How long did your oldest dog live?

[PrincessKitty1]

14 1/2 (the dog sharing his bed with the cat in the far left of my signature).

 

[manning]

Our oldest, Serena, is a small, yellow dog and is about 14 (we got her from Animal Control in 1995, and the vet thought she was about 9 months)
she's in great shape except she's completely deaf. Loves her food and her toys!
Lucy is 12, and a beagle-something. Hard to tell if she's slowing down, because she hasn't gotten off the sofa in 12 years!

That dog needs a rabbit. There are two beagles living next door and when they see a rabbit, the race is on!!

 

[christiane]

Most of our pets are adopted with unknown birthdays. So their ages are best guesses, but we had two dogs live to be about 18 years, two 15 years and the others between 11 & 15 years.

I have met many 18-20 year old small breed dogs, but the oldest dog I ever met was a 22 year old Golden Retriever!

 

[ckay87]

I have a dog named Baby, she is still alive and acting as young as can be, and she is 20 years old....yes thats right....I said 20 years old. Vet said she is the healthiest oldest dog he has ever seen and that she will probably end up falling asleep at home and never waking up.

I am astounded at this and some of the other ages mentioned here. You hear that kind of thing about a cat, but not dogs. Wow, those are some hardy animals!

I'm always looking at and considering different breeds. I've always been interested in the Great Dane, but I hear they tend to have very short lives - only about 6 years? I couldn't do that.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I'm always looking at and considering different breeds. I've always been interested in the Great Dane, but I hear they tend to have very short lives - only about 6 years? I couldn't do that.

Me too! I have two friends though that have owned Great Danes. They were the sweetest dogs but both died before reaching 8. I've always wondered what do you do with a dog of that size when he/she passes away? Cremation?

 

[Kae]

My Bailey, my cheesehead is going to 14 in April, he is a a German Shorthaired Pointer. he is deaf, summer07 we rescued Dexter he was about 8 mths a time, same breed, boy has he perked Bailey right up.

Kae

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

19 1/2 years old! Her name was Maddie and she was the best dog I've ever known. She was a mutt...but believed she was the queen of all she surveyed! She looked like a black lab...but weighed 14 pounds. I miss her to this day. She developed a heart murmur at 17 but was otherwise very healthy.

 

[Stacerita]

I had a poodle that was about 18 years old when she finally passed.

 

[ckay87]

My Bailey, my cheesehead is going to 14 in April, he is a a German Shorthaired Pointer. he is deaf, summer07 we rescued Dexter he was about 8 mths a time, same breed, boy has he perked Bailey right up.

Kae

We have done the same. I also found it to be a great situation to adopt a young dog with a senior dog at home. For us, the youngster made the old lady's life fun again. Reciprocally, the old lady taught the youngster how to behave properly and have manners. She calmed him down a lot.

 

[mamamary]

My childhood dog lived 17 years. She was a mutt from Bideawee.

My childhood dog Peaches was from Bide a Wee too! She lived to about 14. I miss her.

 

[babylisa4]

Thank you for the suggestion about tagamet to treat my dog's melanoma. I actually have some prescription cimadine because my mom used to take it. I will definitely research-and hopefully it will help. We're either looking at another surgery or putting her done so I will look into it right away.

My vet is kind of expensive and I wondered if they do some things that don't need to be done.

 

[piney]

There is a chihuahua in our family who is 16 1/2 and still going pretty strong

 

[Tigger2252]

I had a spaniel mix that lived to be 18. We had to put her down after she suffered a stroke. She had been with me since I was a child. My current oldest dog is my dalmatian. She will be 14 in August. Her health is starting to decline significantly though and I'm afraid she won't be with us much longer.

 

[luvmy2sams]

Our cocker spaniel, Daisy, turned 14 yesterday. The vet did a senior wellness exam when we took her in for her yearly visit, and he stated that if he didn't know better he'd swear she was a 6-month-old puppy inside. She's my baby girl, and I dread the day when we have to say goodbye to her.

 

[MichelleVW]

My sweet Cody lived until she was 15 1/2. She was pretty active and healthy up until the end. She had a heart attack and had to be put down June 07 when I was on an All girls Trip to Disney. We still miss her like crazy.

Here is a picture of her about 3 months before we lost her. I love this picture.

 

[traces7]

Our little beagle mix is 18 1/2. I think they are just good healthy dogs. Last year she developed a malignant melonoma on her gum/lip. We had it removed but it has recently come back. We are faced with either removing it again or putting her down. (It stinks really bad- the vet said mouth tumors smell.) The vet says it will return because they can't get all of it. I hate to put her down because she still greets us at the door, eats and sleeps well. She doesn't run around much but she doesn't seem to be in any pain.

Our terrier mix lived to be 18 and had the same thing, she had surgery and had it removed when she was 17-1/2 yrs old, but the last 6 months, she slowly went down hill and it did come back about a month before she died, she got to where she wasn't eating or drinking and couldn't walk. We had to put her down. But she was very healthy most of her years, toward the end she didn't see as well or hear as well.
We have an 11 year old Springer Spaniel Golden Retriever mix and I'm starting to think about her age, hope she makes it to 15!

 

[WDWBarb]

You know, I used to pray that my dog would live forever. Literally, that's what I prayed for. She was a mix breed who was the best dog a person could ever ask to spend a childhood with. She came to me when I was a pre-teen and I loved her so much that I would cry just at the thought of her ever growing old and dying.

She was there through high school and waited for me to come home from college, year after year. She was in my senior pictures and posed with me in my prom dress. I continued to pray that she would just always be there. I graduated college, got married (and she was at my wedding) and got a place of my own. She came to live with us (my parents didn't really want to give her up!) when my DD was an infant. My dog loved my DD. What greater joy than to share my DD with my best friend?

And I prayed that my beloved dog would live forever.

But I was so blinded by fear of losing her that I saw that with my wish coming true, her life was becoming almost unbearable. Her arthritis was so bad that she was basically walking on her front ankles. Her vison was terrible and she eventually developed Cushing's Disease and lost complete control of her bladder.

So my wish became my worst nightmare and I ended up having to be responsible for the thing I feared the most. She was 17 when I put her to sleep. But what a wonderful and worthwhile relationship....

And DD remembers her. That means the world to me.

So my oldest dog lived to be 17, but she will always live in my heart

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Barb, thank you for so eloquently describing my Maddie girl! She used to lay under my son's crib and would come and pull on my shirt, pants or nightgown when he would squeak or moan or make any little sound.

Isn't it amazing how much what some call "just a dog" can come to mean to us? Maddie was the Queen of Everything...and I loved her dearly. Your description of your beloved dog brought tears to my eyes...I wish I had written what you did as it surely describes my Maddie.

K

 

[WDWBarb]

Barb, thank you for so eloquently describing my Maddie girl! She used to lay under my son's crib and would come and pull on my shirt, pants or nightgown when he would squeak or moan or make any little sound.

Isn't it amazing how much what some call "just a dog" can come to mean to us? Maddie was the Queen of Everything...and I loved her dearly. Your description of your beloved dog brought tears to my eyes...I wish I had written what you did as it surely describes my Maddie.

K

Maddie sounds wonderful! I actually have a lock of fur that I have kept since my Lucky was young so that someday, when science finally caught up with my imagination, they could somehow clone her and then I'd always have a Lucky in my life. I have finally come to grips with that being an impossible idea but I'll never let go of that lock of fur.

I have to believe that dogs are like angels sent into our lives. They never leave you worse than when they found you...

 

[clutter]

To all of you who had to make the decision to put your pet down, my heart goes out to you. That would be the most heartbreaking decision of my life (hopefully one I will never have to make).

If you've ever made the decision too late, even by a day, you realize that it's not such a hard decision to make.