Taking Care of Yourself: Before the Drug Arrives

Happy Thursday, Positive Animal Caregivers! ♡🐾

My heart stopped this week. A golden retriever at the daycare swallowed a plastic wrapper. One of those completely preventable accidents that I had no idea how to handle. He was fine. But the incident has occupied my mind ever since.

How was your week? Did you find a moment, even briefly, to step away from it?

For the next few minutes, this can be that moment.

Animal caregiving has a way of compressing everything — the good moments, the hard ones — into the same day. Before moving on, let’s pause and check in —

Add a note if you want (I read them all)

At the doggy daycare, I work with dogs of all ages — including a handful of seniors. Some have aged gracefully, still full of noise and momentum. Others have slowed in ways that are harder to watch. And sometimes, scanning the younger dogs as they tear around the room, I find myself quietly sorting them: which ones are going to be okay, and which ones are already on a harder road.

Tosie caught my attention first. Her breath hit me before she reached my feet. Not the ordinary kind of dog breath you make peace with — something sharper, more insistent. Dental disease has a smell. Chronic bacteria from untreated infections can travel far beyond the mouth, contributing to heart inflammation, kidney strain, liver damage. Nobody had brushed Tosie's teeth in a while. It's a small thing, until it isn't.

Then there was Joey, a young Labrador who moved through the room like he was already carrying more than he should. He's not old — he has years ahead of him — but his weight has started to show up in his joints. A colleague trained in canine nutrition said, quietly, what I'd been thinking: if nothing changes, his future will be harder than it needs to be. Neither of us said anything more. There wasn't much to add.

I'd been thinking about all of this — the teeth, the weight, the small daily choices that compound quietly over time — because I came across an article titled "What If You Could Give Your Dog A Longer Life?" It turns out scientists, and the investors who follow them around, are betting heavily on that question. There are AI-powered collars now, designed to track canine health in real time. Longevity strategy sessions, for $275 a sitting. And one company is developing an anti-aging drug specifically for dogs — something that, if and when it reaches the market, will likely cost what many people spend on their own healthcare.

These technologies are coming. Some of them may even work. But they will arrive, as most things do, unevenly — available first to people who can already afford to give their dogs a great deal.  

And yet we're already making progress without any of it. Between 2013 and 2019, the average lifespan of a dog rose by over 4%. Cats gained even more — over 9% — largely because more of them are being kept indoors. No drug. No collar. Just a door kept closed.

Which keeps bringing me back to Tosie. To Joey. To the gap between the magic pill that we ‘re reaching for and what's already within reach.

A toothbrush costs very little. So does a measuring cup. A basic pet first aid course, the kind that teaches you what to do when a dog swallows something it shouldn't, runs a few hours and stays with you. None of these things are as exciting as a longevity drug. None of them will make the news.

But right now, in the room where I work, they're probably doing more than we realize.

That’s the estimated annual growth rate for the pet longevity therapeutics market from 2026 to 2033. Supplements are currently the largest and fastest-growing segment.

Add a note if you want (I read them all)

Mark your calendars for these upcoming opportunities to connect with others:

Here are the ways to recharge this week. Pick ONE small thing that makes you smile. You’ve earned it. 

Listen: “These Are The Things,” by Black Box Recorder. Any song that starts with “a pint of milk and a loaf of bread” will have my attention, especially in the morning. 

Watch: Retirement Plan, a 2026 Oscar-nominated animated short film.   

Write: A few lines in your gratitude journal. This week’s prompt: The Little Important Things. 

Appreciate: How Desirée De León uses tiny objects - an almond, a pencil shaving - to create art.   

Try: Observing the symmetry of a leaf.

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Thanks for spending part of your day with me and the rest of the Positive Animal Caregivers Club. Take care of yourself this week. Remember - even superheroes need naps. 

– Philip