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Healthy Dog - Normal Values
These are some of the guidelines used by your vet to assess your dogs health.Temperature - 100.5 to 102.5
Heart rate - 180 beats a minute for puppies
60-160 beats per minute for most adult dogs
- 180 beats a minute for toy breeds
The normal respiratory rate for dogs is 16 to 20 breaths per minute. The normal heartrate is 70 to 160 bpm. Large dogs tend to have slower heart rates so your dog should be in the 70 to 120 bpm range. This varies according to the cardiovascular fitness of the dog, too. The more active the dog is the slower its resting heartrate will be.
Pulse - 60 to 120
Gestation - 62 days
Estrous Cycle - 4 to 6 months
Estrus - 9 days
Average lifespan - 10 to 14 years
Weight range - Smallest - some toy breeds are as small as 2-3 lbs
- Biggest - some of the giant breeds are over 150 lbs
Breed size determines when bone growth stops. Little breeds may be fully grown by 6 or 7 months of age while giant breed dogs may continue to grow for 18 to 24 months. Most pitbulls are probably their full adult size, except for muscling and fat deposition, by the time they are a year of age.
Aging dogs
Question: The Merck Veterinary Manual lists some suggestions
for aging dogs by their
teeth but I do not have a lot of faith in this method of assessing
age
This seldom works in Puppy Mill dogs as their diet is so bad that their
teeth age quickly.
What do you think about aging by internal organs, such as during a spay.
Can
you actually tell if they have never had a heat cycle ?
Marsha
Answer: Marsha-
Dogs that have not been through a heat cycle do tend to have smaller
uterine horns and the ligaments attaching the ovaries are often very
inflexible, so sometimes I really do have the distinct impression that
a
dog hasn't been through a heat cycle. Also, nipple enlargement tends
to
occur after the first or second heat cycle, so that is a hint, too.
However, I don't think that it is possible to age a dog by visible
changes
in organs, or at least I have not been observant enough to note consistent
changes that might give hints as to age.
I read somewhere, but unfortunately have no idea where, that it is possible
to age dogs by removing the first or second premolar and examining
the
tooth structure in some way but I can't remember any more than that,
mostly
because I thought it was an impractical test for real life situations.
It would be nice to have a good way to age dogs so if you run across
one,
let me know. I'll try to do the same for you.
Mike Richards, DVM
7/5/2000
