Bobi, the world’s oldest dog to ever live, has died at the age of 31, according to the Guinness World Records.
The purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo passed away on October 21st at his home in Conqueiros, Portugal, where he lived his entire life with the Costa family. The announcement was made by Karen Becker, DVM, who had met Bobi several times.
While reaching a record-breaking age, Bobi was considered “lucky” to have even survived puppyhood in a litter of four. Since the Costa family already owned too many animals at the time, it was not part of the plan to keep Bobi.
“Unfortunately, at that time it was considered normal by older people […] to bury the animals in a hole so that they would not survive,” Leonel Costca, Bobi’s owner, says.
The litter was taken away by Costca’s parents. Luckily, Bobi was accidentally left behind and dodged the ordeal. He was secretly kept by Costca and his brothers—and the rest was history.
Costca attributes Bobi’s long life to the “calm, peaceful” environment he lived in. The old dog was free-roaming and was never tied up, chained, nor leashed. Even in his latter senior years, and was less mobile, Bobi remained “very sociable,” spending time in the backyard with his feline companions.
Another notable part of Bobi’s long life was his human food diet. “What we ate, they ate too,” Costca says.
Bobi was recognized the world’s oldest dog living and oldest dog ever by Guinness in February 2023. The Serviço Medico-Veterinário do Município de Leiria (Veterinary Medical Service of the Municipality of Leiria), where he was registered, confirmed his birth date (May 11, 1992).
Bobi’s age was also verified by the Sistema de Informação de Animais de Companhia (SIAC), a pet database authorized by the Portuguese government and managed by the SNMV (Sindicato Nacional dos Médicos Veterinários; National Union of Veterinarians).
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