Designed by a Vet
Apocaps® was designed by Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM, co-author of the best-selling animal health book The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog's Life Quality and Longevity.
It Began with the Doggies
When Dr. Dressler started researching apoptogens, he wasn’t creating a nutraceutical. Instead, he was responding to pressure from clients – and his own disillusionment with conventional veterinary options – for outside-the-box tools he could use to support normal apoptosis levels in dogs.
Dr. Dressler combed the scientific literature for things that might help and (importantly) wouldn’t hurt dogs. A conventional vet trained at Cornell University, he was surprised to find how much cutting-edge research was focusing on natural plant sources for apoptogens.
He started using the most promising apoptogens with dogs in his practice, and he also wrote about them on his blog and in the first edition of his book.
Dog Lovers Used the Constituents with Their Dogs
In a way, Apocaps® started out in kitchens all over the world: dog lovers took the obscure and expensive apoptogens Dr. Dressler recommended and tried to feed them to their dogs.
Dog lovers opened curcumin capsules and mixed the yellow powder – which stains everything it touches – into liquid soy lecithin to boost its bioavailability. They had to use turkey basters to squirt the mix into the back of their dog’s throat. The problem? Some dogs hacked it back up, while others turned their heads so violently the liquid never made it into their mouths.
Dog lovers were grinding tablets containing luteolin – an expensive and rare bioflavonoid – into a powder and mixed it into their dog’s food. The problem? Luteolin should be taken on an empty stomach for the best absorption.
They also chopped bunch after bunch of fresh parsley – ¼ cup in the morning and ¼ cup in the evening – to get the bioflavonoid apigenin. Not all dogs like the taste of parsley.
The dog lovers who stuck with it reported their dogs felt better. And still, it was overwhelming to coordinate and time all of these steps, and it was costing both time and money to administer these apoptogens one by one.
Dogs were having to eat 1/4 cup parsley in the morning and another 1/4 cup parsley in the evening in order to get apigenin. The problem? Apigenin is best absorbed on an empty stomach, and most dogs won't eat parsley without it being mixed into food.
Dr. Dressler Responded with Apocaps®
As he saw the results in his own practice and heard promising anecdotal reports from readers of his blog and book, Dr. Dressler heard two things:
- These apoptogens seemed to be helping dogs as long as they followed his instructions to boost bioavailability.
- It was really difficult and time-consuming for dog lovers to administer these apoptogens at home. They wanted a pill!
As more and more requests came in for an easy pill, Dr. Dressler started to develop a formula. Once he invented Apocaps®, he conducted a pilot study with a few other vets. When Apocaps® was officially introduced to the public in 2009, dog lovers all over the world started using the apoptogen formula with their own dogs.
Apocaps® is safe for most dogs to use and can complement many traditional veterinary therapies. Dr. Dressler's training and experience as a traditional vet is foundational to the creation of Apocaps®. He uses cutting edge published science to expand veterinary medicine beyond "conventional" and "alternative" labels to what he calls a "full spectrum" approach. Apocaps® is not only the first apoptogen formula: it's the first full spectrum formula.
To learn more about the ingredients in Apocaps®, click About Apocaps®.
If you are a veterinarian interested in the science behind Apocaps® and the story of the pilot trial, click For Veterinarians.