Life for a dog with osteoarthritis can be tough. Pain and inflammation cause a decrease in mobility and quality of life. And those things become much worse when you suddenly lose a limb due to cancer. This is Reggie’s story.

Reggie, a mixed breed dog, lived an active and playful lifestyle. He was accustomed to 20+ mile hikes in the beautiful Colorado mountains and enthusiastically played fetch for hours in his back yard. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in his hips and his quality of life quickly began to deteriorate. His 20-mile hikes turned into 5 miles on flat terrain followed by crippling hip pain for the rest of the week. His legs began to slip out from under him while playing fetch and he would be in intense pain afterwards. Because of this, his ball had to be retired.

To make matters worse, Reggie was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his front left leg. He was 11 years old at the time, so his owners initially elected to remove the tumor as opposed to amputating his leg. Despite several surgeries to remove the tumor, it kept recurring. To minimize chances of metastasis, Reggie’s owners eventually opted to amputate his leg at the recommendation of his veterinarian.

At the same time, his veterinarian recommended treatment with VetStem Cell Therapy for his remaining arthritic limbs. During his amputation surgery, his veterinarian, Dr. Angie Zinkus of Germantown Parkway Animal Hospital, collected fat tissue for VetStem Cell Therapy. The fat was shipped to and processed at the VetStem processing laboratory, and six stem cell injections were shipped back to Dr. Zinkus. Approximately 48 hours after the initial fat collection procedure, Reggie received an injection of his own stem cells into both hips, both knees, as well as his remaining elbow and shoulder.

When a dog undergoes leg amputation, the remaining legs must bear the extra weight, which may lead to the development and/or worsening of osteoarthritis. By treating Reggie’s shoulder, elbow, and knees, in addition to his arthritic hips, Dr. Zinkus hoped to mitigate the excess wear and tear on his joints, and potentially delay the onset or reduce the severity of future osteoarthritis in those joints.

In addition to stem cell therapy, Reggie received platelet therapy in each of his treated joints. Platelet therapy and stem cell therapy work synergistically. Concentrated platelets accelerate internal healing processes by attracting stem cells, supporting an anti-inflammatory environment, and stimulating local tissue repair processes.

According to his mom, Reggie had a great response to the stem cell and platelet therapy. She stated, “Once Reggie recovered from the amputation and was solid on his 3 legs, his quality of life has been amazing! His ball has come out of retirement and he is back to chasing it down like a champ without pain! We’ve slowly been increasing his mileage on his daily walks and he hasn’t been in any pain. His hips had been so painful that he no longer wanted to snuggle in bed with us for fear that we would bump his hips, and now we almost can’t get him out of our bed. The stem cell and PRP injections have given us our boy back, and he is living his best senior tripawd life! We celebrated his 13th birthday in February and are grateful to have a few more years with him knowing he will be comfortable.”

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