Animal Cells – An educational website all about animal cells

Stem cell therapy is an exciting new way for potentially battle diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimers, Parkinsons and so on. For humans, the technology is still mostly in experimental phases. For animals, though, the future is here already.

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Several veterinarians in Hawaii have approached stem cell therapy and have managed to ease the aches and pains of aging dogs and cats over the past year. The stem cell treatment they use is a relatively simple process. It involves extracting adult stem cells from the animals own fat, then reinjecting them into injured joints to relieve pain from problems such as osteoarthritis, hip dysplasia, and degenerative bone disease.

Veterinarian Cristina Miliaresis wanted to test the treatment before offering it at Surf Paws Animal Hospital. To see if it works, she tested it out on her own dog, a 9-year-old American bulldog/pitbull with ruptured ligaments in both its knees.

The results were great, said the doctor. They were so great that she recently gave her dog a second treatment that has left the pet happy and hyper. Its an amazing concept in general, and its not something weve had the ability to do until now, said Miliaresis.

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Carole Spangler Vaughn, owner of MediVet Hawaii a company that specializes in regenerative medicine for animals also said that the treatment is simple and safe. Its low risk. Weve never seen a negative reaction from the actual stem cell therapy, says the doctor. Conservatively speaking, 95% of the time they get better and theres improvement less pain and more mobility, added Vaughn.

Embryonic stem cell research for humans has been and still is very controversial. However, the stem cell treatment for animals uses adult stem cells collected from a few tablespoons of the animals own fat, which significantly reduces the risk of rejection. Unlike embryonic cells, adult stem cells have not been found to cause cancer, said doctor Vaughn. You get lots of stem cells in fat. Its kind of cool, added Vaughn. Nobody cares if you take some fat out of somebody, said Miliaresis.

The procedure costs up to $3,000 and takes just a few hours. The results have all been positive, at times quite dramatic, said the doctor. Theres no way of knowing whether the treatment will prolong a pets life, but the doctor says she had at least five patients who were going to euthanize their pets because they thought they were too uncomfortable. Those owners saw the quality of life of their pets improve so much that they reversed their decisions.

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Other pet owners have seen enough improvement to take their pets off long-term medications that just mask symptoms, says Miliaresis. Their whole aura improves. They just seen happier. Thats the best thing for me to see these patients feeling better. Its really rewarding, Miliaresis says.

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Animal Cells - An educational website all about animal cells