Puppy Love? New Pill May Give Older Pooches A New Leash On Life

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  —  For many, pets are an extension of the family.

And watching pets age can be heart-wrenching.

Now there's a new drug that might be able to stop time in its tracks and add years to your best friends' life.

CBS2's Elsa Ramon looks into the wonder drug.

Zoey is the Birch family's 15-year-old Lab. She's still pretty spry but they say she has slowed down considerably and shows distinct signs of old age.

"She takes an anti inflammatory each day and the equivalent of a doggie iIbuprofen," says Liz Birch.

But now there's a new drug. It's called Rapamycin and it's offering the possibility of adding years to a dog's life.

"MyLab has seen pretty remarkable effects in terms of increasing lifespan and improving health during aging," says Dr. Matt Kaeberlein, co-director of the Dog-Aging Project in Pittsburgh.

He's overseeing a project studying the drug an its affects on dogs.

"We didn't detect  any significant side effects in the dogs that were getting the drugs so that's great," he said.

Rapamycin is primarily used an an anti-rejection drug for kidney transplants in humans. But large doses in people can have serious side effects.

In lower doses it's showing progess as a way to suppress disease and potential way to extend life in pets and in people, too.

Momo is 13 and has been on the drug for six months.

"He should be at the end of his life," said owner Paolo Anderson.

She said before taking the drug, Momo had become quite lethargic. Now she says he's acting like a puppy all over again.

"If we can slow the process down and get two to three more years of life from our dogs with a good quality of life that would be really something" said Richard Goldstein, chief medical officer at a major animal center.

"The question is, is the drug preventing cancer and that's why they're living longer or is it somehow reversing aging and they're being younger for longer," Goldstein says.

The Birch family says it's something they might consider, depending on the side effects.

While the results of Rapamycin are promising, doctors caution they are still in the early testing stages.