Why do dogs have such short lives?

I'm sorry for your loss. My pets have died before and it is one of the most horrible feelings. It is a feeling that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemies. You have my deepest sympathy. Every time one of my beloved pets die, I go through the five stages of grief... literally every time. I suggest that you take a look at this brilliant model. Coming from someone who has gone through the same thing you are going through right now, It looks like you are still trying to make sense out of your dog's passing, which is a healthy process.

In fact, I believe that you are on the fourth stage of grief, depression. Me giving a scientific reason as to why your dog died will likely depress you more. You are searching for something. I'm not quite sure what you are looking for. Perhaps you are trying to attribute some sort of meaning to your dog's passing? You have a thirst for something that cannot possibly be quenched by anything on this earth. Wounds like yours can only be healed by the gentle hands of time.

The pursuit of biological knowledge will not magically make you come to terms with this tragedy. Curiosity is an intrinsic value of the human race. Curiosity has its place, but does not belong in the grieving process. Depression is arguably the hardest stage of grief, but I can assure you, this is the worst it will get. Coping with a loss as devastating as yours won't be easy; however, it will only get more manageable.

Before I proceed, I will openly admit my bias. I am an active Christian. As a Christian, I recommend that you pray to God and ask him to watch over your dog in Heaven. Knowing that I have someone who will listen brings me a sense of comfort. Although, perhaps you are atheist and you believe that hard fact will make you feel better. If this is the case, I will tell you the science behind your dog's death. Naturally, I will leave out anything too gruesome or unpleasant to think about because that is the last thing you need.

DNA degeneration is a likely cause of your dog's death as it is the cause of old age. Every time one of your dog's cells splits, each cell gets a full copy of the DNA from the original cell. Well, not quite. In order for the DNA to duplicate itself, a special enzyme goes down the length of the DNA and unzips it. Each time this process occurs, the DNA loses a little bit of the base. At a certain point, there will be a time where there is too little DNA to replicate, and the cells won't divide properly. Without effective cell division, living becomes impossible, and we pass away.

This tragedy was not your fault. You appear to have loved your dog very much. Though your dog lived a short life, I'm sure that, in retrospect, those 7 years were incredibly fulfilling. Cherish those memories. If you do, your pet will live on through you. I hope she didn't suffer and I hope that you are okay. If you need to talk, don't be afraid to send me an email.

Not a scientific or particularly factual answer here, but I heard a quote a while ago in regard to this and it was along the lines of:

"If we are heartbroken after the loss of a dog of 10 or so years, imagine the pain we would feel after losing them if they lived twice as long"

More of a philosophical angle but it does make sense

Life expectancy depends on the heart rate. Smaller animals have faster heart rates; they live short lives. In general, mammal hearts are good for about 1 billion beats before failing. Humans are exceptional because our hearts can last for about 3 billion beats during our life time. Cats and dogs have heart rates that are about twice as fast as ours. That means they should be able to live 1/2 as long as humans do, but since we live around 3 times as long, we live about 6 times as long as cats and dogs. This is an interesting fact you may like to know...elephants should live much longer than 60 years based on their heart rates, but their teeth wear out after about 60 years so they die of starvation. The heart rate of mice is around 500 beats per minute, or about 4 times as fast as that of a cat. So mice live for about 1/4 as long as a cat, or about 3 years.

Genetics...it's just how dogs evolved from wolves, their species just survived best at the rate they age. Bad diet and over use of drugs and puppy mills are having an impact on life span as well though. Sometimes diseases are silent like tick diseases..I know 2 five year old dogs who died from them.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Don't take it too seriously, but here is a rather inspiring reason I once heard. It is that people live long because we have to learn to be nice and think about others first, but dogs don't have to live as long because they already know how to do all that.

Sorry about your dog, Dogs have short lives because their heart rates are faster than larger animals. Here is a link to another similar question.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200912...

Sorry for your loss know how your feeling my kitten died last year he was barely one I guess it's just the course of nature x

Aww im sorry its just happens because it is part of nature and life.

Just nature I'm afraid