Will Jean Paul beat the Grim Reaper?
Conan (left) and Jean Paul. A contrast between old and young
A young Jean Paul looking harmless
You might recall from the previous article about Conan that he was "my best friend" for 17 years. He was a super cat that holds a special place in my heart and you would think never to be replaced or superseded. In the case of Jean Paul, it is close.
Jean Paul is unique in many ways, including the way he made his way into our household. We always go to one of the local shelters to adopt a deserving cat. We often adopt middle-aged or older cats because they are less desired by most people. This is because, older cats are harder to integrate into a household, especially if you already have another cat. We are happy to put in the work to make sure the "older" cats we have adopted have a loving and comfortable home.
Because we enjoy cats, one day we decided to go to a cat show. It was our first one. It was a great experience. It is especially interesting to meet all of the unique personalities that congregate at a cat show. Cat-lovers can be rather peculiar people and that is what makes the menagerie of the cat show so alluring.
It was one of those "spur of the moment" decisions. One of the booths at the show had a new litter of Birmans. The Birman breed is routinely considered one of the most beautiful cat breeds in the world and a baby Birman is even cuter. We left the show without a cat, but within 10 minutes we stopped at the bank, got some cash, and went back to the show to buy Jean Paul. We picked him because he crawled away from his litter mates and licked my wife's hand. He has always been affectionate towards us, but not so much with the other cats. As he grew, he became a dominant cat. He demanded "respect" from the other cats and would often get into altercations if they did not literally bow down to him and let him lick their heads. It is something that cat owners with multiple cats will have to deal with at times. They have personalities and they will not always get along like "best friends". Other than that, Jean Paul has been a wonderful addition to our house.
Now the question becomes; Is Jean Paul the one?
I am wondering if Jean Paul might be the cat that could finally beat back the Grim Reaper with modern medicine, perhaps breaking the record for the longest-lived cat. You might recall in the article about Conan, that I once had an inkling that he would be "the one" to benefit from advancing medical technology.
Sadly, It was not to be the case.
Jean Paul is going on 12 years of age at the time of this writing, which is considered quite "senior" for a cat. He is currently healthy and a few of our other cats have lived to be 17 or 18 years old and were in decent shape for most of that time. Will there be enough new breakthroughs in rejuvenation treatments in the next 3 to 4 years in order to help Jean Paul? I am optimistic and I hope RejuveCat can be a leader in the effort toward pet rejuvenation. Just this year, Jean Paul (and Apple) did receive a short-term senolytic treatment that has been proven to be beneficial and safe in other animal experiments. We are continuing to analyze other safe and beneficial natural substances for use in cats that can be used now while more advanced therapeutics are developed.
Why Jean Paul and not one of our other cats? Because the time is right and he saved my life, so I feel like I owe him. This is the story: I developed some sort of illness with symptoms similar to Lyme disease. I had some body aches, but the main trouble was fatigue. After a week, I was so fatigued that I had a hard time speaking more than a sentence or two. I was not out of breath, I just had near zero mental or physical energy. I had been to the doctor twice, did some testing, got some antibiotics, but nothing was helping. I thought I might need to check myself into the hospital, as long as I had enough energy to walk in the door. Anyway, while I was lying on the bed, Jean Paul drew near and looked at me for a couple of minutes, as if assessing my situation. He then licked my nose for a short bit, made a couple of faint meows, and laid next to me. For whatever reason, it seemed like the disease broke within the next few minutes. I sat up, walked around the house, and ate some food. Within a couple of hours, I was hiking up Rib Mountain on a 90-degree day to check if there was still snow left (for a local contest). Maybe it was the anti-biotics finally working, or maybe the disease just broke because it was time, but I think it was the "care" I received from Jean Paul.
If rejuvenation treatments help Jean Paul live healthy for a very long time, all of our other cats will get the same
