July 21^st is World Collie Day so we thought it fitting to share Casey’s VetStem success story. Casey is a Rough Collie who began experiencing symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease when he was around 4 months old. At first, he was not eating regularly. This was followed by frequent bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. After trying multiple diets and medications with no success, numerous diagnostics including X-rays, bloodwork, ultrasound, and biopsies of his GI tract led to a diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

IBD is a gastrointestinal disease that can affect both dogs and cats. It is characterized by inflammation of the intestines and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, reduced appetite, and weight loss. IBD can be a frustrating disease because a definitive diagnosis can be time-consuming and costly, traditional treatments are life-long and can be complex, and the animal often continues to experience symptoms of the disease despite treatment.

Though Casey was on a special diet and multiple medications, his symptoms were minimally controlled. This went on for about three years until his bloodwork revealed elevated liver enzymes, which was a result of his steroid medication. It was at this time that his veterinarian recommended treatment with VetStem Cell Therapy.

Stem cells have demonstrated the ability to down regulate inflammation, modulate the immune system, and repair damaged tissue. Multiple animals have been treated with stem cell therapy for IBD and experienced a relief in symptoms and an improved quality of life. After some research, Casey’s owners agreed to move forward with VetStem Cell Therapy.

To begin the process, Casey had fat collected from his abdomen in a minimally invasive anesthetic procedure. The fat was aseptically packaged and shipped to the VetStem processing laboratory. Lab technicians processed the fat to isolate and concentrate the stem and regenerative cells contained therein. Therapeutic doses were then prepared for treatment.

Over the course of 10 months, Casey received 5 separate intravenous doses of his own stem cells. According to his owner, his symptoms improved greatly. He began interacting more and playing with his family and other dogs. He started rolling over for belly rubs, which he had not done in the first 3 years of his life. His appetite improved and he was able to get off all but one of his medications, including being completely off steroids. He has occasional IBD flare ups but nothing to the degree he experienced previously.

Approximately 15 months after his 5^th stem cell treatment, Casey received a 6^th intravenous dose (along with intra-articular doses to treat a few arthritic joints) and hasn’t required additional treatments for over year now. He does, however, have numerous doses left in his stem cell bank, should he ever require future treatments.

If your pet has Inflammatory Bowel Disease, speak to your veterinarian or contact us to find a VetStem provider near you.

Casey

Nickie has always been an animal lover so when she found her home without a dog, she went in search of a new companion to join her family. She soon found Casey, an 8-week-old Rough Collie, and this adorable ball of fluff joined their family.

Unfortunately, the joy of the puppy days was short lived. At just four months old, Casey began to not eat regularly. Nickie diligently tried every recommendation her veterinarian made and not only did Casey’s appetite not improve, but he began to have frequent bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. She tried a variety of commercial, homemade, and prescription diets with no relief. In conjunction with the diets, Casey’s veterinarian prescribed numerous medications, including a steroid called prednisone.

After a variety of diagnostics including X-rays, bloodwork, ultrasound, and biopsies of his GI tract, Casey was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). As indicated by the name, the intestines of a pet with IBD are chronically inflamed, resulting in symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, inappetence, and weight loss. Currently, the primary treatments are medical management via diet and steroids +/- additional supportive medications.

Casey continued his regimen of 7 different medications and a prescription diet with minimal control of his symptoms for nearly 3 years until routine bloodwork revealed that his liver enzymes were elevated. He had another ultrasound with biopsies of his liver that revealed the steroids were damaging his liver. He still struggled with frequent watery diarrhea, vomiting, and weight loss as well as hair loss and red, inflamed skin. Nickie was distraught and questioned if the time had come to let Casey go.

At this time, Casey’s veterinarian suggested trying VetStem Cell Therapy. VetStem, a veterinary regenerative medicine company located in California, is currently researching the use of stem cells for the treatment of IBD. Stem cells have demonstrated the ability to down-regulate inflammation, modulate the immune system, and repair damaged tissue. Additionally, multiple clinical studies have demonstrated that stem cells can improve the symptoms of IBD.

Nickie and her husband were skeptical at first, wondering if this was snake oil or just another dead end in Casey’s treatment. After discussion and research, they decided to pursue stem cell treatment as a last resort. Casey had fat collected from his abdomen in a minimally invasive anesthetic procedure. The fat was aseptically packaged and shipped to the VetStem processing laboratory. Lab technicians processed the fat to isolate and concentrate the stem and regenerative cells contained therein. Therapeutic doses were then prepared for treatment.

Over the course of 10 months, Casey received 5 separate intravenous doses of his own stem cells. According to his owner, his symptoms have improved greatly and Nickie feels like she is finally getting to meet the real Casey. He now interacts with his family and even plays with them. He has made a best friend at the park that he loves to play with and takes long naps on the porch in the sun. He rolls over for belly rubs, which he had not done in the first 3 years of his life. 

Today, Casey eats well and is off all but one of his medications, including being completely off steroids. He has occasional IBD flare ups but nothing to the degree he experienced previously. He has grown back a full, thick Collie coat and loves to “talk” to Nickie and announce all the goings-on in his neighborhood. Nickie says that she has the wonderful problem that Casey is now slightly overweight, something she never thought she would see! Nickie says that without the excellent care of her veterinary team and VetStem Cell Therapy, Casey would not be here today.

Veterinary stem cell therapy, though not new, has gained significant traction in the last 10 years. Through ongoing research and treatment data, we continuously learn more about the many functions of stem cells and what diseases can be treated. VetStem has a variety of research programs, including the IBD program, to collect data and better understand how we can help pets. There is still much left to learn, and it is important to note that each animal responds differently to treatment.

If you think your pet may benefit from VetStem Cell Therapy, speak to your veterinarian or contact us to receive a list of VetStem providers near you.

It happens occasionally that a pet is treated with VetStem Cell Therapy for one condition, such as osteoarthritis, but the owners notice that a separate condition improves as a result of the therapy. That was the case with Finn, a German Shepherd who is owned by Dr. Lesley Gonzales of Gruda Veterinary Hospital.

Finn was adopted as an adult after he was found in the desert of Yuma, AZ. Thus, nothing was known about his previous medical history. From the get-go, he experienced gastrointestinal issues including chronic diarrhea, intermittent vomiting, and difficulty gaining and maintaining weight. After multiple tests ruled out infectious diseases, his veterinarian mom put him on a strict limited-ingredient diet, which helped to somewhat improve his symptoms but not entirely.

Then, in 2020, Finn partially tore his cruciate ligament. Due to his gastrointestinal issues, Finn was extremely limited on what medication he could take to help control his inflammation and pain. Thus, Dr. Gonzales decided to treat his knee with VetStem Cell Therapy. When she collected a sample of his abdominal fat for stem cell processing, she also took biopsies of his intestines, which allowed her to officially diagnose him with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

For his initial stem cell treatment, Finn received one dose of his own stem cells into his injured knee. He also received an intravenous dose. Stem cells have demonstrated the ability to home, or migrate, to areas of inflammation. Thus, we can assume that, when given intravenously, the stem cells would migrate to his knee and/or other areas that may have been inflamed. Within two weeks, Finn was noticeably more comfortable. His pain and lameness were much improved.

Approximately six weeks after his initial treatment, Dr. Gonzales noticed that Finn’s intestinal symptoms had also improved. According to Dr. Gonzales, his diarrhea resolved completely, and he was finally able to reach his ideal body weight. She also noticed improvements in his blood parameters.

Dr. Gonzales treated Finn with another dose of IV stem cells, this time specifically for IBD, approximately six months after his first treatment. She gave him a third IV dose approximately five months after his second. Finn has since experienced sustained control of his symptoms, he has maintained an ideal body weight, and he is now able to tolerate a greater variety of food ingredients without them upsetting his stomach.

IBD can be a frustrating disease. A definitive diagnosis can be time-consuming and costly, traditional treatments are life-long and can be complex, and the animal often continues to experience symptoms of the disease. Several dogs and cats have received VetStem Cell Therapy for IBD and have experienced an improvement in symptoms. Stem cells have shown to down-regulate inflammation, modulate the immune system, and repair damaged tissue, all of which can contribute to healing inflamed and diseased intestines. If your pet has IBD, speak to your veterinarian about the possibility of treatment with VetStem Cell Therapy. Or contact us to receive a list of VetStem providers near you.

A few weeks ago, our sales and marketing team was at the American Association of Feline Practitioners conference in San Francisco, CA.  So, we thought it an appropriate time to discuss stem cell therapy for cats.  This blog will give you an overview of some of the conditions that veterinarians have treated with VetStem Cell Therapy.

Veterinarians have used VetStem Cell Therapy to treat a variety of conditions in their feline patients, one of which is osteoarthritis.  Though we primarily think of dogs when it comes to osteoarthritis, cats are not immune to the disease.  Their symptoms however may be more subdued or even unnoticeable to their owners- cats tend to be masters at hiding their illnesses.  Some signs to look out for include a decreased activity level, an inability to jump to high places, and missing the litterbox.  In addition to osteoarthritis, veterinarians have used VetStem Cell Therapy to treat cruciate ligament injuries and fractures in cats.

Veterinarians also use VetStem Cell Therapy for the treatment of internal medicine and immune-mediated diseases in cats through our Clinical Research Programs.  A large population of VetStem’s feline patients have been treated for Chronic Kidney Disease.  Based upon data from a small number of feline patients treated with VetStem Cell Therapy, blood kidney values were slightly to moderately improved after treatment.  The goal of our current clinical research program for feline Chronic Kidney Disease is to gather additional data and to better understand the effects of stem cell therapy on these cats.

Two additional clinical research programs are for the treatment of feline Gingivostomatitis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  Gingivostomatitis is a painful disease that affects the mouth of cats and can lead to full mouth teeth extractions.  Two small studies conducted at the University of California Davis in cats with full mouth teeth extractions showed favorable results after receiving stem cell therapy for this condition. VetStem believes that stem cells may help without cats having to undergo full mouth teeth extractions.  Inflammatory Bowel Disease is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder which can cause diarrhea, vomiting, inappetence, and weight loss.  In a recently published paper, 5 out of 7 IBD cats that were treated with stem cells were significantly improved or had complete resolution of symptoms whereas the 4 control cats had no improvement.  Since this disease can also affect dogs, VetStem is evaluating the use of stem cells in both species with this condition.

Though this is not an all-inclusive list, the above conditions are those that are most commonly treated in cats with VetStem Cell Therapy. As always, if you think your cat may benefit from stem cells, speak to your veterinarian or contact us for a list of VetStem providers in your area.

This week, we would like to share a guest blog from one of our veterinary clients, Dr. Joel Stone.  Dr. Stone is a feline practitioner at All Cat Clinic in Englewood, CO.  He received his DVM from Colorado State University in 1990 followed by his PhD from the University of California, Davis in 1995.  Dr. Stone has been credentialed to perform VetStem Cell Therapy since 2010.  Below he describes his experience with one of his stem cell patients, a cat named Adobe.  Adobe was treated under one of VetStem’s clinical research programs for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

When I was in High School, I had an awesome teacher named Craig Cogswell.  One of the discussions his students would have every week, was to tell the class if anything “Good and New” had happened in the life of his students in the prior week.  I am not sure why this has stuck with me for all these years (I am not sure I can tell you about anything else I learned in the class), but I have always tried to appreciate anything in my life that is “good and new.” As a veterinarian, you learn new things almost every day.  I want to tell you about a case that I would describe as good and new.

Adobe is an 8-year-old, female neutered domestic medium hair cat that I had initially seen on June 14^th, 2016 (when she was 5 years old).  Adobe and her owners, Pam and Paul, had come to the All Cat Clinic to get a second opinion on why Adobe would vomit nearly every day.  She had been on prednisolone once a day for the previous 2 years to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but Adobe still was vomiting nearly every day.   To be honest with you, this is not necessarily an unusual case.  Cats can vomit for many different reasons. After ruling out bacterial, viral and parasitic reasons for vomiting, I started by trying to determine if she had a food allergy that was making her vomit.  I asked her owners to feed a sample of a diet called Z/D, gave an anti-inflammatory injection that lasts about 7 days and asked the owners to get back with me in about a week.  Her owners said that she did great for about 2 weeks without vomiting but would not eat the Z/D diet.  Adobe’s owners are retired and travel frequently so they asked if I could give a similar medication that lasted longer.  After performing blood work and a urine analysis to rule out reasons for vomiting that are not related to IBD, I agreed to give an injection of a drug called Depo-Medrol (methylprednisolone).  I also suggested another hypo-allergenic diet called the HP diet.  After a few weeks, the owners were happy to report that Adobe liked the HP diet and felt it reduced vomiting and along with the Depo-Medrol injection eliminated vomiting for about 1 month.

From a veterinarian perspective, this is good and bad.  It is good that Adobe finally had some relief from persistent vomiting, but it is bad that this is a treatment that can cause harm, particularly when given repeatedly.  It is known to cause diabetes and a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, that I wanted to avoid.  Therefore, I started recommending alternative drugs that reduced this risk, but still relieved the vomiting.  The problem I faced was that Adobe does not like to take oral medications.  After attempting several alternative medications, we were forced to fall back to giving the injectable drug Depo-Medrol, which we did monthly for about 2 years.  Adobe started showing clinical signs of diabetes after receiving steroidal medication for 4 years – 2 years on prednisolone daily and 2 years on Depo-Medrol monthly.  Her blood glucose was moderately elevated, and she started having glucose in her urine.  Clearly, we needed to do something different.

I had read about a newer treatment involving the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to treat inflammatory bowel disease that had shown promise.  A published paper had shown that 5/7 cats with IBD were significantly improved or had complete resolution of clinical signs whereas the controls had no improvement (1).  A canine IBD study reported 9/11 dogs had clinical remission (2).  These data support the idea that adult stem cells could provide the immunoregulation necessary to control IBD in cats and dogs.

I discussed this option with Pam and Paul who agreed to let me surgically collect 94.5 grams of adipose tissue from the abdomen and ship the fat to San Diego to process this fat tissue at a company called VetStem.  They isolated 25.4 million mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from the fat I had sent them, then sent these cells a day later to the All Cat Clinic in Colorado to slowly inject the cells intravenously into Adobe.  The procedure corresponded with the time that Adobe would have received the Depo-Medrol, which we did not give.

The owners reported that the week following the MSC injection, Adobe’s attitude was much improved.  Being the week beyond the time that Adobe usually received the Depo-Medrol, the improvement seen in Adobe’s behavior is significant.  Adobe was not acting “sickly”, wasn’t cowering, wanted to be petted by the owners and had a good appetite. Adobe had 3 episodes of vomiting the 1^st week following the MSC injection, but these episodes included small amounts of whole food instead of large digested kibble.  Starting the second week post-MSC injection, Adobe started showing signs of lethargy, was quiet, and eating less food.  On Nov. 14th, a repeat blood panel and urine analysis was performed which was normal, except for mild renal insufficiency.  The hyperglycemia and glucosuria was resolved.  Subcutaneous fluids, along with famotidine, mirtazapine and Cerenia were given.  Adobe was also treated for mild/moderate ear infection and mild conjunctivitis.  Adobe responded well to the appetite stimulants, anti-nausea, ear, eye and fluid therapy treatments and a second MSC injection was scheduled.

On Nov. 28^th, a second MSC injection was given.  Following this injection, Adobe improved significantly.  Owner stated that Adobe was acting like a younger version of herself, no vomiting was seen and had a good appetite.  Two weeks following the 2^nd injection of MSC and 3 months since the last Depo-Medrol injection, Adobe was reported to be doing extremely well.  The only major concern was that Adobe’s hair appeared to be thinning.  The literature reveals the opposite effect with hair growth usually occurring after MSC injections.  It is possible that after such a long period of steroid treatment that hair loss might be a response to withdrawal and subsequent cellular “normalizing” prior to hair regrowth.

Currently Adobe is doing very well.  She has not been vomiting for about 4 months.  We haven’t needed to treat the chronic vomiting with methylprednisolone (Depo-Medrol) since starting the MSC therapy.  Adobe had alopecia/hair thinning for about 2 months after the MSC therapy, but most recently, has regained her normal hair coat.

From my perspective, this treatment can be categorized as “new and good.”  It is a little early to know just how good this new treatment modality will be in clinical practice, but as new cases present themselves and we gather more information, my hope is that we will be able to say that MSC treatment is “new and very good!”

1)  Webb, TL and Webb, CB.  Stem cell therapy in cats with chronic enteropathy:  a proof-of-concept study.  J Fel Med and Surg (2015) 17 (10):901-908.

2)  Perez-Merino E.M., Uson-Casaus J.M., Zaragoza-Bayle C., Duque-Carrasco J., Marinas-Pardo L., Hermida-Prieto M., et al.  Safety and efficacy of allogeneic adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells for treatment of dogs with inflammatory bowel disease:  Clinical and laboratory outcomes.  Vet J (2015) 206(3), 385-390.