Stem Cell Therapy for Dogs
Stem cell therapy has an extraordinary success rate in canines. It’s one of the most powerful treatments now available to help your dog become mobile and pain free.
Benefits of stem cell therapy for dogs
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are powerful healing cells in the body that can transform into other types of cells. They are the building blocks of the body tissues.
Stem cells are actually cells that haven’t yet changed into a particular type of cell. These stem cells are known as undifferentiated cells for this reason. Once they become a particular type of cell (for example bone or cartilage), they are known as differentiated cells.
Stem cell therapy allows us to isolate stem cells from a dog’s own fat tissue, grow and activate them, and inject them directly into damaged areas.
For example in the case of a dog who has arthritis, stem cells can help repair damaged tissue inside the joint thus reducing pain and increasing mobility.
The stem cell therapy process for a dog with arthritis
Here’s an overview of the stem cell therapy process at Stem Cell Vet.
The treatment is a simple, minimally invasive 2-stage process.
The procedure is carried out as an outpatient – patients do not need an overnight stay with us. We usually require two visits in total, four to six weeks apart.
We start by taking some blood tests for anaesthetic safety.
Once we are happy with these, we administer a short general anaesthetic. Typically this lasts 30 to 60 minutes.
We then harvest 10 grams of fat from a site just inside the tummy. (Watch Dr Halperin explain this process here).
After the fat harvest for stem cell retrieval, your dog is woken from the anaesthetic. Any stitches we use are dissolvable and do not need to be removed.
Platelet Rich Plasma and joint fluid replacement injections are usually administered at the same time as the fat harvest.
The fat we have retrieved from your dog’s tummy is treated in our lab to isolate, concentrate, grow and activate the stem cells, in the millions. This typically takes 4-6 weeks.
Once we have grown healthy stem cells, we organise a second appointment for you. During this appointment, a short anaesthetic is given and we inject the stem cells directly into the affected joints.
Stem cells start to work in the body immediately and we expect to see an improvement within 12 weeks though we commonly see improvement in pain reduction and mobility much sooner.
We have a strict follow up policy so we keep in constant detailed communication with you about your dog’s progress, mobility and happiness.
At Stem Cell Vet we take a multi-modal approach with each individual dog in order to achieve the best possible outcome.
To optimise the joint for repair and mobility acceleration, we have developed our own triple therapy method which is unique to our clinic and directly contributes to our high success rates.
To enhance efficacy of treatment stem cell therapy includes platelet rich plasma therapy and joint fluid replacement injections.
These powerful combined therapies put the affected joint(s) in the best possible place for repair. The stem cells, when implanted, then have the ability to start the regenerative process immediately.
