Dog Aging Project: Goal To Increase The Lifespan of Dogs

A new project is conducted by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle to alleviate the longevity of your canine companions. The project is entitled, "The Dog Aging Project." You'll be happier now to be with your pet dog for a longer period of time.

Pet MD reports that the study was led by Dr. Daniel Promislow, the professor of pathology and biology and Dr. Matt Kaeberlien, an associate professor of pathology. They identified why some dogs die of certain diseases such as dementia, cancer, and kidney failure. On the other hand, some dogs live to their old age without being sick.

"Our goal is to extend the period of life in which dogs are healthy by two to four years, not prolong the already difficult older years,"  Kaeberlien said, who also serves as the founding director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute.  "As far as I know, we are the first and only group currently working to increase healthy longevity in dogs by targeting the biological aging process, rather than by focusing on individual specific diseases." 

The Dog Aging Project involves treating the middle-aged dogs with Rapamycin, an FDA-approved drug and known to increase the lifespan in mice and improve the function of immune system, heart, brain and muscles. There are currently 30 dogs that are enrolled in Dog Aging Project.

"For ten weeks, they will receive a low-dose of rapamycin and we will follow changes in their blood chemistry and microorganisms," Kaeberlien said. "Before, during, and after the treatment period, we will look at their cognitive function, heart function, immunity, and cancer incidence." This will be completed by April 2016. 

There are progress and improvement in the project.  "One unexpected discovery is that about one in five middle-aged dogs is walking around with asymptomatic heart disease. These animals were excluded from our study, but it suggests that cardiac dysfunction is a greater contributing factor to age-associated death in dogs than previously understood," Kaeberlein said.

According to Wikipedia, smaller dogs can live for about 15 to 16 years and the medium and large size dog typically lives for 10 to 13 years. The giant dogs such as mastiffs can live to 7 to 8 years.