Hello and need advice

[Nightkatt1]

My husband and I adopted about a year and a half ago an adult beagle. Her owner had died a couple of months before. The dog had been abused, she is better now with us. We saved her from being destroyed. But we were told she was maybe 5 years old. We are now figuring out she is probably older than 10. Most of her teeth are gone, her hair is turning more white. Lately she has begun late at night to urinate on the carpet. This is odd, because she has always been really good about letting us know she has to go out. How do we tell about how old she is first, and second what are the signs that she is getting older? How long do bealges usully live? Many times she acts like a puppy, we love this dog very much, and she came into our lives just after my husband had a stroke. She is really important to us. Please help. Her name is Jazz

[araine]

Vets usually look at the amount of tartar and tooth wear to estimate a dog's age. Unfortunately, tartar can depend on food and even the environment the dog was exposed to as a youngster. Like people, some dogs just have really bad teeth, so determining their age can be a challenge.

However, beagle tend to live between 12-15 years of age, and usually start to turn white fairly soon sometimes. My parents have a 6 year old beagle that went from dark tri-color to nearly snow white over night. Beagle change colors throughout their lives. Cassidy was born mostly black, and now she is mostly an ember brown.

The teeth loss could be bad teeth, or another health related problem, and I think we all know that bad teeth can make anyone seem ill or older. You know how healthy your heart is by looking at your gums. What does the vet say about the loss of teeth?

I would take her to vet to get her checked over, this may have been part of the reason she was going to be destroyed. They could tell she lived a rough life, and has health issues developing. And you don't know her complete history, so who knows what types of food she was on, how often she was fed, etc.

Keep us posted!

[Tucker]

The peeing on the floor at night might be a UTI. That would definately be something to talk to the vet about. Some female beagles have a tendency to gets UTI's more than others. If she has lost most of her teeth, I immagine you are feeding her soft food. Don't give up on the kibble and toys and treats that are hard. It is amazing what they can do with just a couple of teeth.

We were told our first beagle Cleo was about 8 when we got her. After a while we began to think she was older. She had a hard life too before we got her. She was very overweight and she was rescued from the shelter just before she was scheduled to be pts. We only had Cleo for 3 years but she was a really special dog to us as I am sure Jazz is you.