We've adopted several senior animals. Long time members will recall Pirate, who was at least 12 when she got here, probably older. We've adopted cats up to 16 years old. My last kitten is 12 & the last real young puppy was Earle, who would have been 14 this year. Seniors are much easier to integrate into a pack! You do have to be prepared for some heartache, but there's no guarantee that a 6 week old puppy is going to get 14 years either! I've lost dogs who were as young as 4 to sudden illness. A friend lost a six month old puppy to a massive heart attack recently! I would take every one of my seniors again if I could! They were worth it.

I live with an aging zoo. All the dogs except Tehya are at least 12; all the cats are in double digits. The vet bills have not gone down even with decreasing numbers! The change has been fewer middle of night emergency calls due to fights or other youthful stupidity! Now I have more chronic conditions to manage. I hand out more than a dozen pills every day!