The source behind the matched breed medians
McMillan et al. (2024) combined multiple UK data sources covering 584,734 companion dogs. The study is Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. It is not a study based solely on RVC VetCompass primary-care records.
Supplementary Table S3 provides breed-specific median survival estimates, 95% confidence intervals, deaths and censored observations. The Samoyed row, for example, has a median of 13.1 years, confidence interval 12.7-13.5, 336 recorded deaths and 723 censored observations. Those confidence limits are not the shortest and longest possible Samoyed lifespans.
Our source matching
The 20 October 2026 review matched 134 legacy records to the original table by breed name or unambiguous alias and median. Five ambiguous legacy matches are withheld from direct study attribution pending review. Mixed-source estimates are not relabelled as published medians merely because a paper appears in the source list.
Interpreting the figures
A median describes the estimated survival distribution of a study population. A confidence interval describes uncertainty around that estimate. Neither is an individual prognosis. Country, population selection, source coverage and censoring matter when interpreting the results.
Age divided by a breed median is not a survival percentile. Subtracting current age from that median does not calculate remaining lifespan. The calculator therefore shows a descriptive reference rather than a countdown or a fixed body-condition penalty.
The Labrador-based Wang age equation is a separate study and a separate question. Selecting a breed does not convert that equation into a validated breed-specific biological-age test. See the methodology for the calculation limits and reviewed source coverage.
