Promotional Feature

The world's oldest pets

Created:
19 September 2008
Written by:
Sainsbury's

We all want our pets to live long and happy lives. One of the easiest ways to help your four-legged friend get over life's many hurdles is to get them covered with pet insurance.

But occasionally, animals exceed all expectations and break records due to their longevity.

The longest-living animals known to man are Galapagos island tortoises, which often live to around 150. But not many could have had a more interesting life than Harriet, the Galapagos tortoise who lived to about 175 years of age.

Found at roughly the age of five by Charles Darwin in 1835, 'Harry' was brought back to Britain with her two friends, Tom and Dick (who else?). After many years of almost constant hibernation on these chilly shores, the three were taken to the warmer climes of Australia when Harry was 12 years old.

As the tortoise was too big to lift, Harry was taken to be a male, and her zookeepers tried (and of course failed) to mate her with other females. It was only in 1960 that she was revealed to be a female. Brushing shoulders with other celebs, Harry spent her final years - celibate - in the late Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo.

Although coming nowhere near the grand age of these incredible reptiles, domestic pets can also perform some impressive feats of stamina and longevity.

Allegedly the world's oldest dog, Bella, a Labrador cross, is said to have been 29 when she died earlier this month - the equivalent of 203 in human years. Bella was bought from the RSPCA for £70 when she was around three years old, and lived with her owners David and Daisy Richardson in Derbyshire for another 26 years.

There were a few occasions during the dog's old age when David feared she would have to be put down, but Bella apparently always bounced back. Indeed, on one occasion when she seemed to be unable to walk, David had made an appointment with the vet and dug Bella's grave. But, unable to go through with it, David was filling in the hole when she appeared behind him, apparently looking a picture of health.

Her owners put Bella's long life down to her good diet. Even when she only had two teeth left, she was fed shredded chicken, boiled liver and fish such as mackerel and sardines.

The world's oldest recorded cat, Spike, died two months after his 31st birthday in 2001. Owner Mo Elkington bought Spike for two shillings and six pence in London's Brick Lane market in 1970, when the cat was already seven

Spike did have a brush with death at the age of 19 - already a pretty good age for a moggy - when he was savaged by a Rottweiler. His wounds became infected, but he pulled through and managed another 12 years.

During that time he became one of the UK's most famous cats, receiving fan mail from around the world, sometimes addressed merely to 'Spike of Bridport' or 'The Famous Cat of Dorset'

You can help your animal companion live to a ripe old age by getting a pet insurance quote from Sainsbury's - awarded 'Best Online Pet Insurance Provider 2008' and 'Best Overall Online Provider 2007' by Your Money magazine.