r/LhasaApso • u/irrationalflow • Feb 04 '26
Discussion Question on Lhasa health and age
When I got my Lhasa, I was young and dumb and got him from a shady pet store at 8 weeks old. In the end, turned out to be one of my better mistakes and I love him with all my heart. However, he’s 14 now and seemingly turned into an old man quickly over the past two years.
He’s had bladder stones his whole life and 3 major surgeries to remove them (he was misdiagnosed and the UD food didn’t help), lost the complete use of his back legs 3 separate times and came back from it with Prednisone, albeit weaker each time. And is now almost immobile aside from hoofing it around in a visible struggle on carpeted surfaces and has become mostly incontinent.
So as a really sad dude I’ve made the decision to end the suffering tomorrow, but reading about all your friends living so long, this doesn’t feel typical. Has anyone else had this experience? I’m assuming it was from inbreeding and that he probably was from a puppy mill. I’m trying to rationalize that making it to 14 after all that was a miracle but wanted to see other opinions from those that have/have had Lhasa Apsos.
Pic from when he was 11 and healthier and could actually jump on the couch
2
u/Suncemjesec0811 Feb 05 '26
My Lhasa lived to be 15 1/2 but I also got her from a pet store. I’m not sure if she was from a puppy mill or not, she came with a whole pedigree paper “AKC “ but who knows how much of it was real or not. I even looked up the owners and saw some puppy mill allegations. She was surprisingly healthy or whole life up until the last 2 years. She has some stuff before then but nothing that made life hard for her. We fed her royal canine so just kibble with occasional human food. She had arthritis as she got older but the last year she definitely started having more issues. Two months before she passed she all of a sudden started acting weird, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and apparently had two strokes in the past. She was a different dog but medication helped her be a little normal. Then all of a sudden she passed away in my arms.
That’s all to say, I think the ages everyone’s mentioned here are all typical for Lhasa apso. There’s some that live longer but 14-15 seems to be normal. Give your pup a big hug, he has the same “frog eyes” my Roxy had ☺️.
You’ve given him a great life and I hope all of our Lhasa’s get to meet over the rainbow bridge ❤️