Use case
Peptide Therapy for Senior Dogs
For the dog who is still here, still happy, and just moving through the world more slowly than last year.
Does this sound like your dog?
What we hear most often
If two or three of these are true, it is worth a conversation with a veterinarian. The onboarding call is $199 and refunded if your dog is not a candidate.
Book your DVM call- Sleeping more and engaging less
- Visible muscle loss along the back legs or topline
- Greying that arrived alongside a change in personality
- Slower recovery after a big day out
- Confusion, pacing, or restlessness in the evening
- A coat that has lost its shine
The protocol
Aging is not a disease, which changes how we approach it
With a torn ligament there is a specific injury to support. With a senior dog there usually is not. There is a slow, diffuse decline across several systems at once, and the goal is not to reverse it. The goal is more good days inside the time your dog has.
That distinction matters, because it changes what a good outcome looks like. We are not measuring against the dog your dog was at four. We are measuring against last month.
Senior protocols are typically built from:
- BPC-157: usually at a lower maintenance dose than a recovery protocol, aimed at the joint and gut discomfort that tends to accumulate with age.
- KPV: where chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant part of the picture.
- Supportive compounds selected case by case: senior protocols are the most individualized work we do, because no two twelve-year-old dogs have the same problem list.
Why we screen harder here
Senior dogs are the population where an unexamined protocol is most likely to be a bad idea. Reduced kidney and liver function change how compounds are handled. Undiagnosed endocrine disease changes the interpretation of every symptom you are describing. And occult cancer is common enough in this age group that a screening conversation is not optional.
We do not order labs and we will not make you go get them before we will talk to you. What we will do is ask more questions here than anywhere else, lean on what your primary veterinarian has already told you, and decline the protocol when the picture is too unclear to prescribe into. Saying no is the safety mechanism.
The conversation we will have if it is time
Some dogs who reach us are not candidates for a protocol. They are candidates for a palliative care conversation. If that is where your dog is, our veterinarian will say so gently and directly, and point you toward the right kind of help. We would rather lose the sale than take money to postpone a conversation you deserve to have.
What to expect
A realistic timeline
Every dog is different, and some do not respond at all. This is the pattern families most often describe, not a promise.
- Week 1–3
Baseline
We ask you to pick three concrete markers: how far the morning walk goes, whether they take the stairs, how they greet you at the door. Vague impressions are hard to judge later.
- Week 4–6
First signals
Where there is a response, it usually shows up as engagement before anything else: more interest in the walk, more presence in the room, a little more of the dog you remember.
- Week 8–12
Body condition
Muscle changes are slower than energy changes. Your veterinarian looks at topline and hind-limb muscle at the quarterly review, alongside how your dog is actually living.
- Ongoing
An honest review, every quarter
Senior protocols get reviewed on a schedule, because senior dogs change. Sometimes that review ends with a dose change, and sometimes it ends with us telling you it is time to stop.
Questions
About this protocol
Is my dog too old to start?
Age by itself is rarely the deciding factor. Organ function and comorbidities are. A twelve-year-old in good shape is often a better candidate than a nine-year-old with kidney disease. This is exactly what the veterinarian is working through on the call, using what you tell them and whatever your primary vet has already found.
My dog has kidney disease. Does that rule it out?
Not automatically, but it changes the conversation substantially and it may change which compounds are appropriate or whether we recommend anything at all. Tell us on the intake form and send whatever your primary vet has shared with you. If your veterinarian here is not comfortable, they will tell you no rather than build a protocol around a hope.
Will this help with cognitive decline or nighttime pacing?
We want to be careful here. Canine cognitive dysfunction is a real syndrome with established management approaches, and peptide protocols are not an established treatment for it. Some families report better engagement overall; that is not the same as a claim about cognition. Talk to your primary veterinarian about CCD specifically. There are approved options worth trying first.
What if my dog has a cancer history?
A dog with active cancer, or cancer treated recently, is not a candidate for a tissue-repair protocol. The mechanism that helps a tendon heal is a growth signal, and there is a theoretical risk of that signal reaching cells you do not want it reaching. Our veterinarians screen for this on every consult, and it is a firm no rather than a case-by-case judgment.
Other situations we treat
Next step
Start with a real veterinary appointment.
A licensed DVM reads your dog’s file, then meets you by video. $199 for the review and the prescribing decision, refunded in full if they decide peptide therapy is not right for your dog.