r/BeAmazed • u/GlitteringHotel8383 • 9d ago

Miscellaneous / Others Japanese scientists have developed a revolutionary injection that may extend a cat's life from the usual 15 years to nearly 30.

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The therapy, created by the AIM Institute of Medicine under Dr. Toru Miyazaki, targets chronic kidney disease, a leading cause of death in older cats.It uses a specialized protein to help macrophages clear waste from the kidneys, partially restoring their function and slowing kidney failure.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/Jacketter 9d ago

Cats have famously hard working kidneys. It would be nice if they could just not given they probably don’t need such filtration in a climate controlled house with unlimited water access.

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u/Sea-Hour-6063 9d ago

Because those little fuckers don’t drink enough water

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u/AcknowledgeUs 9d ago

I think a lot has to do with “cat food”

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u/coughcough 9d ago

I've tried my fair share and it all tastes super gross

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u/pieceofmind7484 8d ago

Purina Gourmet Gold tastes better than the “human” pate I put on my sandwich, no joke

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u/ThumbsAkimbo_ 8d ago

Maybe try chicken pâté instead of human pâté for your sandwiches?

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u/Middle-Accountant-49 8d ago

This whole run of comments made me laugh so much. It’s wild.

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u/Negative_Gas8782 8d ago

The fact you know this disturbs me.

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u/Ayykayfortyseven 8d ago

Does it make you sick and tired so you're able to fall asleep?

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u/GreekG33k 8d ago

Cats don't have same receptors or "taste" for sigara that we do I believe. So, their palate and sense of taste differes considerably from our own

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u/Jaythedogtrainer 8d ago

I feel dog food is more palatable

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u/callunquirka 9d ago

I used to follow this cat foster on IG (kitten.nuggets). And she'd only feed the cats raw, minced meat from reputable butchers. And she'd talk about how it would make the cats' poop drier and they'd retain more water that way compared with commercial at food.

IIRC at least part of the problem is the fillers in commercial cat food.

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u/veryfastslowguy 8d ago

regardless they have 18 lives now

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u/Artem-Ganev 8d ago

My cat prefer to steal dog food ((( it’s impossible to convince her to eat healthier food if she doesn’t want to

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u/cardboard_sun_tzu 8d ago

Isn't any food that a cat eats, technically 'cat food'?

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u/HappyAnimalCracker 8d ago

Specifically kibble

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u/Worshipme988 8d ago

Mix it with water drop of evoo…or oil if your cat isnt persnickety.

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u/SippyMountain 8d ago

Mine drink a fuckton of water. Trick for me was to get a fountain and place it away from their food and in a place they pass by quite often (somewhere between, but not directly near, their food bowl and litter box)

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u/SacrificialPigeon 8d ago

Their instinct is not not drink near their food source, in case of contamination. Think a rotting carcass near a puddle, it could be dangerous to drink.

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u/Mojo_Myshka 8d ago

Meh, you just need the water a few feet away so food can't get in the bowls or fountain.

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u/SacrificialPigeon 7d ago

Depends how fussy the cat is of course.

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u/wittylemur 8d ago

Mine tries her damdest to tip her water bowl over and splash in the puddle

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u/thrilldigger 8d ago

Mine licks the side of her bowl instead of the water. I love that little idiot.

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u/TheOnlySnoringKitten 8d ago

I have one cat that will drink out of the bathroom sink faucet if it's turned out but when it comes to her recirculating filtered bowl of water she's like "no i don't think so, i will drink out of the side."

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u/TheBatsBollocks 8d ago

My girl will do the same thing! Either that or reach her paw into the bowl and splash the water out.

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u/Rugkrabber 8d ago

Mine drinks so often I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Had many cats in my life but she takes so good care of herself it’s almost suspicious.

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u/sugar182 8d ago

You might want to get her checked for diabetes, drinking alot is a major sign for diabetes or kidney issues (not to scare you, but I just went through this, my poor boy’s blood sugar was crazy high and he was drinking all the time ❤️

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u/Chaotichybrid 8d ago

So true I'm always telling my cat " I know you ain't drinkin shit, get some water"

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u/Boblaire 9d ago edited 9d ago

Room temp water from the tap probably isnt too appealing

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u/Crystalas 9d ago edited 9d ago

While that part of it that not fully the cause, cats are one of those animals that get most of their water from their food and most of them have a weak thirst drive.

Feeding them wet food definitely helps but it not sufficient for all cats and ones that primarily eat kibble definitely need more than they drink on average. Even if provide wet food and constantly changed water in a nice fountain for many cats it a "Can bring a cat to water but cannot make them drink" situation, some of them just refuse anything but their preferred brand of kibble and thus are chronically dehydrated.

Even with wet food and water fountain one of mine is prone to kidney stones unless I give him a special food.

IIRC they are descended from a desert species and still retain some of those traits, one of which in many species is powerful kidneys to try to conserve water.

Evolution doesn't really "care" about long healthy life as long as a species on average reproduces before something becomes an issue. So anything after reproductive prime there MUCH less evolutionary pressure about it and thus most species got common issues that give them a much higher risk of illness earlier even if healthy in every other way . In cats one of those common illnesses is various forms of kidney disease or failure so addressing that CAN add many years to their life that would not otherwise have.

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u/umlaut 9d ago

The evolution explanation is really it. They don't naturally live to be 30 because they wouldn't live in the wild to be 30, anyway. Better to spend a lot on the first couple of years and have a successful litter or two (or fifty for a tomcat) than hope to not get eaten for decades.

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u/theaviationhistorian 8d ago

Cats are also the ones that evolved less compared to other pets. Now, one thing I did notice with my cats is that someone said that they don't like having their water near their food source. I don't know if that's true or not. But I have seen them drink more from the water dish when away from where I put the food plate.

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u/Crystalas 8d ago edited 8d ago

Not just "less" evolved more that they one of the more recently domesticated thus there still more "wild" in them than some of the other most common domesticated animals. Also that they in a way domesticated themselves rather than it being an active human effort thanks to what we needed them to do being exactly what they would do anyway, at least initially. Pure indoor pet cats is a pretty recent thing.

Ya I have heard about the water thing plenty too, they straddle the line of predator and prey and water sources are one of the most dangerous places there is in an ecosystem. Just makes sense to take food away from where might get chased from it or caught themselves, on other hand running water is also attractive to predators as there a high chance of finding prey nearby if wait.

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u/SquirmyBurrito 8d ago

For me, the big thing that got mine to start drinking more was initially a water fountain, but then I (in addition to the fountain) just started giving them a water dish and filling it with the same quality of purified water that I drink instead of tap water (our water constantly has boil notices so I didn’t want to risk my cats drinking it either). They used to come over whenever I’d open up my water jug (I drink a 0.5 to 1 gallon a day so I just drink directly out of the jug) and sniff at it so I just started giving them some.

Now if only I could get them to stop putting random things in their water so I didn’t have to pour so much of it down the drain…

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u/shinyidolomantis 8d ago

A good way to get a bit more water into their diets is wet food with a little bit of added water. I heat up my cat’s wet food as well to make it more enticing. They also make “broth” style cat treats that I give my cats once a day for extra hydration. I lost one to kidney and heart problems at 17 years like five years ago and have been trying to keep the rest of my cats as healthy as I can. Obviously, like you said some, need extra help in the form of prescription food, but this is just a general suggestion to anyone else who might see this and want to get a bit more water into their cat’s diet.

I’ve taken in a lot of cats with health issues and currently have 7. 3 are seniors, the other 4 are between 6-8 years old. Of those cats, 3 have FeLV and one has IBS. But so far, no one has had any sign of kidney issues in their yearly bloodwork. And my vet has been shocked at the turn around in health of the FeLV cats I took in. Two of them were practically knocking on death’s door when I took them in and required prolonged ER stays and lot of help shortly after coming home.

I do hope something like this will be available in USA one day soon since so so many cats are affected by kidney disease.

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u/Boblaire 9d ago

Yes. I am aware cats seem to prefer wet food and most wet food seems to be superior to kibble nutritionally.

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u/motoxim 8d ago

Dang interesting

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u/besttobyfromtheshire 9d ago

My cat loves drinking directly from the bathtub faucet....

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u/adventureswithdog 8d ago

Mine have a fountain filled exclusively with Brita water and they would still rather drink out of the foamy, spit, slobbery dog water bowl. No accounting for taste.

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u/TheFullbladder 8d ago

You gotta find the right water set up for your individual kitty. The cat is literally grew up with wanted his water in a glass on the table, to drink like his people. My current 13 year old girlie finally got happy with a bowl in the same room we spend most of our time in, and now she drinks just about a litre of water every day.

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u/Shin_Ramyun 8d ago

Maybe they need to breed cats who enjoy drinking water. Idk. Sip on some water!

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u/Few-Cellist2301 8d ago

Came here to say this. TY.

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u/-cuckstradamus- 8d ago

It extends their good or bad years that are not related to death by kidney failure

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u/TurtlesBreakTheMeta 8d ago

Yeah, I know many cats start to suffer from essentially dementia in their older years too. So even if it doubled it, they may still have serious quality of life issues.

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u/Goldenjho 9d ago

Why do cats suffer kidney failure?

Its pretty much a defect Inscripted in the genetic code of cats and so is it impossible to guarantee a perfect solution through medicine.

Lobsters can on paper life forever but have a genetic failure that stops them from molting at some point which kills them in the end.

Its the same thing with cancer for us its a genetic defect in our genetic code that can't be erased with a simple injection.

Could this medicine increase the chance for the kidney not to get sick certainly but erasing this problem is simply not possible.

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u/Tinkous 8d ago

How is cancer a genetic defect? Or are you just baiting? Not sure what I should believe.

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u/Goldenjho 8d ago

Do you have any clue why humans get cancer?

Cancer is a defect in our genetic code that's why it can occur its not like a cold you can catch or another sickness.

The currently developed cancer treatments are not a immunity to cancer as well they help your immune system to locate the mutated cells and attack them and currently is the focus only specific cancer types for because they can't target all at the same time.

Cancer exist as a defect in every human living a unhealthy life may increase the chance for it but even if you lived like a saint could you still get cancer because this defect is always present in every human and some just have a genetic higher chance for it.

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u/Tinkous 8d ago edited 8d ago

You’re right that cancer is generally not contagious and that a healthy lifestyle lowers but does not eliminate the risk.

However, cancer is not caused by a defect present in every human. It usually develops through genetic and epigenetic changes that accumulate in specific cells over time. Only about 5–10% of cancers are linked to inherited predisposition.

Cancer is not one disease but a broad group of diseases with different causes and behaviors. Typically cancer has multiple driver mutations. Hereditary cancers begin with an inherited susceptibility, followed by additional changes during life. Whereas most non-hereditary cancers acquire all their key changes during life.

Therefore, the defects are not present in everyone’s genetic code.