Stem cells work wonders for pets
Share this storyBuzz up!BRUCE JAPSEN; Chicago Tribune
Published: 02/22/09 12:05 am
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CHICAGO – Meet Zoey Walsh, a teenage stem-cell recipient who is
pushing the frontier of medical science.
He's a dog.
Unable to alleviate Zoey's pain with drugs and unwilling to risk
another hip surgery on a dog so old, his owners turned to a treatment
that involved injecting stem cells, which had been extracted from
Zoey's fat, back into the animal. The stem cells stimulate repairs.
The therapy is gaining momentum as a treatment option for pets. But
it also holds promise for humans, researchers and companies involved
say.
"It did wonders," Zoey's owner, Raymond Walsh of Palos Heights, Ill.,
said of his 14-year-old American Eskimo's first injection six months
ago. "He is having another round. But had we not given the first shot
back in August, we might have had to put him under."
Although still early in its use with more than 1,500 dogs and cats
since marketing began last year, the technology developed by
California-based Vet-Stem Inc. is being embraced by pet owners.
Take Daisy Benik, a 7-year-old golden retriever who had stem cells
injected into both hind legs last summer after being unable to walk
on her left hind leg.
"She is back to what she was. Before she had been holding her foot
up, favoring it," said Daisy's owner, Mary Benik of Crest Hill, Ill.
Such treatments aren't cheap. An injection and anesthesia to sedate a
dog before and after stem-cell extraction and injection can cost
between $2,500 and $3,500. A follow-up treatment usually costs less
than half that because stem cells from the original extraction often
are left over.
The cost is worth it to Daisy's and Zoey's owners.
Zoey had been urinating in the house because he couldn't go outside.
Zoey soon will get a second injection in both hind legs because he
has trouble climbing stairs.
Here's how Vet-Stem's product works: A small amount of the animal's
fat, the equivalent of 2 or 3 tablespoons, is surgically removed and
shipped overnight to Vet-Stem's labs in Southern California, where
the stem cells are isolated. The cells are returned to the
veterinarian two days later in the form of concentrated regenerative
stem cells.
The stem cells are injected back into the animal, where they home in
on the injury and stimulate "resident" cells to become more active in
making repairs.
Stem cells are derived from building-block cells and are able to
develop into many different types of specialized cells, serving as a
sort of repair system for the body.
http://www.thenewst
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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