I was wondering if my cats could take the rapamycin. The last I saw was a news station out of Charlotte NC reporting on the studies that are currently being done on dogs. My cats are really old. The oldest one is 22. Thank you for sharing
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Count your blessings. You are fortunate to have a cat live to be 22 yrs. old.
My oldest cats have been females that lived to be 17 yrs old. My oldest male cat was a tuxedo that I was very fond of. Unfortunately, I didn’t start him on Rapamycin until November of 2021. I was giving him 1 mg per week crushed and mixed in his food. He seemed to tolerate it well. Had taken about 8 doses before he died. He was very active and seemed healthy albeit overweight.
My patio security cameras show him on the patio at about two in the morning. The camera shows him walking normally and then going to sleep under a patio chair. He never woke up. We were devastated. He had such a great personality. My vet said he undoubtedly had a heart attack in his sleep.
He didn’t think Rapamycin had anything to do with it, only that I started him too late in life to do any good. That might be the case for me also.
I personally certainly give younger cats Rapamycin, but would probably not extend your 22-year-old cat’s life significantly. But, if you can afford to give it to her I would. You may be more fortunate than I was.
I wish you the best with your cats.
RIP Max
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Why? Youre only 81, younger than many of us here, so without any intervention, you have an average expectancy of 8 more years, at which time you would expect another 4 years, etc, and that’s just for average…not even considering that all the while you are taking rapa and senolytics. And by then, who knows… you just need to live long enough for “the cure”. 
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Perhaps of interest, looks like a very good article on cat aging:
Could you kindly provide the name of your vet who prescribes rapamycin? I cannot find a vet who will prescribe for our cat. Most have never heard of it.
Thanks
My vet does not know about rapamycin.
I get my rapamycin from India. Either Zydus or Rapacan, 1mg tablets.
I would suggest getting the Zydus brand if you are going to try to get your cat to take a whole pill because they are smaller. I am not adept at giving my cats pills so I just grind the tablets into a fine powder with my mortar and pestle and mix it with their food.
See the list to find a supplier.
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Does anyone know of a vet who would prescribe rapamycin for a cat in Maryland? Either a vet located in Maryland (Columbia or Annapolis area) or who practices telemedicine.
I used healthspan to get the rapamycin (sirolimus) for myself. I answered a few questions, paid $80 for the online dr access and chose my subscription ($150 for 40 ct sirolimus 1mg). If you know the correct dosing for a feline, I guess you can do this? I use the rx for myself, my dog, (an 80 lb Pitt) and a 22 year old cat (i don’t think she will live much longer). I have asked every veterinarian in my area and surrounding counties about rapamycin for dogs. No one had even heard of rapamycin or the trials they are doing for dogs. I have asked each one of them to Google it and read about it
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I now have two young rescue cats. They are about 1 year old. I would like to start them on a rapamycin weekly dosing schedule. They weigh about 5 lbs. each. I am thinking of starting them on .5mg weekly. My main concern is I do not want to cause them any harm.
Is anyone giving their cat/cats rapamycin? Has there been any adverse side effects?
Does anyone have a suggested dosing regimen?
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My beloved cat has HCM. It was stable for a long time but now it progressed. Contemporary veterinary medicine has not much to offer us apart thinning the blood to avoid clotting. There are however clinical trials going on testing if rapamycine may help to reverse hcm. I analysed pros and cons for a long time and finally decided we have no time to wait and put him on rapa increasing dosage slowly every week. He started a month ago on .25 and is now on 1mg which is the final dosage. No side effects visible. In 5 months I will let you know if his heart scan improved.
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Hi there, how often do you dose? My 14-year-old
kitty was just diagnosed with lymphoma and as a last-ditch effort was going to give rapa a try. Any info would be appreciated! Thank you
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I dose once a week. I started from a quarter of a final dose and increased slowly. He is on the whole dose now and no side effects visible (and I watch him like a hawk). Next month i will do his blood test and in 4 months we will repeat heart scan.
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What kind of blood tests are recommended?
For healthy pets, most of us don’t do any special blood tests (I certainly don’t for my dog). I think the earlier people posting in this thread have pets that have significant medical problems.
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What is the dosing recommendation for a small cat? She is around 7lbs. She scanned positive for HCM 2 years ago and is still asymptomatic. Thank God. I would like to keep it that way. I lost one beloved cat to HCM at age 5 and would love nothing more than to avoid seeing another one die from it. She is only 3.
I have the medication. I just need dosing protocol.
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I took the bigger dose from the study on longevity in dogs that resulted in improved heart indices, only their week dose was divided into 3 portions given to dogs Monday, Wednesday and Friday or sth like this. So they gave .1 mg per kg in their big dose sample. I dose once a week so .3 mg per kg. If the next scan shows it is not enough, I will increase. If I see improvement, we will just go on. He is doing very well at the moment. Even slightly put on weight (in muscles, he is very athletic). Funny thing is: he is a canadian sphynx and he is growing much more fuzz at the moment. If it goes on like this I will end up with a long-hair sphynx. ;). In February we are doing blood test check and I will have a comparison with his previous ones as I do his check-up at least once a year. More if he is ill. But he usually is not. Apart from HCM, but even this is still asymptotic (if recently too progressed to sit and do nothing about it).
Do not use rapamune in liquid as there is alcohol in it. One off - maybe it would not be enough to lead to problems, but taking into account how sensitive cats are to alcohol it is best to not risk regular doses with it. We bought it and now we are using it ourselves and he is on pills that we bought later.
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There are no cat studies - but you may want to follow the dosing used in the dog studies: How Do I Get Rapamycin for My Dog?
Also - I don’t think you want to “pill split” with rapamycin because there is an enteric coating for most of them, and breaking that coating would likely eliminate the bioavailabilty (because the coating allows it to get through the stomach to the small intestine where it is ultimately absorbed. Powdered rapamycin typically has very, very low bioavailability (getting destroyed in the gut).
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