age. The last cat my husband and I had died suddenly and unexpectedly last year when he was just 4 years old.
Sophie
:)
Excellent article and one that anyone contemplating acquiring a pet needs to read.
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