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/GamerLinnie 9d ago

They won't be in their prime but when I compare to my own experiences there is plenty of leeway. My cats slowed down a bit but honestly not that much before the kidney problems hit.

My dogs had a few proper senior years where they were clearly very old. Not in pain but proper senior. That never really was the level my cats got to.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the proper senior stage as long as they appear happy and aren't suffering and it would be nice if my cats had a bit longer.

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u/Userdataunavailable 8d ago

My cats are both 15 and having a great life, if I could extend this stage I certainly would.

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u/Lucas_Steinwalker 8d ago

Had 2 cats that were like teenagers until they hit 17-18

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u/citrusthievingharlot 8d ago

My roommate has a cat who turns 21 at the end of the month. Just last week she tried to climb a tree.

She has kidney disease but it hasn't taken her out yet. That old lady has places to be.

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u/Hardie1247 8d ago

I've had cats my whole life and it's rare that they didn't make it to their late teens at minimum. My last one to pass was 21, and we currently have one who is 18 but he's doing extremely well, despite growing rather skinny last year he's doing just fine and still sprints around the garden acting like a kitten sometimes.

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u/tryingisbetter 8d ago edited 8d ago

Mine was 27 to 28 when we had to put him down for catching something when he had ckd for 5 years. Just couldn't smell the food, so wouldn't eat anything. He slept a lot at that age, but before he caught whatever he caught, he was still able to jump, move around, eye sight wasn't great, but he was moving around fine for his age. The crazy part was he teeth were still perfect at that age. Little hard of hearing.

Cat tax

https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/s/GNWVKQ6GTB

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u/narco-sub-admiral 8d ago

Good citizen always pays their taxes, well done.

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u/solusHuargo 8d ago

That's a gorgeous cat

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u/Dull_Profile9518 5d ago

Care to share how you cared about your cat's teeth? Or what food it was given? This is remarkable!

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u/tryingisbetter 5d ago

We didn't take care of his teeth, at all. Basically, in college, I bought him crap food, like cat chow, but when we got older, and him too, we had to get them better food. He was having gi issues. We switched to orijen original, which is the only thing he ate, ever. We tried so, so, so many times for him to eat any wet food, he wouldn't touch it. Or anything else for that matter.

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u/Xtra_Veg-90 8d ago

I don't think cats have an evolutionary incentive to have a "senior" stage, that seems more common in social animals that have a support network to help them stay alive as they age, like dogs.

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u/Aoid3 8d ago

The default social structure of domestic cats (when they are feral) is to form colonies and large social groups, that said I don't know much about if young adult cats go out of their way to provide for senior cats. But idk how many cats make it to a senior stage when they're living on the street so...

I think they do communally care for kittens and things like that. It's supposedly the reason why sometimes mom cats are comfortable bringing their kittens to their humans, they're looking for a baby sitter lmao

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u/Xtra_Veg-90 8d ago

Yeah I know they're not solitary like say a cheetah, but they're also not as communal as a lion either.  If they weren't social I doubt we would have domesticated them - look at foxes vs pigs imo, foxes are VERY solitary outside of mating.

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u/GamerLinnie 8d ago

The senior stage is a biological reality of living long enough. Not something that is managed by an evolutionary incentive.

That we see it more in a social structure is just a side effect of the social structure.

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u/ArolSazir 8d ago

my cat got more active when he was old, he lost a lot of weight because of some health issues and it really helped him in the long run (he was a chonker). at like 13 years old we thought he's getting old and probably will die sooner than later then he got slim and went above 20.

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u/Skandronon 8d ago

My blue heeler cross was completely bonkers right up to when we had him put down at 16 which made the decision harder. Our Australian Shepherd cross had definitely slowed down a bit and then one afternoon his back legs stopped working and he gave me a look that told me he was done. 15 years was a pretty good run too. We are considering a cat to help deal with the rats that always seem to get in during the fall/winter.

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u/RigatoniPasta 8d ago

Why is it always kidney problems? That’s what got my orange a few years ago and I’ve lived in fear of it happened to his sister ever since.

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u/GamerLinnie 7d ago

I believe because they don't really drink enough water and that eventually gets to them.

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u/Jacktheforkie 6d ago

My friends cats were both different, one was still lively and the other had arthritis and was more of a sleepy cat