Second Chance: Long Live the Dog

19 Feb Second Chance: Long Live the Dog

Second Chance Humane Society’s Animal Resource Center and Thrift Shops have been servicing San Miguel, Ouray & Montrose Counties for over 26 years. Call the Second Chance Helpline at 626-2273 to report a lost pet, learn about adopting a homeless pet, or about Spay/Neuter, Volunteer, Feral Cat, or other services. View our shelter pets and services online: www.adoptmountainpets.org.

Buddy

Whaddup? My name is Buddy Studly. I am a bit of a stud. Not in the “still intact/un-neutered” way of course, but in the “wow, look at that good looking, athletic, cool and charming dog” way. I’ll admit I also get “look at the auricles on that stud, he can probably hear 10 miles away!” but I’m cool with that. Anyway, I really enjoy life and I think it stinks that dogs have a shorter life span than other species. I have decided to change that.

So far I have not succeeded, but I have stumbled across the next best elixir of life: gene-therapy technology. This stuff can’t yet directly extend a dog’s life, but it can increase our “healthspan” helping us stay healthier longer – which is sort of the same thing right?

I made contact with a startup called Rejuvenate Bio, launched by the Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (yeah say that ten times fast…) who are working on this project. Their approach is to address the interconnectedness of age-related illnesses.

Success in this endeavor with mice was explained to me in a bunch of mumbo-jumbo words, acronyms and medical terms, but what I found of interest is that they had success on treating their “target illnesses” of obesity, type II diabetes, heart failure, and renal failure.

So now Rejuvenate Bio is kicking off a pilot study testing the efficacy of this gene therapy technology in arresting mitral valve disease, which affects most Cavalier King Charles spaniels by age eight and causes heart failure. They will be treating dogs with mitral valve disease through gene therapy and assessing whether they progress to the next stage of the disease over a given period.

If all goes well, Rejuvenate Bio hopes to expand the treatment to all canine breeds (more than 7 million dogs in the United States suffer from mitral valve disease!) and hopefully also open the door to similar therapies for age-related illnesses and age-reduction in humans.

Since dogs are humans best friend, it makes sense that human treatments can potentially be repurposed for their canine counterparts so successful cancer treatment protocols for humans are being assessed for treating cancer in dogs as well. The cherry on top is that if humans start living longer they can have their best friends by their side longer as well.

I am only one-and-a-half years young so hopefully all this will be figured out by the time I need help. I am Border Collie and Blue Heeler mix who gets along well with other dogs and loves humans. Humans just love my studly, non-reproducing self.

I love long walks and bouncing around out in the shelter play yard with all my homeless dog friends. I know a lot of fun tricks and I like being mentally as well as physically challenged. Thus, I hope my new person will continue to train and teach me new things. If you are truly interested in an elixir of life come adopt me today. I will keep you youthful and healthy for your extended lifetime!