Iowa animal shelters say they are surprised and baffled when people bring in their older pets and expect the shelter to be able to find the pet a new home.

“We have people that bring in 12-year-old cats or 10-year-old dogs that they want re-homed. It is one of the situations we just don’t understand,” said Tom Colvin, executive director of the Animal Rescue League, a nonprofit organization in Des Moines. “It is very difficult for us to place older pets. If a pet has lived with somebody its entire life, it’s unfair to those animals.”

Colvin said he has noticed the age of animals when people bring in pets for private euthanasia has increased, indicating pets are living longer.

“I’ve noticed that those animals have been much more into the teens,” he said. “In the ’70s, you’d see people bringing in an eight- or nine- or 10-year-old dog saying, ‘That’s an old dog.’ Now, 13 or 14 is old.”

Kim Langholz, a clinician with Iowa State’s veterinary clinical sciences, has been studying aging animals and said they are living longer because of better medical care.

“Basically, it has to do with better preventative health care,” she said “Vaccines have certainly helped control a lot of the diseases. You can bring in a dog and get a pacemaker.”

Langholz also said it has to do with people keeping a closer eye on their pets.

“We have more consistent application to leash laws and confinement of pets,” she said. “Dogs that are out running loose tend to get hit by cars or get in fights. They’re more at risk for injury.”

Langholz said although she didn’t think pets are necessarily in more pain when they get older, they suffer from joint pains as they age like humans do.

“I think that as our pets age, certainly they take the same wear and tear that we do,” she said. “That can cause them to be uncomfortable.”

She said because of this and in order to help keep older pets healthy, they need to go the veterinarian more often.

“While you and I are aging one human year for each year, our pets are aging six or seven years. Our pets, when they reach the six- or seven-year mark, it is helpful to see them twice a year,” she said.

Colvin said animal shelters try to keep pets in the best health possible.

“To the best of my knowledge, the ARL is the only shelter with a staff veterinarian,” he said. “But there are other arrangements with veterinarians with other shelters.”

Colvin said people taking care of their animals is something he likes to see.

“We are very encouraged that people are appearing to take more responsibility for their animals,” he said.