Golden Retriever Lifespan- How Long Do Golden Live?

You might be reading this article because you want to bring home a Golden Retriever or you want to know more about your Golden Retriever. Many people want to know regarding Golden Retriever lifespan. This curiosity exists because they just wanted to know, how long will the doggy friend stay with them. They have many questions like How long do Golden Retrievers live? What is the average lifespan of a Golden Retriever? and many more. I will answer all the questions comprehensively in the below article.

Golden Retriever lifespan- How long do Goldens live

One of my Goldens lived for 14 years and the other one passed away at a tender age of 5. There are certain factors that determine your Golden Retriever lifespan. In spite of the various factors, i can surely say that a healthy Golden Retriever can stay with you for a decade. But it is important to consider the factors that determine how long your Golden Retriever lives.

The two important factors are Pre-birth factors and Post-birth factors

Pre-birth factors

Pre-birth factors are the genetic factors that are inherited and responsible for your Golden’s health, its agility, its strength, colour and texture of its coat, the shape of its ears and tail, body size and also its lifespan. You cannot expect a child to be fully healthy if his parents are unhealthy. Same applies even to your Golden Retriever. Hence genetics play a major role in determining your Golden Retriever lifespan.

Golden Retriever genetics

Genetics play an important role in your Golden’s life. Your Golden Retriever breed genetically belongs to medium to large breed category which has an impact on your Golden’s lifespan. Big dogs have a lesser lifespan when compared to small dogs. Hence this is a limiting factor. In any case, a Golden Retriever cannot live as long as a chihuahua.

Mixed breeds or mongrels live longer than pure breeds. The genetic diversity in a mixed breeds keeps them genetically healthy and tend to live longer than Pure breeds. As a Golden Retriever belongs to the pure breed category this is another limiting factor.

Every dog inherits some favourable and undesirable genetic traits from their parent dogs. Because of inbreeding between dogs that are closely related, Golden Retrievers are at a greater risk of inheriting some genetic diseases. Some of the Genetically inherited diseases are Hip dysplasia, Elbow dysplasia, Progressive Retinal Atrophy(PRA), Centronuclear Myopathy(CNM) and Exercise Intolerance and Collapse(EIC). Proper tests need to be conducted on adult Golden Retrievers before breeding practice to stop passing on the undesirable genes.

Post-birth factors

Post birth factors are the factors that affect your Golden after entering this world. Factors include lifestyle, nutrition habits, diseases that affected your Golden, vaccination, activity levels, oral health and environmental factors that cause stress. All these factors play a vital role in determining the average lifespan of your Golden Retriever.

Out of all Pre-birth and Post-birth factors, you need to know regarding the important factors that will have a significant impact on your Golden Retriever lifespan.

Golden Retriever Nutrition

Nutrition plays a major role in shaping your Golden Retriever’s health. Even though your Golden became a member of the family you need to remember a fact that is an animal. Hence feeding human food out of love towards him will cause harm to him. It is an animal and it needs to be feed on its diet. The diet care and nourishment need to be taken from its puppy stage in order to improve its lifespan. Check our guide to Proper Golden Retriever feeding.

Your Golden feels like eating all the time and you are tempted to feed him looking at his innocent face. Feeding is not important, feeding right quality and quantity is important.

I have seen many Goldens that look chubby and cute, but are they at good health? Excess feeding leads to obesity in Golden Retrievers which is a major problem. Golden Retrievers are more prone to obesity because of their burning appetite. Obesity makes the way for other serious health risks.

A Golden Retriever with the right quality and right quantity of nutrition and a slim waistline will increase the Golden’s average lifespan.

Golden Retriever Exercise

Golden Retrievers are high energy breeds that require a lot of exercises. Lack of proper exercise and sedentary lifestyle in Golden Retrievers causes various health problems and curtails its lifespan. Exercise is very important to manage its weight and high energy. Many studies indicate that stress due to boredom and lack of exercise will have a significant impact on your Golden Retriever lifespan. For more understanding check out our article on how much exercise does a Golden Retriever need

Golden mix Life expectancy

Golden mix breeds enjoy a certain amount of genetic hardiness when compared with purebred dogs. The process of mixing two genetic materials enriches the health of the offspring and enhances the lifespan of your dog.

A Golden Retriever mix with proper nutrition, care and exercise can outlive its purebred counterpart by 3-4 years.

8 Tips to improve your Golden life expectancy

1. Choose your Golden Retriever from a reputed breeder and make sure that its parents are health tested.
2. It is important to make checks regarding the diseases that can be genetically inherited.
3. Feed high-quality nutritious food for your Golden. I prefer feeding homemade food suitable to its body
4. Stay away from excess commercial foods and treats as they contain preservatives.
5. Maintain your dog’s Gut balance.
6. Make sure that your Golden is slim by giving him the right quantity of foods to prevent obesity.
7. Exercise your Golden to keep him mentally and physically active. Physical activity reduces the amount of mental stress and boredom in your Golden.
8. Monitor vaccinations properly and make sure that your dog is not given excess and unnecessary vaccinations.

Whatever care taken and nutrition provided your loving Golden Retriever cannot stay with you forever. This fact needs to be accepted. But with all the care and tips said above you can let your Golden live its life to the fullest.

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