Jul 22, 2008 4:16 pm US/Pacific
Cell Treatment Helping Injured Pets Heal Faster
(CBS)
Ten-year-old "Kodiak" has suffered from arthritis most of his life. But three months ago, he took a turn for the worse and couldn't get up. When his owners found out about pet stem cell therapy, they thought, "Why not?"
"It was phenomenal," said Terrance Francis, owner of Kodiak.
Researchers near San Diego are hoping the contents in a test tube can help other dogs, like Kodiak, and revolutionize some types of pet care.
"It reduces the pain, increases range of motion, and ability to function more normally," said Bob Harman, CEO of Vet-Stem.
It is a cocktail of stem cells that helps horses and small animals, mostly dogs, recover from debilitating conditions like hip dysplasia, fractures, and ligament tears. Veterinarians remove a small section of fat from a dog's belly. Vet-Stem, the company that created the therapy, then separates the stem cells from the fatty tissue. Vet-Stem receives more than two dozen samples a day. Veterinarians ship the tubes of fat overnight and get them back the next day.
What they get back is syringes filled with the dog's own stem cells, and they're injected into areas like joints, hips, and tendons. The cells help the body develop healthy cartilage in the area where the pet is suffering.
"It really is just your own natural cells. All we do is speed it up, put more of them on the battlefield, quickly," said Harman.
"Within a few days to a week, you could actually see -- it was so fascinating -- you could actually see the limbs tightening up," Francis said.
Some vets are still waiting for more data, but more than 1,000 have already signed up to be certified in the procedure. The Vet-Stem lab work runs about $2,500-$3,500. Kodiak's owners say it's worth it now that he's, once again, got that pep in his step.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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