Wow that seems like a lot of Rapa for 60 lbs x3 weekly. Any side effects? Thanks for sharing!
I have not noticed any side effects whatsoever perhaps except a lot more cases of the “zoomies” I think dogs clear medicines out of their systems faster perhaps is why the dose is so often.
I think that is the same dose that is being used at the Dog Aging Project How Did the Dog Aging Project Begin? - Dog Aging Project
Dr. Matt Kaeberlein is one of the main sponsors and I understand he is a strong supporter of using rapamycin.
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The latest update on the Dog Aging Project by Matt Kaeberlein, just posted on Youtube:
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An interesting post on twitter…
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I’ve got a 12 year old Doberman who is healthy, but definitely getting up there in age. Going to start her on Rapa very soon, but I am wondering if anyone knows if there could be a conflict with the Apoquel she is taking for her seasonal allergies?
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I give my 10lb dog half of a 5 mg tablet each week , now in her 6th week . She seems to eat more and is very playful with lots of energy, she is 8 years old .
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I give my 10lb dog half of a 5 mg tablet each week
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but pills cannot be cut in half. They are coated with a special protective layer that ensures proper absorption.
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Hi
First, I made a mistake, it is a 2 mg pill not a 5 mg pill. I have a special pill cutter, and there is a line in the middle of the pill which indicates half of the pill and the cutter.does the job perfectly. Because my little dog does not have any teeth, I have to disguise the pill by breaking it into smaller pieces and putting it in fresh cooked liver . So it does not appear to be that the 2 mg pills have a special coating, please correct me if I am wrong.
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I have a special pill cutter, and there is a line in the middle of the pill which indicates half of the pill and the cutter.does the job perfectly
As far as I understand it at the point of cut, there will be no protective layer and the medication may not be absorbed because it will dissolve too quickly.
The leaflet included with Pfizer’s Rapamune clearly states that the medicine should not be divided. Perhaps you have the medication in a different form, but at least I adhere to these recommendations.
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I’ve been cutting 1mg pills in half for my 14 pound chihuahua. They seem to work although it may not be optimal.
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Generally, unless you have evidence to the contrary, I think we should assume you can’t pill-split with rapamycin tablets because rapamycin is extremely non-bioavailable generally, and it likely just gets destroyed in the stomach if you cut the pill in half and break the barrier/coating that the tablet has integrated into it.
Better to have a slightly higher dosing but spread out the dosing periods (say, from once per week to once every two weeks), or go lower dose, and dose more frequently than once per week (e.g. once every 3 day).
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Measuring aging in a dog - a good look at it from the company developing anti-aging drugs for dogs:
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More press coverage of rapamycin for dogs… and people:
The dogs, and their owners, as well as researchers conducting the study, have no way of knowing exactly what dose of medication the dogs are taking, or if they’re even on any medication at all. The study is designed so that while some dogs get medicine, other dogs get placebo pills. That way, researchers hope to actually figure out the real effect of this drug on dog lifespan.
Cleary says it might be “wishful thinking” but he’s convinced that after a few months on the pills, he started to notice a difference in his dog.
“We’d throw a little lacrosse ball in the backyard, I’d see him jumping off our rock wall,” Cleary said, “He just seemed to have more energy.”
Dennis’s owner Veronica Munsey also said,“This could be totally wishful thinking,” but she’s almost certain her dog’s hair, which had been going gray for some time, started to darken again after he began taking the weekly pills.
More information: https://dogagingproject.org/
Dog Aging Project TRIAD Study
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Ive been giving my 6 yo Golden retriever rapamycin for about 1.5 months now. She has tolerated it well (0.15 mg / kg). She normally gets small areas of her skin that develop a red hive like look and then she licks it until it usually gets infected. We treat them with hydrogen peroxide topically and some steroid cream after the infection is controlled. She would get these about once every 3 months in the past but there seems to be an increase in frequency now and I’m wondering if it is related to the rapamycin. Anyone else have a dog prone to this sort of thing that has seen an increase once starting rapamycin? Since skin issues are so prevalent in humans, and this seems to be immunologic in etiology, I think it is possible the rapamycin is making it more frequent. She has had three different sites in the last two weeks.
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Might be rapamycin, but I doubt. I think you are talking about “hotspots”? My younger dog also was getting these “hotspots” for a while until I realized what is the cause and removing the cause removed hotspots as well. I noticed that hotspots are caused by my dogs licking an itchy spot on the skin, which gets inflamed and later infected and really problematic cycle follows… I also went against my vet’s advice on treating and treated these hotspots really efficiently with spraying with colloidal silver spray for wounds which is widely available in Europe, IDK where you are from and the hotspot would dry out and clear in few days. If rapamycin aggravates the issue it is maybe cause these spots are more easily infected… but it is not causing them in my opinion. The cause must be itching that leads to licking and creating a hotspot. There are different causes of itching and you might find out what causes itching in your case. In my case it was that my dog is allergic to flea bites and even playing with a dog outside that was infected with fleas might cause a single bite and few days later a hotspot. Now he is on anti flea prophylaxis all the time and since he did not get a single hotspot. But it might be something else, might be food, environment, might be psychological as well.
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Thank you scta123 for your thoughtful reply. Yes “hotspots”. We are talking about the same thing. I also agree with you that it seems unlikely that rapamycin is causing them (if anything you might think it would lessen their occurrence). I also considered that maybe they are just getting infected more easily on rapamycin. I will give the silver spray a try, I’m guessing it is like silvadene used for human burns. We can’t seem to locate the allergen. They do seem to arise more frequently this time of year but she is on flea medicine continuously. Still may be related to fleas though as I believe the medication she is on would still allow an initial bite before it takes effect. Do you also treat your dog with rapamycin?
Yes, my dog is on rapamycin too, no issues. I gave a better report in another topic, but he is doing really good, he really seems more energetic and acts and probably feels younger. He had no skin issues so far on rapamycin (thought I read the skin gets more susceptible for viral papillomavirus infections that cause tags). My other dog is for example allergic to grass in spring and walking or rolling on grass for few weeks in April in May cause him to itch all over and he licks his paws obsessively but he creates no hotspots fortunately. I know they are really bothersome… I was lucky to found this silver spray solution. It creates a white film, underneath the hotspot “crusts” and in few days heels and falls off.
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I was wondering about dog dosing with fat. I just remembered, that I give all the medicines to my dog hidden in a piece of butter, this is the only way he swallows it immediately otherwise I was always finding pills around.
But since taking rapamycin in humans with fat increases bioavailability that is probably same for dogs?
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There have been no studies on this that I’m aware of, but given how close dogs are to humans from an evolutionary perspective (they use all the same medicines on dogs that they use for humans) I strongly suspect that the same is true. I use cheese blocks with the tablet pushed into it, for my dog. Butter is also a really good idea.
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That seems awfully high to me. I give my 10lb Shiztue .50 mg , once a week. She was sick with bile the day after the dose, I wondered if it was the Rapa or that she is coming in heat? I will keep a watch out for that after next weeks dose . Has anyone else experienced sickness after dosing their dog?