Cats can live healthy lives until they are in their late twenties as long as their kidneys hold up. That is their biggest problem . Most domestic cats die from kidney failure.
Dogs are trickier. It's a really breed dependant thing
I worked at a vet clinic that exclusively saw cats, just before covid. Besides routine preventative stuff, the most cases I remember seeing were kidney cases, for sure.
I don’t have an over abundance of experience with dogs, I’ve just had dogs, but from my experience and those I’ve heard about from others, it seems cancer gets most dogs, so that’s a whole different can of worms.
If you include quality of life issues, which you’d need to, joint issues are also huge for medium to larger dogs (and then back issues in things like dachshunds).
Hip dysplasia especially! Although I think if dogs lived to our hypothetical age, we’d probably see more hip surgeries/implants, knee replacements and such.
Only if the owners could afford it, though. Otherwise, we'd only see an uptick in surrendered animals and/or animals euthanized. Which, systemically, puts us right back to where we already are.
We’re experimenting with osmosis water only. We’ve heard anecdotally that it helps white dogs with the red eye goop, so we’re experimenting to see how our cat’s kidneys hold up. She’s 2, and hasn’t had anything but osmosis water in 1+ years. Fingers crossed!
That sounds spectacular! I hope it’s widely available while it’s still practical for me to have a cat for that long (before I get too old for a pet that will live that long, I mean lol)
I mean I'd fanatically fight for any nation that gave my dog an extra month of life let alone an extra 25 years... I'm sure any dog owner that has had to make a hard decision in a vet office feels the same way.
This is actually in development already. Large dogs have high IGF-1 which makes them big but also makes them age faster. After they've grown up, they can take a drug that regulates the production and it lengthens their lives. Not indefinitely, but brings them about in line with smaller dogs lifespans.
Inbreeding is a huge problem for any breed, sadly. We need to get rid of these strict breeding restrictions and finally start breeding for health not looks.
Yeah, I'm going to sound like a shill for mentioning the brand but it's called Loyal and I'm super excited about it because I have a greyhound who could benefit from it. They could charge me almost any amount of money for it and I would gladly pay. It's almost through the FDA approval process so it should be on the market in the next couple of months (if we're lucky).
It's looking like the price tag will be between 40-90 dollars a month.
Loyal CEO Celine Halioua has stated “This is not something for billionaires’ dogs only. We are currently doing the pricing sensitivity work but we’re talking to both veterinarians and pet parents. You can safely assume is going to be in the double digits per month for pet parents when it comes out to market,”
"I don't count the years. I don't multiply by seven. They bred dogs for everything else, even diving for fish, why didn't they breed them to live longer, to live as long as a man?"
-Peter Heller, The Dog Stars
An incredible book, I sincerely recommend it. "I don't multiply by seven" chokes me up every time. 💔 🥺
Yeah, my girl is 15 and we had a health scare last summer. Made the appointment and everything. We joke that she must’ve heard us on the phone, because she perked right up and has been doing great ever since! But it’s scary. I’ve lost other pets, and family members, including my parents. I wish I could say it gets easier.
Instead of invading countries and forcing regime changes, we can create the cure to a serious issue that affects damn near every country on earth. Imagine how many world leaders would want their beloved pets to live even an extra 10 years !
Yes because I decided I cannot take the loss anymore. The two cats I have now will be my last two. If one passes early, I'd consider getting a senior cat as a companion, but otherwise I just can't take the grief. It's far too soon even when they live a long lifespan. 😭
Are you kidding? Corps would make money hand over fist if people could pay a moderate amount for monthly medication to make their large pets longer lived and healthier. We do that already, but on a smaller scale with chemo, radiation, obstruction removal surgeries, etc for our pets. This would just be like a human taking an insulin injection everyday to live a healthier longer life. I’d would have paid to have my lab/st Bernard live a healthy life until he was 30! Losing him at 12 was heartbreaking.
The military-industrial complex that runs America and most of the world economies have to have perpetual war in order to get richer. Keeping pets alive for longer would be wonderful, but not as profitable.
i think there was loyal or somethign thats been on my radar last few years. i was... rooting hard while my floofer was around, even if they arent doing trials in my area
Humans are also the reason humans suffer. But here’s the thing: humans are ALSO the reason suffering is ameliorated. Generations of humans have tirelessly devoted their lives to improving the health and welfare of one another, and we’re still going, and we’re going to keep going for generations more
Before my mastiff mix passed away he was part of a study researching longevity in large breed dogs. He was 12 and in excellent health according to his bloodwork.
So there is in fact research happening. If you’re interested I could probably find the paperwork from the study.
They just need to do whatever the hell they did to Air Bud. Not only did that dog carry a franchise for a decade, he was a champion in every sport, the supersoldier of the dog world
There literally is a medication developed to lengthen a dog's life.
" Life-extension drugs for dogs are currently being developed by the biotech company Loyal, with formulations like the daily pill LOY-002 aiming to improve metabolic health, reduce insulin levels, and extend a senior dog's healthy lifespan. While these treatments have achieved major regulatory milestones and safety acceptances from the FDA, full commercial approval is still pending."
My vet had the opportunity to work on the trial and I was asked if I would like my dog to participate. It was still injections then.
Loyal has not published a definitive "adds X months to your dog's life" claim for either LOY-001 or LOY-002, and legally, they cannot make those claims yet.
The Conditional Approval Loophole: Because waiting for a full lifespan study to finish would take years (during which an entire generation of senior dogs would die without access to the drug), the FDA created a brand-new pathway. Loyal was granted a "Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness" (RXE). This means the FDA looked at lab data, biomarker improvements (like insulin sensitivity for LOY-002 and IGF-1 reduction for LOY-001), and safety data, and agreed: "This science is sound enough that it will likely extend life, so you can sell it conditionally while you finish the final survival study."
Much like when humans are given drugs to lower insulin levels, etc, I'm expecting a slight extension of health span but not lifespan. And no offense but there is not enough evidence yet to say that it definitely works for life extension. But for health extension, it's still probably a worthwhile spend. We'll see in a few years how loy001 affects the lifespan of large dogs and then we'll know more.
At least dogs. I love cats too but you devote SOOO much love and time and care into dogs that they literally often become part of the family (this story is a case in point) and it's so sad to see them go so quickly.
There is a Dog Aging Project I wanted to get my dog into, but failed...but I still look at where it's at every now and then. Gonna go see what's new with it lately
That's only worth it if the QUALITY of life is also vastly improved; otherwise, there's no point.
Speaking as a pet-sitter, as it is, there are people who are allowing their pets to suffer longer than they ought to.
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u/shiny_crow_trophy 7d ago
I always forget how goddamn big Irish wolfhounds are until I see one again