We all want our dogs to live forever, don’t we? Possibly the most bittersweet aspect of being a pet parent is knowing that, while we strive to give our animal companions the best lives we can, they just aren’t going to be as long as ours.
But, of course, that’s just extra incentive to shower them with the best dog toys and treats, and go for those enrichment-heavy walks.
However, researchers recently carried out a study looking at the effects of an age-reversal pill on dogs, and – while it might sound like something from a sci-fi movie – their findings give us cause to be optimistic when it comes to both aging in dogs and in humans, too.
A rescue organization in Florida was allowed to use the pill on two of its senior dogs who were struggling with health conditions. Zeus, a 12-year-old German Shepherd, was found very unwell one morning by his caretaker, Marsha Panuce, at the non-profit Donte’s Den in Myakka City.
She rushed him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. While he had his spleen removed, his prognosis wasn’t looking good. So, Panuce got in touch with medical experts who were looking to conduct an age-reversal clinical trial on dogs.
The CEO of Telomir Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Christopher Chapman, and Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic, worked together to test a new drug with aims to lengthen telomere (DNA sequence) caps on human stem cells, potentially slowing down or even reversing the aging process.
“If you can increase telomeres, you can reproduce stem cells and keep repairing things so you can literally get younger,” Dr. Roizen told ABC7. He said that the drug’s pre-clinical data from a past study looking at in vitro human cells indicated that it made telomeres lengthen by 200%.
Due to Zeus’ poor health, he was allowed one pill a day, and Panuce said that she saw results almost straight away. “We have watched him get better and better and better,” she added, with a recent scan showing that the cancer in his body had gone altogether. “We are so happy, because we saved this dog,” she said.
Due to the positive results, Panuce was allowed to try the pill on another of her dogs, her Newfoundland Benson, also 12, who almost couldn’t walk due to severe arthritis. Remarkably, within a week, she explained that he was able to get up by himself.
“I’m not a scientist...but I think anything that we can have that will take a very dire situation and turn it around, I’m all for it,” said Panuce.
The dog study is currently underway, with 10 dogs taking part, and the results will be presented for peer review in early 2025.
If you currently have a senior dog, and you don’t have access to any of these new pills, you might find these 32 tips for taking care of senior dogs useful, too.
