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January 10, 2025

Longevity Drugs For Dogs Could Also Work For Humans, Researchers Say

Last year, a biotech company named Loyal revealed they were working on a drug that could extend our four-legged best friends’ lifespan, and today they’re planning to launch the medication early this year.

According to Loyal, they are confident that their anti-aging medicine, LOY-002, will be available on the market this year.

LOY-002 is one of the biotech’s company’s anti-aging medicine, which is a daily, beef-flavored pill specifically developed for dogs age 10 and older, weighing at least 14lb.

“We’re developing LOY-002 to support healthy aging in senior dogs of nearly every size,” Loyal reveals n their website. “The product is meant to target metabolic dysfunction, which may extend the number of healthy years your dog lives and support their quality of life as they age.”

The Guardian reports that Loyal has raised $125m in funding from companies who have held back from investing in human longevity projects due to the fact that trials would take decades.

However, founder and chief executive of Loyal, Celine Halioua, believes that their work on the anti-aging dog medication can also benefit humans in the future.

“Finding out how to prevent canine age-related decline is a really strong proxy for doing the same with humans because dogs get similar age-related diseases, and share our environments and habits in ways laboratory mice do not,” she said.

Halioua said that they’re not making immortal dogs. Instead, they are extending dog lifespan “by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageing.”

A middle-aged man hugs a dog on a walk — Kazantseva Olga / Shutterstock.com

Similarly, a team of researchers for the Dog Aging Project are studying rapamycin at the University of Washington to slow down the ageing process of dogs, if given in low doses.

Rapamycin is a cheap and easily produced drug that is already commonly used as an immunosuppressant for humans after organ transplant operations.

The researchers believe that it can increase dogs’ lifespan by improving both their heart and cognitive functions by regulating cell growth and metabolism.

Daniel Promislow, a biogerontologist at the University of Washington and a co-director of the Dog Aging Project, said, “Our study is light years ahead of anything that’s been done on humans or can be done on humans. What we’re doing is the equivalent of a 40-year-long study on humans, testing the ability of a drug to increase healthy lifespan.”

While the drug is not officially approved for longevity use in humans, gerontologists believe that it has the potential to do so in the future.

Kate Creevy, co-founder and chief veterinary officer of the project, also tells The Guardian that studying spayed and unspayed dogs could also provide insights into pre- and post-menopausal women’s health.

Creezy explains, “We also have data on what age dogs have been spayed – which could cross over to the variation in age that women have their menopause – and data on why they were spayed, which could cross over to women who have had hysterectomies for medical reasons.”

Furthermore, Promislow hopes that when the project finally reports in four to five years’ time, rapamycin will have the power to give dogs an extra three years of healthy life in their lifespan.

Promislow said, “If we’re successful with dogs, it could be a turning point in informing us how to give human populations extra healthy lifespan too.”

December 27, 2024

Family Dog Gets Run Over By FedEx Truck, Family Demands Answers And An Apology

A family’s pet dog was injured after a FedEx driver delivering a package drove off, hitting the dog in the process. Now, the family is demanding answers and an apology from the driver.

WJHL reports that the dog was adopted by Jessica Burleson 14 years ago. The dog, named Bear, now belongs to Jessica’s parents, who lives right next door to her.

The incident reportedly happened on November 30, when the FedEx driver delivered a package to Burleson’s home and then drove away, hitting the pooch.

Burleson tells WJHL, “When he was leaving, he didn’t bother to stop or look to see. I mean, he clearly seen Bear. He looked over in the video and turned back.”

“And he just kept on going even after he hit him, he never stopped. And my aunt and uncle actually witnessed him flying up our driveway and almost hit their dog as well.” Burleson adds.

In the video, Bear can be seen going in front of the FedEx truck, so it was impossible that the driver didn’t see him at all.

After the truck drove off, Bear can be seen limping away from the driveway.

Burleson reveals that after the incident happened, the family couldn’t find Bear for a few hours. Her dad finally found the injured pooch in the underpin of her home.

“And that’s where he was. He was up under the underpin and he found him right there and got him. He had to remove the underpinning and get him out and he was terrified and brought him over here,” Burleson explains.

Burleson said that when they found Bear, he “wasn’t crying, barking, whining, or anything”.

Naturally, the family took Bear to the vet. And that’s where they found how severe the injuries he got from being hit.

“He didn’t have any broken bones, but there was a tumor that was inside of his belly that had ruptured when he got hit,” Burleson said.

“And so basically, there’s nothing they can do. Either, they could either bring him home or put him down. And my mom and dad decided to bring him home.”

Burleson added that the vet gave Bear some pain pills and said that the pooch only had a few days left to live.

Since the incident, Burleson and her family have been in contact with FedEx and that they’re trying to resolve the issue.

“They haven’t really talked about what they’re going to do with the driver or anything,” Burleson said. “They just kind of talked that they were willing to pay the vet bills.”

Burleson also said that her parents would like to have an apology from the FedEx driver himself.

“And they would love to just know why he didn’t try to swerve around him or instead just try to stop,” She said.

“I mean, in the videos, you can clearly see that he didn’t try to stop or anything. He just kept going and never let up. He just kept going on down the driveway. It just to me it didn’t seem like he had any remorse for what happened.”

She also believes that the driver should face some kind of consequence for what he has done – either termination or some form of reprimand.

“Definitely some kind of disciplinary action to where this won’t happen to somebody else’s animal or kid.”

December 25, 2024

Passenger ‘Livid’ After Being Forced To Give Up First Class Seat To Dog

A Delta Air Lines passenger is ‘livid’ after being allegedly forced by the airlines to give up his first class seat to a dog on a flight.

The passenger voiced his concerns on Reddit, on the r/delta subreddit, on Saturday, December 21, with the post title being “Just Got Downgraded for a Dog”.

“I got upgraded to first this morning, only to 15 mins later get downgraded (to a worst seat than I previously had). I asked the desk agent what was going on and she said “something changed”,” the passenger reveals.

The passenger then explained how the decision only initially annoyed him. But when he boarded the plane, he saw a dog in his supposed first class seat, “And now I’m livid,” said the passenger.

He also shared a photo of the dog, in his supposed seat, revealing that it was a huge, white dog that appeared to be a service dog for the passenger next to them.

The furious passenger said that he immediately contacted Delta’s support to inquire about the downgrade, “and they say “you may be relocated for service animals” and there is nothing they can do.”

He then calls the airline’s decision an “absolute joke” and saying, “There is no way that dog has spent as much with this airline as I have.”

Delta teams are aware of the customer complaint and are researching the details of what may have occurred, — Photo from: Reddit

The passenger then proceeds to question why they’ve been loyal to the company all this time when they get treated this way.

“I’ve sat back when others complained about this airline mistreating customers lately and slipping in service levels, but I’m starting to question my allegiance as well.”

In a statement to PEOPLE, Delta responded to the passenger’s experience saying, “Delta teams are aware of the customer complaint and are researching the details of what may have occurred.”

The airlines, in their statement, also said that they’re inviting the customer to contact them directly.

Meanwhile, Reddit users are divided, with some showing support for the passenger, but some telling him to get over it.

“Legally, passengers with certain conditions and service animals have priority on bulkhead seats,” a Reddit user and a supposed Delta employee left a comment on the post.

“When I was in reservations, anytime people wanted the blocked seats I had to advise them that Delta has the legal obligation to move them if a passenger with disabilities requires it. So, on this CRJ, rows 1 and 5 are considered bulkhead.”

While another Reddit user empathized with the passenger and said, “I thinks it’s more they upgraded him, then downgraded him to worse than his og seat.”

“If he got his og seat back, problem solved. He got the seat he paid for. In this case he was excited for 10mins, assuming he got upgraded, to immediately then learn he is being double downgraded.”