A dog who held the Guinness World Records title for being the world’s oldest may lose the honour permanently.
Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, died at the supposed age of 31 years and 165 days last October, in his home in the Portuguese village of Conqueiros.
He was believed to be the oldest dog that ever lived, with his age being equal to 200 human years, but there are now doubts.
Guinness World Records said: "While our review is ongoing we have decided to temporarily pause both the record titles for 'oldest dog living' and 'oldest dog ever' - just until all of our findings are in place."
It comes after multiple vets voiced their reluctance to believe Bobi’s age, despite reports that it was officially verified by a Portuguese government database, which said Bobi was born in 1992.
However, an investigation led by Wired magazine revealed that Bobi had only been registered on the system in 2022, a year before his death.
Bobi’s owner Leonel Costa credited his pet's long life to him only being fed unseasoned human food and being free to roam around without a leash through forests and farmland.
He previously told of how Bobi, supposedly born when Mr Costa was eight, was part of a litter that his parents had to put down because they had too many animals.
But Bobi apparently managed to escape and was looked after by Mr Costa and his brothers in secret.
An official for the country’s database said that there was "no registration or data that can confirm or deny this".
Technically, the next oldest dog in line to claim the title of "oldest dog living" would be a 24-year-old Chihuahua named Spike, from Ohio.
Spike held the title in 2023, before Bobi took it, with owner Rita Kimball providing vet records and bills.
She believes Spike was born in 1999, but is open about the fact that she has not owned the dog since birth, as she found him in a car park in 2009 – when a vet reportedly said his age was around 10 years old.
But the suspicions over Bobi's age have turned the process on its head.
Guinness World Records told Ms Kimball: "We are reviewing how we verify animal age records at the moment."
