Incredible new results for stem cell therapy were presented at the 3rd North American Veterinary Regenerative Medicine Meeting in Savannah, Georgia last week.  I was privelidged to attend and to present our data.  One presenter showed how stem cells can function to grow new tendons and ligaments.  Another (Dr. Ross Rich, Cave Creek, AZ) presented data on how over 85% of horses with ligament injury return to full performance level after being treated with adipose stem cells.  I was selected to present data on how stem cells can potentially help cats with failing kidneys.   Dr. John Peroni of the University of Georgia presided as the association president and introduced the keynote speaker from Georgia Tech who spoke on stem cells in bone healing.  One spectacular presentation showed how adipose stem cells can heal dogs with serious tendon and ligament injuries sustained in athletic events like agility and flyball.  Wow.   In the coming weeks, I will post on the data presented on dogs with arthritis and horses with arthritis and also laminitis to give you a flavor of the rapid progress in discovering new ways to use these cells!  They even showed how they can use advanced stem cell tracking to see how cells move around the body to do their miraculous healing jobs.  A dawn of the age of Regeneration has reached the veterinary world before human medicine.

Human stem cell therapy succeeds!  As part of providing insights into the world of dog arthritis, I think it is useful for you to see what all is happening in the human stem cell world.  Crohn’s disease is a horrible auto-immune disease where the lower GI tract is being attacked by the person’s own immune system.  A group in Spain has been working for a number of years treating patients with this disease with adipose stem cell therapy.  There is a great report of clinical trial you should all see (link: Crohn’s Trial Results) where more than half of these patients had a great response to being treated with adipose stem cells.  There are so many new trials around the world using stem cell from fat tissue that it is hard to keep up with the literature.  Proudly, I believe that the success with using adipose stem cells to treat dog arthritis, like Tucker’s Story,  has helped generate interest and to show the safety of this type of therapy.

Veterinarians are education junkies.  We have continuing education opportunities nearly every week of the month, all year long.  Vet-Stem has been a leader in providing education about regenerative medicine and we provide the ONLY nationally approved regenerative medicine training course for veterinarians.  Over 3,000 veterinarians have been trained in the US in the last four years!  If your veterinarian has not taken the course, recommend they go to the Vet-Stem webpage (www.vet-stem.com) and click on the button “Vet Login” in the upper right corner of the first page.  They can register and take the FREE 3 hour course online at their own pace to become credentialed.  More next time on what they can learn and how that benefits all the patients they might see, especially relating to arthritis in dogs, cats and horses.

Of course you already know about how you can store stem cells when your baby is born, right? Well cord stem cell collection in the dog is not really possible, but is there another opportunity, like maybe at the time of a spay or neuter or other elective surgery?  Yes, now there is such an opportunity.

I want to introduce Nancy Sapper.  She is a dog, cat and horse owner and is also the Marketing Manager at Vet-Stem.  Her story is amazing!

Hi All,

I am Nancy, the new Marketing Manager at Vet-Stem (I am the old Industry Relations Manager, but that’s a whole different blog!).  I grabbed the blogger keyboard from Dr. Bob today to tell you about my family’s personal experience with Vet-Stem’s newest service, StemInsure.

I cannot express how excited I personally am about this new service.  As many of you who regularly follow us on Facebook and Twitter know, Boomer, the mini Australian Shepherd, has been featured there frequently.  Boomer is my daughter’s dog.

I am always very proud of the Vet-Stem team, but as I write
this I am especially proud of the accomplishment announced last week, “Vet-Stem
Reaches the Milestone of 8,000 Animals Treated with Vet-Stem Cell Therapy”.

There are more than 8,000 of our beloved with less pain,
less stiffness, the ability to run, play, and return to what they love to
do.  There are more than 8,000 animal
friends who enjoy life again after using their own bodies’ natural healing
abilities.

It takes a team to do what we do:  Veterinarians, RVTs, Caring Customer Service
Reps, Scientists, Professional Laboratory Technicians, you get the idea.  Vet-Stem has compiled a phenomenal team to
bring our patients cutting edge Regenerative Veterinary Medicine, and I am so
proud of the Vet-Stem Team and can’t wait to continue to deliver the care our
companions deserve.

Tazer, who has osteoarthritis in both elbows, was in a lot of pain and discomfort. He would sleep all day, wouldn’t even eat and lost 10lbs. in a month. His pain hit so fast. I took Tazer to Dr. Jason Pozzuoli at Animal Medical Clinic of Bountiful where we decided to treat with stem cells. Tazer had a complete turn-around after stem cell therapy. Even the next day he seemed to feel significantly better. I was really surprised. My dog that just slept all day was up greeting me at the door again every time I got home with a wagging tail and smile on his face. He was finally happy again. Read the rest of this entry »

Results from surveys supplied to Vet-Stem by owners of dogs with arthritis.

What Results Have Dog Owners Reported?
• Greater than 80% of dogs with arthritis have improved Quality of Life
• Here are outcome survey results for Older Dogs
• Here are outcome survey results for Younger Dogs
• Here are outcome survey results for Dogs on Pain Medication

What is the Process?
Stem cells are processed from your animals own fat.

What Do Stem Cells Do?

We are always pleased to hear happy stories of our patients. Below is the story of Hannah and how stem cell therapy helped her to overcome arthritis pain so that she could continue to serve others.

“Our Border Collie, Hannah, has hip dysplasia and our orthopedic vet Dr. Pam Nichols, at Animal Care Center K-9 Rehab Center, told us both hips were equally bad ….some of the worst she’d ever seen (hip dysplasia is one of the leading causes of arthritis in dogs). She was afraid Hannah would have to have both hips replaced to ensure a long active life; but suggested that we try stem cells first. Hannah used to use her front paws to pull herself up at times after a lot of running or play and the arthritis was very invasive. She was not making any extra trips upstairs and was unable to even stand on her hind legs. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to the thousands of stem cell treatments provided by the Vet-Stem network of veterinarians since 2004, we have learned much about the safety and effectiveness of stem cell therapy for arthritis and also for tendon and ligament injuries using Vet-Stem services.  The care taken to process each sample with the highest standards for sterility and cell integrity has created a stellar track record for safety.

Some veterinary hospitals are now trying to do their own version of stem cell processing in their own clinics or a friend’s clinic.  This often means that the fat sample is processed in an open room by clinic staff that lack expertise in cell processing.  Read the rest of this entry »

The impact of a dogs love, devotion, and special training often makes a huge difference in the lives of people.  Our clinical studies have often described a significant improvement in pain reduction for dogs with arthritis, but sometimes the biggest improvement is in the quality of life as seen by the dog owner.  This is particularly true in the case of service dogs that have a special bond with the people that depend on them for help and support.  Read the rest of this entry »