Sheltie lifespan

Beautiful Maggie

My beautiful girl is 15 1/4 now and has been the a wonderful member of the Delaney family here in Australia. My Grandmother in Scotland had a Sheltie for 17+ years back in the 1950s and I really wanted a good companion for my 6 year old daughter (only child now 21) - Maggie was the perfect addition and great company. She was the smallest in the litter (sable and white). Her face is almost white now - her eyelashes grey and her coat fading - but she still looks like a puppy and people can't believe she's 15+. My daughter used to cradle her like a baby with all 4 paws in the air - and even today - she's still very happy to be picked up and cuddled the same way.

Believe it or not, her diet over these years has been "Wiskas Cat food". As a puppy she'd prefer what our Cat was eating and while we worried about it the Vet was more than happy with her condition and she's been a very healthy and happy dog all her life.

Up until 12 months ago nothing seemed to slow her down - she was still jumping up to catch her tennis balls and throw them back to us, on a body board at the beach, and still rolling over and over and over.... This Christmas we had a lovely stroll along the beach - her back legs have arthritis now, she's developed a cough, she's mostly deaf and sleeps a lot - but a check up today and she's still going strong and still chasing the tennis ball tonight.

Everyone who knows knows Maggie loves her :winkgrin: - she's been a blessing to our family and we can't bear to think of life without her.
 
My Casey is 14 this month. He's getting more and more frail every day but he still loves to go outside and he likes to lay on the porch and watch the world.
 
You are very blessed to have had your Maggie for over 15 years and I hope she will have much more quality time with you. These little souls become so much a part of our hearts that any thought of life without them is devastating even though we know that time will come someday.

Trini
 
Interesting topic... Derringer is going on 14. His parents both died at 12. His mom died of liver failure and his dad, I unfortunately forget since we only owned his mom. And surprisingly although he doesn't have many teeth and can't hear he is in pretty good health for all the things he's been through (Like, a hole in his lungs because of dog food when he was 8...)

Honey turns 10 in a week and it makes me wonder a lot about how long she'll be around. Sometimes she has as much spunk as a puppy and others, you can tell she feels old. The only health issues she has had is a broken hind leg when a pup and then her tummy bug last year which included not eating for 2 days and bloody vomit.


Majority of our shelties have lasted 15-16 years, with our odd balls being 12 years old and 18 yrs old.
 
My Senior boy, Mickey and puppy boy, Charlie :)

My sweet boy, Mickey turned 16 in November, and is doing well. Up until this past year he had absolutely no major health problems (other than the normal ones caused by aging). Then in August we discovered that he had cancer, but we had it surgically removed right before his 16th birthday, and he feels GREAT because of it! Besides arthritis in his back legs and his ear and eyesight starting go, he still has so much energy for his age. :) We're just hoping the cancer doesn't spread too much. We're hoping we still get at LEAST one more year with our sweet boy.

In July, I got another Sheltie baby - Charlie. He is 9 months old now, and doing great. I'm just hoping he will have the longevity that his brother has had. So far, he is healthy, smart, and one of the sweetest dogs I have ever seen. It has been such a joy to bring Charlie home and see him grow these last 7 months!
 
Chelsea left me at 13 of heart failure. She had to live at a furious pace, anything else wouldn't have cut the mustard.

April turned 9 on Feb 7. Her pace is, has always been, much much slower - what's all this about cutting the mustard? Sounds like work...
 
My previous shelties lasted 2yrs (poisoned), 10 yrs (testicular cancer) and 15yrs (heart). I fed them crap back in the day so I'd hope my current shelties live longer. That said, Deska at 7yrs is struggling with arthritis so I think I'll be lucky if he manages to 10yrs. Tully on the other hand, well I've told the vet her new hip has to last at least 10yrs, and she's 6.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top