16 YES!!! You are feeding that dog well. Whats with the pic though-- That's not Muttley and that could tick him off. My first Rhodie lived that long or was it 14/ I'm nervous about Bacchus he is losing muscle mass quick
Whoever came up with "dog years" anyway? That would put Muttley at 112. I'd put her in people years, at about 89 maybe. A healthy 89. Her hearing is getting pretty bad though. I actually thought (1/2 way joked) about buying one of those $100 hearing aids and seeing if I could figure out a way to adapt it to her so it wouldn't fall out. Dogs like to shake their heads, at least she does. I don't think there's a way to make one stay in.
Dog Hearing Aids: Innovations in Assisting with Canine Deafness By Gemma Johnstone Updated: Aug 29, 2023 | 4 Minutes deafness hearing loss hearing aids For over a century, humans with hearing loss have used electronic hearing aids. But what about if your otherwise healthy dog is suffering from hearing loss? Are dog hearing aids available, and will they improve your pet’s quality of life? When Were Dog Hearing Aids Created? In the late 1980s, Dr. Patricia Luttgen created the first prototype by attaching a human hearing aid to a dog’s collar. Dog hearing aids have evolved considerably since then. A modern pioneer in canine auditory aids is FETCHLAB, an animal hearing and bioacoustics laboratory at the University of Cincinnati. At FETCHLab, executive director Dr. Peter M. “Skip” Scheifele and his team focus their research on canine amplification. FETCHLAB is the only place in the world that currently fits official dog hearing aids. FETCHLAB devices are adapted human hearing aids and cost upwards of $3,000. Currently, the devices are still in their testing phase, as they are complicated to produce and can be prohibitively expensive to buy. Despite this, the FETCHLAB team receives weekly inquiries from loving pet owners interested in improving their dog’s hearing. FETCHLAB is working towards releasing more affordable dog hearing aids in the near future. “The aim is to create hearing aids like some of the off-the-shelf human ones. We can probably get the price down to hundreds of dollars versus thousands,” Dr. Scheifele says. What Makes a Dog a Good Candidate For Hearing Aids? Many pet dogs with mild-to-moderate hearing loss are suitable candidates for hearing aids, but the devices aren’t suitable for every pet. “If a dog has profound hearing loss, then the hearing aid won’t work. No amount of amplification will make the sound loud enough that the ear can hear it,” Dr. Scheifele says. Dr. Scheifele’s team receives and evaluates plenty of questions about fitting hearing aids for dogs. In about 60% of the inquiries, he estimates the hearing of the dog in question has deteriorated sufficiently, and the dog isn’t eligible for a hearing aid. Canine hearing loss is often gradual, and by the time an owner realizes the severity of the issue, the problem has often progressed too far for hearing aids to be effective.
We're to go along with climate stuff and earth day etc. but at same time in another place we're at war on two or maybe three fronts. How to reconcile?