My Dog Lived To Be .......

the oldest dog I personally know of was Sophie who was our families dog when I was little....we moved and she went with my step dads folks...she lived with them til at least 16-ish years old when they put her down. She was fed Pedigree dry and canned her entire life ...although at the end it might've switched over to some scrip diet from S/D. But she was OLD...because I was an adult living out on my own when I heard of her being put down and she I picked her out at 7 weeks when I was maybe 8, she didn't pass all that long ago....I'll have to check with them to see when.

So far (knock on wood) none of my pets have died but right now my husbands cat is 19 and eats cat chow.

I don't think I know any dogs that have lived beyond the normal life expectancy for their breed.  I will be very interested in the results of this thread.

 My grandmother's Border Collie made it to 16. He was fed Iam or something similar. I think the real reason for his long life was a very regular exercise regime. He was always in peak health - never overworked or underworked.

Hm I guess I will list the other's I personally know of...

• Zeus a mix owned by my mom-10 yrs fed Purina One, or Iams-PTS when a spinal issue caused his legs to stop working and he stopped wanting to try
• Jade, Akita-12years fed Purina One or Iams-PTS when she was moved cross country to Tx and developed senilty/dementia

That's it for our immediate family that I can say from firsthand knowledge. Nothing remarkable as to age.

My aunt has a Chessie who is 17 now and still doing pretty good although she is arthritic. She has always been fed raw and home cooked.

My friend had a stray golden for 15 years who was thought the be 3 when they found him (although that guess was probably a bit off).

ETS: the golden was fed Nutro I think, and died farely recently.

My Pint was 16 when she passed away.  My sister had her on Pedigree.  Blegh.  Pint was not supposed to live nearly as long as she did though, so I guess she wasn't bad off.  Its still not making me want to switch my dogs to Pedigree.  I can just take one look at my dogs to know they are healthier than Pint EVER was. 

 My Sheltie lived to be 12 on Science Diet (if we'd only known...), then died of a probable brain tumor. I had her from kindergarten through senior year of high school.

My mother's Yorkshire Terriers lived to be 18 and 19, respectively. I think they were also fed Science Diet, or something equally good-sounding but not actually terribly healthy. 

My first shepherd, Sneaker, lived to 14-1/2 on Science Diet, yikes! We thought that was a great food, I know so much more now. But still, that was a pretty remarkable age for her breed. She did have trouble with ear infections, and flea allergy dermatitis - this was before the days of Advantage and similar products, which finally got the flea thing under control. We used to give her frequent flea dips and bomb the house, ugh! Other than that she was in good health up until the last year or less.

SalemsMom

My aunt has a Chessie who is 17 now and still doing pretty good although she is arthritic. She has always been fed raw and home cooked.

 The disc dog folks I visited a couple of weekends ago have a BC that is 17. He still walks around too but you can tell that age has caught up with him - fur looks ratty, stiff walk, etc.

I don't know what they feed him. They have something like 15 dogs so I imagine its something affordable, if not raw. 

The dog that I grew up with lived to 21 on Science Diet. She was a mixed breed that looked like a collie in a basset hound's body. She had a minor stroke at 16.

My SO grew up with a german shepard that lived to 17 on Dog Chow. He was diagnosed with diabetes at 14. 

They survived that long, but they both had health problems beginning in the 5-7 year old range. All the other dogs in those families eating the same diets passed at average ages for their breeds, if not before. Those two must have won the genetic lottery.

my growing up dog, a sheltie lived to 16 on nothing but canned food (Dad's)  My mother did not believe in vets so she never went to one once her whole life and even died a natural death at her home instead of euthanasia.

My dog, Watson, a terrier mix lived to be 17 eating Pro Plan dry all his life because at the time that's what the vet pushed and we all put our faith in him. He actually died from the stress of anesthetic from a teeth cleaning.   My best friend had a small white dog that made it to 18 on frozen bil jac.  These are the oldest dogs I have known.