The longevity market has taken the human market by storm. Now it's coming for our pets, too.
"There's really no stopping point to the money that I'll spend," said Amy Greene, who has two dogs, in an interview with Bloomberg. She spends around $500 on various peptides for her dogs; she also takes peptide injections herself.
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"They're my babies (…) If you had a solution for me, for my pets to live forever, I would buy it. I am that dog mom."
Pet owners are trying everything from supplements to human medications to red-light therapy to keep their pets happy and healthy past their normal lifespan — and it's not cheap. Americans spent a combined $2.9 billion on pet supplements last year.
The market has exploded in the past few years, although it's slowed its rapid climb somewhat in the past two years thanks to economic uncertainty shrinking people's budgets.
Here's what to know about the burgeoning pet longevity market — and whether it's worth starting your pet on a supplement routine.
People have routinely spent fortunes on trying to live forever. Vladimir Putin, for instance, recently put $26 billion toward developing "health preservation medications," including a "vaccine against aging."
But longevity medicine has become especially popular for everyone — not just the ultrarich. And now it's not even limited to humans.
"Things usually trickle down from human trends," said Shannon Landry, pet research director at the consumer insights firm Packaged Facts, to Bloomberg. She says the focus is on keeping an elderly pet not just alive, but also "active and living its best life."
But these treatments don't come cheap. One longevity-focused vet, Dr. Kevin Toman, charges $275 for a virtual "longevity strategy session" for your dog or cat. Bloomberg reports that he offers a $475 per month plan for on-demand virtual longevity consulting.
He also sells pet owners rapamycin, a popular anti-aging drug for both humans and pets.
"I get more inquiries about the use of rapamycin in dogs, rapamycin in cats, than any other product," said Toman to Bloomberg.
People can generally expect to pay around $60 to $150 for a monthly rapamycin supply — a hefty price, considering that it's likely only one part of a larger longevity strategy. The costs add up quickly, especially as regular veterinary costs are also growing increasingly pricey.
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Pet longevity treatments are pricey, but many pet owners would agree that any price they can afford would be worth keeping their pet happy and healthy for longer.
The question is: Do these treatments work as they're advertised?
For rapamycin, the jury is still out. The drug, which is currently used to prevent transplant rejection, had some promising longevity-related results in mice. But mice are neither humans nor dogs, and there isn't a whole lot of evidence out there that the drug works as a life extender for either group.
There are currently two major rapamycin trials testing the drug's efficacy at extending dogs' lifespans. Neither are far enough along to tell whether the drug is actually helping or not.
"We're not doing the study because we think rapamycin will make dogs live longer, we're doing it to find out if it works or not," said Kate Creevy, a professor of small-animal medicine at Texas A&M, to the Washington Post. She's one of the founders of the Dog Aging Project, an organization that's running one of the rapamycin trials. "Being part of the study is a gift to future generations of dogs, but not necessarily a gift to your dog."
Creevy says that the trials have not shown any unexpected side effects so far. Unfortunately, that's not true for all of the unregulated supplements pet owners are giving their pets.
"We see people who bring stuff back from Asia, all sorts of weird and wonderful concoctions (…) every single day," said Jane Sykes, professor of medicine at the Weill School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, to Bloomberg. She says that it's a struggle to get owners to stop the supplements, even when vets say they could be at fault for their pet feeling ill.
Because these supplements aren't monitored by the FDA, they don't always contain what they claim to be made out of. They might also overstate or even lie about what they can do.
Instead of relying on potentially unsafe supplements, it may be better to ask your veterinarian what you can do to keep your pet healthy. It's going to be expensive either way, but asking your vet will give you a better chance of actually helping your furry friend.
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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Pet owners are shelling out $3 billion a year on supplements to help their loved ones 'live forever'
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