Beagle Health by Age: Puppy, Adult and Senior Care

Beagles live twelve to fifteen years, and the good ones are very good. The things that go wrong tend to arrive on a schedule. Know the schedule and most of them are manageable, or caught early. Our usual honest line: we are not vets. This is what to watch and when to ask.

Before the puppy: the tests

Ask the breeder for DNA results for both parents: Musladin-Lueke syndrome, neonatal cerebellar cortical degeneration (NCCD), Factor VII deficiency, Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome, Lafora disease and primary open-angle glaucoma. Plus hip scores. The tests are cheap. A breeder who hasn't heard of them is not the breeder, and the health problems guide explains what each one is.

Puppy: the first year

Insurance before the first vet visit. Anything noted after that is pre-existing, and Beagle backs, ears and swallowed socks are expensive.

Weight. Meals weighed in grams from day one, a lean puppy, no forced exercise until the growth plates close at around a year: five minutes per month of age, twice a day, on a lead.

Cherry eye. A pink lump in the inner corner of the eye, most often under a year. Surgery to tuck the gland back; never removal.

Beagle pain syndrome. Fever, a stiff painful neck, a low head and crying when lifted, between six and eighteen months. Same-day vet. Say the words.

Ears. Lifted and looked at weekly from week one, so it is a habit for both of you.

Neutering. Beagles are one of the breeds where the research does not show early neutering raising joint or cancer risk in either sex, so the timing is less fraught than in large breeds. Spaying before the first or second season lowers mammary tumour risk; some spayed bitches develop urinary leaking later, which is treatable. What neutering reliably does is cut the calorie need by a fifth to a third, so adjust the food the same week. Talk timing through with your vet.

Adult: one to seven

The seizure, thyroid and back years. A yearly check with a weight on the scales, a body condition score, teeth, ears and skin.

• Epilepsy usually starts between one and five. Film any seizure, note the time, see the vet. Over five minutes or several in a day: emergency. Most epileptic Beagles live well on medication.
• Hypothyroidism from about four: weight gain on the same food, lethargy, cold-seeking, a thinning coat and rat tail, repeat ear and skin infections. Blood test, daily tablet.
• Disc disease peaks at three to seven. Hunched back, crying when lifted: crate rest, vet today. Back legs failing: vet now.
• Weight. The years when the waist disappears. Weigh monthly; a kilo on a Beagle is ten per cent of the dog.
• Ears and teeth, every visit. A dental clean by middle age is normal.
• Lumps. Start the monthly hands-on check at five.

Senior: eight and up

What is not 'just age':

• Stiffness after rest, slowing on walks, reluctance to jump. Arthritis. Very treatable now, and weight is the first treatment.
• Drinking and peeing more. Kidneys, diabetes or Cushing's, all more common in overweight Beagles and all found by a cheap blood and urine test.
• A cloudy eye that isn't just the blue haze of age, or a red, painful one. Cataracts, often with diabetes; glaucoma, an emergency.
• Sudden jerks and twitches, especially set off by flashing light, sudden sound or movement, from five to seven onwards. Lafora disease. Ask, and mention the DNA test.
• Lumps that change. Test them. Measure and date them.
• Bad breath, dropping food. Teeth. A senior dental is usually safer than leaving it.
• A new cough or tiring on walks. Heart, and worth a listen.
• Night pacing, staring at walls, forgetting the routine, new anxiety. Cognitive decline. Diets, supplements and routines help, and earlier is better.

Two vet visits a year with bloods and urine from eight, an arthritis plan at the first stiffness, a ramp for the sofa, rugs on hard floors, shorter and sniffier walks more often, and a scent game every day. An old Beagle's nose is the last thing to go, and an old Beagle with a nose and a job is a happy old Beagle.

The whole life, one rule

Lean, weighed meals, ears looked at weekly, the nose given a job, and the dog looked at closely once a week. That rule protects a Beagle at one, at seven and at thirteen. For the day-to-day version, from the fit check to the senior comfort list, the handbook below puts it in order.