That would be amazing. They can already live so long. To think, you might be able to have a cat with you for most of your adult life.
Comment on Come on, science!
importedreality@programming.dev 6 months ago
Somewhat related, there is a vaccine for cats in the works meant to prevent feline chronic kidney disease. If successful it could massively increase the lifespan of domestic cats.
Drusas@kbin.run 6 months ago
freijon@lemmings.world 6 months ago
Unpopular opinion: There are already way too many domestic cats and they are responsible for the extinction of various species, mostly birds. They are amongst the most problematic invasive species in the world. Its probably not a good idea to increase their lifespan…
danc4498@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Popular opinion: I love cats
FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee 6 months ago
In your country perhaps, cats aren’t a problem everywhere. Even the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds maintain that cats are not a major cause of bird decline (in Britain).
freijon@lemmings.world 6 months ago
I’m not only talking about my country, but you’re right: The location matters. It’s a fact that cats have a noticeable impact on global biodiversity. There is an interesting article on the matter here: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42766-6
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 months ago
Forgive me if I don’t treat Britain as an expert on biodiversity, given their history of hunting most of their wildlife to extinction.
FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Well the RSPB shockingly are quite against hunting animals, who’d have thought it? And careful throwing stones from your glass house, didn’t your lot hunt the bison almost to extinction the moment they landed?
Serinus@lemmy.world 6 months ago
You can get them fixed.
Seleni@lemmy.world 6 months ago
The reason birds are going extinct is humans. Hunting, habitat loss, and climate change are far, far more impactful than cats. As much as they kill, cats shouldn’t even be making a dent in bird populations in most of the world (yes, there are islands and a few microbiomes where they have an outsized impact, and that is an issue that needs to be addressed).
Cats only have such a big impact because we drove those species of birds to the edge of extinction already.
ickplant@lemmy.world 6 months ago
This makes me very happy, thank you for sharing!
DeviantOvary@lemmy.world 6 months ago
One of my family cats is currently at the end of her life due to kidney disease. It really sucks, glad they’re doing something about it. Now if only they could do the same for dogs.
nintendiator@feddit.cl 6 months ago
If successful it could
Wanna bet what capitalism is going to say about that?
nicky7@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
I’m literally having my 19 year old cat put down tomorrow due to kidney disease and I very much wish for him to feel young and healthy again. It sucks.
Apollo42@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Sorry for your loss mate
Ashyr@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
That killed my childhood cat. Would be awesome for future kids to not experience what I did.
Socsa@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Kind of seems like losing a pet is an important part of growing up tbh.
Nythos@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Kind of doesn’t.
Krauerking@lemy.lol 6 months ago
I dunno accepting death as an inevitability seems important since since we otherwise struggle hard to ignore it in western culture and by extension can create a lot of suffering.
Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 months ago
What a heartless thing to say.
Taleya@aussie.zone 6 months ago
Accepting death is an important oart of growing up, ckd killed my beautiful ginger boy a month ago. No animal deserves to die just to be a goddamn teachable moment