Just How Long do Pugs Live (Oct, 2019)

Pugs are no doubt cool creatures but the joy is mostly cut short when you talk of their life expectancy. Like every other pet, a pug is often times closer than even family or friends and thinking of helplessly losing him/her to death soon sucks.

So do you own one or look to owning one? Well, you don’t want to miss out on this important information.

If the animation movie about what your pets get up to when you are gone is any indication of the power of self-recognition animals hold, it’s no wonder they are so in tune with humanity. Unfortunately, genetics have given pugs a far shorter time to make an impact in the lives of its owners than most of the other dog species.

So how long does a pug live? After spending a decent amount of time studying this, I’ll share out my findings with you just so you understand this once and for all.

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The Lifespan of a Pug In Brief (In Dog Years)

Unlike enduring breeds such as Jack Russell terriers, Beagles and Chihuahuas that can live up to a ripe old age of 20 years (and sometimes even more), you can expect your beloved pug to be around for, at the very most, 17 years. By the time a pug is 7 years, it moves from being an adult to being a senior. Note that one dog year is an equivalent of about 7 human years.

A pug’s smooshed looking flat face with large round eyes endears many pet lovers to them without many people knowing the downside of their health issues. In fact, keep this in mind: species with this facial condition known as brachycephalic and they include the Bulldog and Boston terrier too, need more veterinary attention to ensure a healthy and long life span.

Unfortunately, a pug is prone to a myriad of health issues that could see you lose your pug much sooner than you thought. We’ll be checking them out later. For now, let’s look at what else could influence the life expectancy of your pug.

Yes, Gender Affects Pug Life Expectancy

On average, female pugs tend to live longer than male pugs and this cuts across all other dog breeds as well. Statistically, a female pooch can live up to 1-2 years longer than the males.

Healthy Pugs Live Longer

Whether it’s in animals or humans, taking good care of one’s health has its many benefits and increased life expectancy is one of them. Healthy pugs tend to live a lot longer and to do this you need to feed them well, provide them with basic care, exercise them and prioritize their health.

Below, Tina Tiainen shares how to take care of a pug:

Finally, we have health issues and this includes diseases. So let’s check them out now.

This Is What Could Kill Your Pug

Cancer: Pugs are more susceptible to cancer and it is responsible for around 12.5 % of the deaths of this breed. He/she could easily succumb to skin tumors, testicular tumor, lymphoma, mammary cancer and mouth cancer which the breed is most prone to. So check your pug all over the body, on its hind legs or on the head and neck for any tumors and schedule a veterinary visit to rule out any cancerous ones.

Congenital disease: Pugs come with quite a few congenital birth defects, some manageable, others life-threatening. Some of the most popular ones include:

Fortunately, most of the above conditions can be rectified by surgery or other forms of treatments.

Infections: Pugs are prone to viral, bacterial, fungal and even protozoal diseases. Here we are talking about the more severe and fatal infections as opposed to serious but treatable cases like yeast and staph infections. Examples include parvovirus, distemper and canine Hepatitis. The symptoms are seizures, sudden fever, and even convulsions.

Neurological disorder: Most people automatically think of rabid crazy dogs when they hear of a canine with a neurological disorder. So let us break down the condition. It is referred to as Pug dog Encephalitis or PDE.

It is a condition that affects the dog’s entire nervous system from the brain to the spinal cord and nerves. The dog’s brain is affected by seizures that incapacitate it and in some cases even leaves your pug in comatose. Basically, the brain cells begin dying and as the disease progresses your pug responds by pressing its head against things or worse still becomes blind and experiences severe neck pain.

Obvious signs of PDE are usually a depressed and lethargic dog although not all pugs will exhibit these classic symptoms. As the leading cause of deaths in pugs, PED causes rapid deterioration of the dog’s health and death in a matter of days.

Other causes include:

Pro Tips to Keep your Pug Healthy

Seeing as pugs are a rather delicate breed of dogs, there are some basic things that pug lovers and owners can do to extend the lifespan of these pets. So I’ll share out some of these too.

In addition to all these, here’s a video to guide you on how to live with a pug: 

Final Thoughts

So now it’s clear that how long your pug lives depends on a number of factors, the major one being how you take care of them. Putting their health and well-being first will have them live longer, even up to 18 years.

However, on average, a pug will last 15 years meaning it only passes on due to old age and nothing else. But if it’s attacked by a disease such as Neurolog, the life expectancy could be as slow as 8 years.

Also important to note is that you should put into practice the pro tips we’ve just mentioned as this will lead to your pug living healthily and as a result getting longer life expectancy.

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