Worlds Oldest Dog

Thought this was a cool story!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32365691/ns/today-today_pets/

26-year-old Max may be world’s oldest dog
Terrier mix has cataracts and arthritis, but is otherwise healthy, owner says
When Janelle DeRouen of New Iberia, La., heard about Chanel, the 21-year-old pooch who made headlines recently for being the world's oldest dog, she knew she had to set the record straight. After all, she's the mother of Max, a terrier mix who celebrated his 26th birthday at home on Aug. 9.

After getting in touch with the Guinness World Records and giving them vital stats about "her baby" Max, who is 182 in dog years, the dog is a major contender for the title. So, at Max's 26th birthday bash on Sunday, there was definitely much to celebrate. "We had a gift table set up. He had other little doggie friends over," DeRouen tells PEOPLE Pets. "Me and my husband [got] him his own little sofa bed. He has his own little couch now."

Born in 1983, the "active" geriatric dog hasn't had many health problems over the years, says DeRouen, who first told her story to the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph. "The only time I had to bring him to the vet for something serious was for a tooth to be extracted. But that's it," she says. In recent years, he's had a few expected aliments. "He is starting to get cataracts, a little arthritis, but otherwise he's healthy."

DeRouen, who's a patient services coordinator at a neurologist's office, says the dog's longevity is a mystery to her. "I'm still wondering," she says. "I don't feed him any type of table food. He started on Puppy Chow as a puppy and has been eating Kibbles 'n Bits for the last 15 years."

Max was the runt of a litter of five or six puppies when DeRouen adopted him. "Something drew me to him and we've been together ever since," she says. And the pup, along with his little brother Murphy, 4, a Pomeranian mix, is a treasured member of the family. "My kids are all grown, I have five kids. Two sons, three daughters and 11 grandkids," says DeRouen. "And now all the grandkids are playing with him."

At Max's birthday bash on Sunday, friends and family all gathered to pay tribute to the special dog. "He was chewing on his little birthday cake that was made of cream cheese and peanut butter," says DeRouen. "He was thrilled."

Comments

  • edited November -1
    LOL - I HAVE to tell my mom about this... her 'terrier mix' is 14 and still going very, very strong!
  • edited November -1
    OMG, that is so cool, and he doesn't even look that old (pic through link).
  • edited November -1
    Kibbles n bitz!

    A neighbor of mine had a dog a long time ago when she first got married that lived to be 15 (or was it 17?) on kibbles and bits. I was trying to engage her in conversation about canine nutrition and she fired back with that.

    Interestingly, she's a vet.

    But she's not MY dogs' vet.
  • edited November -1
    that guy is oooooolllllllddddddd. he looks pretty good for an old man.
  • edited November -1
    Sometimes dogs are fed the most biologically inappropriate foods, yet live to be really freakin' old. Like Bramble, a Chocolate Lab, fed a vegan diet and is (not sure if she's passed) 28 years old!

    http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0209/articles/020918a.htm
  • edited November -1
    I wonder how much longer they could have lived on a good diet
  • edited August 2009
    My grandma had Sacha, a female GSD/HUSKY mix...my family got her at 6 months and they had to put her "to sleep" at 18 years of age. She was fed Alpo & leftovers from dinner! I wonder how much longer she would have lived had they not put her in a silent coma. Who knows...maybe she would have lived to see her 19th or 20th birthday...but she had problems...going blind and arthritis...kept tripping over he food dish and had trouble walking.


    That's pretty cool though. Congrats to forever living dogs...this Terrier mix has already OUT LIVED me thus far! Epps, lol.


    Aww...that's too bad, she could have held the record! Well...so far...I guess she has? There haven't been dogs older then 28 years, have there?


    I seem to think my 11 year cat is gonna out live all 3 of my dogs who are nearly 4, 2 & 1 years of age! lol.
  • edited November -1
    Wait a minute, am I missing something here? How can the mother of Max (Chanel), be younger then he is? Or, do they mean Mother as in owner?
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