Did you ever notice how many old dogs are of an age equivalent to a 100-year-old human? It is accepted wisdom that multiplying by seven can convert the age of a dog to the equivalent age of a human. A 15-year-old dog should be the same age as a 105-year-old human. Yet we all seem to know far more 15-year-old dogs that we know 105-year-old humans.

		Bernard D. Goldstein, M.D., is the former dean of the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, and professor of environmental and occupational health.

The American Animal Hospital Association has estimated that there are now about 1.2 million pet dogs 15 years old or older. But there are less than 50,000 Americans age 105 or older.

There is a reason for this. The multiplication factor of seven is no longer correct. While we humans are living much longer than in the past, our pets are doing even better. Life expectancy for the average dog has climbed dramatically in recent decades as it has for the average pet cat.

Dogs are not only living longer, they are living more comfortably. The epithet "mangy cur" is antiquated -- most of us have never seen a dog suffering with mange. Nor are dogs expected to be flea-bitten for much of their lives, or suffer heartworm, distemper or other debilitating and fatal ailments that were inherent in a dog's life. In fact, the term "it's a dog's life" seems to be transforming from a negative to a positive, from designating a life of suffering to one of ease.

How did this come about? Largely because of animal research. It is ironic that the campaign against animal research by animal-rights activists is primarily supported by pet owners. Animal rights organizations target their mailings to those most concerned about the health and well being of their pets.

Yet it is through research in animals that the drugs that prevent and cure common pet health problems have been developed. And it is through testing in animals that the unwanted toxicity that so frequently accompanies new drug development can first be detected.

Eliminating animal research means that the next time your pet is in pain or has a life-threatening illness, it is far less likely that there will have been an effective research program to develop preventive approaches or cures. Eliminating animal testing means that a sick pet, perhaps yours, would be the very first live animal in which any new potentially effective drug would be used.

The next time representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tell you to support a ban on animal testing, ask if they will volunteer their own pet to be the first to be subjected to an untried therapy that may not be effective and could even cause harm.

PETA and other of the more extreme animal-rights groups are founded upon the belief in the moral equivalency between humans and animals. It is not in the interest of these animal-rights activists to honestly tell pet owners that without animal research the many drugs and chemicals that keep their pets healthy and pain free could not have been developed.

Unfortunately, the story also has not been told by those of us who engage in animal research. The story we tell is of the children who no longer die of leukemia, or of the resources we now devote to preventing pain and distress in laboratory animals, or how hard we are working to replace animals in research and testing whenever possible. It is time that the public also heard about the value of animal research to the health and well being of our pets.

Your pet stays healthier longer because of animal research.