Hi All,
I wanted to provide some information regarding the status of our dog on Rapamycin. We started him on it in November 2023 (along with our 2 other dogs and 1 cat). They were on it for 2 months, then 1 month off waiting for another order. Then 2 more months on it. Jax is a Flat Coated Retriever-turned 11 on 3/19/24. When we started him on it, he was experiencing some back/neck issues where he would freeze up and walk or not want to walk. Short lived and bounced back quickly after some Gabapentin. Xrays at this time showed spondylosis. His issue would really only pop up every so often and in between he was very normal and acted like a 2 yo dog–running, jumping, playing. On Rapamycin we saw even more energy, puppy-type playfulness. We skipped 2 weeks recently somewhat by accident but also thought a break wouldn’t hurt as we are running out and need to put another order in. BUT, in those two weeks, he really seemed to go down hill. He had more episodes of freezing/walking and his energy did wane. We took him for a work up to see if we could figure out if his back/neck was a bulged disc–MRI, Spinal tap, Echo, Ultrasound, blood tests for fungal/bacteria. They are currently saying he has a spinal infection but haven’t determined the cause yet. Anecdotally, it feels like rapa may have been keeping something in check and the two weeks off may have allowed something to progress. The thought is that he might have multiple myeloma. We are waiting now, but gave him is weekly dose yesterday and think that I won’t give him a break from it again based on some of the reading I’ve been doing. His breed is very prone to cancer and recently found out the rest of the litter have all passed away at 9 yo or younger. I feel blessed he is 11 but of course want him to stick around longer and have a great quality of life. Just wanted to give an update. Side note: We also feed him raw, give him taurine, liver green powder detox & do titers annually instead of automatically vaccinating.
Would love to know exactly what raw food you feed.
Do you have any concerns about giving raw food along with (temporary) immunosuppression after each weekly rapa dose? Seems like this could increase risk of infections?
Aren’t dogs just weak wolves?
They should be able to eat raw meat just fine, no?
We feed our dogs Fresh is Best raw. It is made in Milwaukee WI. We feed the raw, frozen to two of our dogs and the freeze dried raw to one of our dogs who has allergies. I don’t know if the frozen raw if available everywhere but the freeze dried we purchase online.
We don’t have concerns. We changed to raw after our two previous dogs both had cancer. I’ve read that their digestive systems are shorter than ours and risk of diseases is low due to the short transit time. If our dogs would be truly immunosuppressed such as on chemo, we might reconsider. I know vets say you shouldn’t feed raw but I’ve also known some vets who really don’t know what they are talking about…recommend Science Diet-yikes!
Yeah, I know it’s controversial. Kevin Toman, DVM at helpingpetslivelonger.com prescribes rapamycin for pets and is a holistic vet who has always seemed very knowledgeable (highly recommend his email list). He’s definitely against processed kibble-based foods, but is still not big on most raw diets:
“* Many raw diets carry the risk of bacterial contamination. To be clear, every year both humans AND dogs die from food poisoning, and this risk is highest in raw diets. To avoid this in raw diets, only buy your pet diets that have gone through High Pressure Pasteurization, or HPP. One raw diet that has impressed me so far with their research and safety is Instinct (https://instinctpetfood.com/)”
Hello,
I wanted to follow up on our pup: Jax was confirmed to have a spinal infection–Discospondylitis. Cause is not been identified after all the extensive testing (spinal tap, 2 MRI’s bloodwork). They are treating him with very strong antibiotics. In discussing the potential causes, the vet could not rule out that the raw food was not a factor in this infection. Jax is not a dog that drinks out of puddles, chew on sticks or eat strange things (like our other dog). He has great teeth and did not have a UTI, which they said were more common causes of a spinal infection. Because of the unknown bacteria, we cannot rule out that the raw diet did not contribute to this. They recommended non-raw diet while he is being treated–they say 6-12 months. Hypothetically, the rapamycin plus raw diet may be a contributing factor to this infection, but can’t be 100% certain since they could not identify the bacteria. To be on the safe side, we are looking to change his food and possibly changing to raw with HPP (High pressure pasteurization) as was mentioned. If not raw, they I am stumped because I know first hand how great dogs are on raw food. Our vet in the past has recommended dog food without added synthetic vitamins and that is extremely hard to find. I know Carna4 is one, but other than that I don’t think they exist (outside of raw). Moving forward, it might be good to proceed with caution when using rapa and raw food but also considering Jax is a senior, it might’ve impacted his immunity a little more than a younger dog.