Ted Robinsob and Stylish - treated with stem cells for arthritis

Arthritis is a painful, debilitating joint disease that can develop in any animal. It can be the result of a traumatic injury to the joint or can develop so slowly that many pet and horse owners may not even recognize the progression of the disease.  While this blog is focused mainly on arthritis in dogs, I thought that I would spend a little time discussing arthritis in horses.  According to the AVMA 2007 pet ownership and demographic study, there are about 7.3 million horses in the US.  It is estimated that 60% of the lameness issues in horses are due to arthritis, which extrapolated out is about 4 million horses!
Read the rest of this entry »

Police dogs, man’s best crime partners, are great assets to any police force. Equipped with great hearing and eyesight, ability to reach speeds of over 30 miles per hour and their stealth demeanor that can track criminals through dark and rough terrain – canine cops are a very valuable part of a police team.  They’re used to catch bad guys, locate drugs and find bombs as well as to search for and rescue victims such as those in 9/11 and Haiti.  These dogs are trained at a young age to become super athletes and super sleuths.

But chasing criminals, climbing in and out of cargo holds and jumping in and out of cars can cause wear and tear resulting in joint pain, arthritis and muscle tears.  At a cost of $10,000 to $20,000, these important dogs are usually quite an investment for a police force.  Keeping them healthy and agile is crucial to the police force.

One of the fastest growing advocates for stem cell therapy is the hard working police dog.  Over the past 2 years stem cells have been used to help those courageous dogs work harder, heal better and keep them on the force.  I will be sharing with you some great success stories that demonstrate how using stem cell therapy to treat joint pain, muscle tears and tendon and ligament conditions can help pet dogs as well as these amazing police dogs.

Dr. Ben Ealing has been performing stem cell therapy treatment for dogs since early November 2008. In the eight months he’s been performing this therapy, he’s seen very positive results.

One of our earliest cases is a dog named Sunshine. Read the rest of this entry »

Garry Jenkins, based in London, has written a great post about stem cells for dog arthritis on his blog Canine Health.

He covers what Stem Cell Therapy is, how it works, and how stem cells can improve your dog’s life.

“Dogs suffer from a range of orthopaedic problems – from arthritis, osteoarthritis and hereditary dysplasia of the hip and elbow joints, to torn tendons and ligaments and bone fractures. Veterinarians have begun achieving startling results with a revolutionary new treatment, involving the injection of stem cells extracted from the patient’s own fatty tissue.” Read more…

A common question is “when will this be available for humans?” New therapies do take longer to be allowed in people, but the good news is that Vet-Stem has collected very valuable data from the thousands of dogs and horses that we have helped veterinarians treat for OA and tendon and ligament injuries. The dog is actually a very good model for human osteoarthritis. Dogs are also prone to similar soft tissue injuries such as cruciate ligament ruptures (ACL, knee injury) and tears, conditions that veterinarians have seen great improvement in healing by using stem cells. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of our clients have inquired about pet insurance. Most pet insurance will help cover costs if the condition is arthritis or tendon injuries and not pre-existing or related to a congenital disorder. I have found this independent website helpful at trying to understand all the different pet insurance companies out there and what they have to offer.

Vet-Stem offers another kind of insurance. We can store cells that are not used for the first treatment. These stored cells can be used if your dog needs a ‘tune-up’ or if he has a new injury or disease.

Do you have insurance for your horse or pet?