Stem Cell Treatment for Arthritis For Pets

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| Print | By Jo Singer | May 4, 2009 10:31 AM

I am constantly amazed at the astounding procedures being developed in the field of veterinary medicine today. With each and every new treatment I read about, it get a great deal of hope that should one of my pets become ill with a serious and difficult to manage condition, that there is a ray of sunshine on the horizon. Cody's story is just one of many innovative treatments which are being explored by progressive veterinarians around the country.

Coty, a very active and robust Alaskan Husky living in Richmond, Utah, got hit hard with degenerative arthritis. His owner, Dan Miller said it was hard to watch his dog, once capable of 40 mile runs lose mobility. He said, "Painkillers never really seemed to make a difference, at least in her stride, the limp in her stride."

She was treated with the many standard arthritis medications available, including glucosamine and acupuncture, but nothing seemed to help her to really make any significant progress. Mr. Miller was, of course was quite devastated with apparent options to help his beloved dog.

But that was when North Logan vet Dr. James Israelsen of the Mountain View Veterinary Health Clinic came to the rescue, suggesting stem cell treatment as a possible alternative. And since the procedure was very expensive, Dr. Israelsen even offered to perform the treatment at cost in order to cover his clinic's expenses, and payments to the Vet-Stem of San Diego.

On March 16, 2009, Dr. Israelsen removed about 60 grams of fat from Coty. He shipped the material to Vet-Stem, in a specially prepared temperature-controlled container. Vet-Stem then extracted stem cells from the dog's fat, shipping them back to Dr. Israelsen's clinic. Dr. Israelsen then injected the cells right into Coty's elbow, the joint that was affected. This process took about three days to perform.

According to Mr. Miller, although Cody is not yet showing any signs of progress so far, Dr. Israelsen says that this is not uncommon. He says it may take between one and three months from the time of the injection for improvement to become evident. Dr. Israelsen is indeed a pioneer in the field of veterinary stem-cell treatment, as most practitioners use more traditional drugs and therapies, many of which have been used for humans over the years. And if it works on Cody, perhaps his success will open many doors for human treatment as well.

So you bet I will be doing a heck of a lot of research online shortly to learn of any updates about Cody's progress.

How do you feel about non-traditional treatments for pets? Leave a comment with your opinion.

RELATED TOPICS: Arthritis (1) , Blogs (225)

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Jessy May 4, 2009 11:57 AM

I am so very happy that they are getting this far with med.. as it can help all our pet's in the long run.

Ruth May 4, 2009 1:10 PM

I hope Cody does improve or all the animals in laboratories, being used to perfect stem cell techniques, will be suffering in vain.

jmuhj May 4, 2009 2:15 PM

Stem cell research is certainly going to help a lot of living beings. I hope it is beneficial to lots of cats. And of course, I oppose biomedical research as unethical, immoral, and atrociously bad science.

Amy May 4, 2009 2:33 PM

What an interesting topic! Will be looking for articles about it that for sure.

Vicki May 4, 2009 3:07 PM

I think this is a wonderful idea as many treatments available now are either not effective, or can't be used when taking other medicines such as cancer medicines.

Iniki May 4, 2009 4:30 PM

I think this is wonderful. I wonder if it would work on an arthretic goat?

Margie May 7, 2009 3:36 AM

Is there any progress on hip displasia? So many of our furries are being disabled by it. Can this treatment help in any way?

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garryj October 28, 2009 11:24 AM

Margie, unforunately Hip Displasia isn't one of the common congenital conditions that can be helped with this remarkable treatment. New advances are being made almost daily, however, so there is hope. I am following the advance of stem cell treatment at google knol. Keep an eye on developments. http://knol.google.com/k/garry-jenkins/canine-health-stem-cell-treatment-for/19tjln1ywaolr/188?pli=1#edit

Carolyn October 31, 2009 11:26 AM

Actually, while stem cells do not correct congenital conditions like hip dysplasia, we have seen many cases where the regenerative therapy stops the associated pain and the dog has regained mobility and quality of life. There have been many successful treatments of dogs suffering from hip dysplasia using stem cells. Carolyn Wrightson, Ph.D., Director of Laboratory Operations at Vet-Stem.