Danny Chambers, a vet and council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, said at the time that of the 18,000 members of the Veterinary Voices group he runs, “not a single one of my veterinary colleagues believe Bobi was actually 31 years old”.

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“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no concrete evidence has been provided to prove his age,” he told The Guardian.

An investigation by the technology magazine Wired later discovered the Portuguese database had “no registration or data that can confirm or deny” the owners’ claims he was born in 1992.

Bobi’s owner, Leonel Costa, has not commented on the dog’s title being removed, but has previously said that the suspicions over his dog’s true age were “unfounded”. The publication said he had been made aware of the findings of a review.

GWR’s director of records Mark McKinley, who conducted the review into the entry, said the organisation took tremendous pride in ensuring, as best it can, the accuracy and integrity of all its record titles.

“Central to Bobi’s evidence was microchip data sourced from the Portuguese government database, the SIAC, which it transpires, when chipped in 2022, did not require proof of age for dogs born before 2008,” he said.

‘With the veterinary statement provided as evidence for Bobi’s age also citing this microchip data, we’re left with no conclusive evidence.’

Mark McKinley, from the Guiness Book of Records

“With the additional veterinary statement provided as evidence for Bobi’s age also citing this microchip data, we’re left with no conclusive evidence which can definitively prove Bobi’s date of birth.“

McKinley said it could no longer retain Bobi as the record holder and honestly claim to maintain it high standards and was not in a position to confirm a new holder for the record, although he hoped that the publicity around the record title encouraged pet owners to get in touch.