meglet Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 has anyone had experience with stem cell therapy? be interested to hear your comments and experience. Am seriously considering it for my 11.5yo BC with HD (1 hip) and quite bad arthritis in other hock and front feet. She is doing very well on supplements incl glucosamine/chond/MSM and most importantly acupuncture which has made a significant difference. thanks karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 has anyone had experience with stem cell therapy? be interested to hear your comments and experience. Am seriously considering it for my 11.5yo BC with HD (1 hip) and quite bad arthritis in other hock and front feet. She is doing very well on supplements incl glucosamine/chond/MSM and most importantly acupuncture which has made a significant difference.thanks karen I had it done on my 12 year old australian shepherd. Unfortunately she was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition soon after receiving the treatment, so no improvement was seen. I have heard mixed reports about this treatment with some people reporting no improvement and some reporting amazing results. The cost is $6000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianed Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 (edited) No experiencing in stem cell therapy myself. But yesterday I had to take my 13yo for more cartrophen injections and my vet mentioned it to me as another option. She said in the past few weeks they have used stem cell therapy on 3 dogs with arthritis, 2 dogs have had a remarkable improvement in movement. One had a crippled leg and he is running around like a normal dog. She said it is remarkable to see. The 3rd dog has yet to return to the clinic. I just wish I had asked more about the treatment and how it was done. PS I didnt ask the cost but one dog was only 2 yo. I think in that case it would be worth it if it worked. Edited December 10, 2010 by dianed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 I know it costs a lot! And most dog insurance won't cover it as it's experimental/unproven therapy. There's only one place locally that can do it here. They tell me that there's no published studies showing that it actually works yet, although anecdotally there are some good results & many vets thinks it looks really promising. Can't wait to see some real studies done on it. Meglet, have you tried the injectable Pentosan/Cartrophen? Works really well for some dogs, not so well for others, but very cheap to try compared to stem cell therapy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 A friends Newfy had it twice, no change, something like $10,000 later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 my dog went from cripple to getting about reasonably fine - I find massage, chiropractic, heat, acupuncture and supplements to be the best. This is a dog with virtually no hip sockets either ... he still manages to leap about the couches. oh and cut down the dogs weight to the bare minimum. I mean as low as you can without losing muscle. Keep a coat on in winter and let the dog inside during the colder nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaz Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 How common is it for vets to do this procedure? I have been dreading the day I am going to have to assess the benefits of a hip replacement for one of my dogs with HD. It is really exciting to hear there are other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 According to Specialists, apparently there is no scientific evidence that this works. We have a couple of guys come visit us all the time trying to get us to buy the in house kit, but until we see some hard core evidence, we won't be doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianed Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 How common is it for vets to do this procedure? I have been dreading the day I am going to have to assess the benefits of a hip replacement for one of my dogs with HD.It is really exciting to hear there are other options. Seeing you are in Sydney give Ku-Ring-Gai Vet Hospital a call and see how the animals they have treated are going. I think its exciting to hear as well, if you had a young animal $5- $6000 would be cheap over its life time if it got its mobility back. Hell, I spent $1000 this year getting my 15yo cat radiactive treatment for her thyroid problem. My old gsd is 13 so we will stick to cartrophen injections and supplements although I cant see the injections having any visible effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 The reason why the results are variable is that the "stem cells" aren't fully purified and are injected in a matrix of other types of cells and substances. Also the number of stem cells is not quantified within this matrix, so you can never know how many cells are being injected let alone the uptake rate of the stem cells. In theory it sounds like a great idea but in practice it is extremely diffiuclt to isolate canine induced (ie extraced from fat or other tissues) pluripotent stem cells. If I had a young dog with a joint condition I probably would do the treatment as it is the best available at this time (but still far from perfect). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 The reason why the results are variable is that the "stem cells" aren't fully purified and are injected in a matrix of other types of cells and substances. Also the number of stem cells is not quantified within this matrix, so you can never know how many cells are being injected let alone the uptake rate of the stem cells. In theory it sounds like a great idea but in practice it is extremely diffiuclt to isolate canine induced (ie extraced from fat or other tissues) pluripotent stem cells. If I had a young dog with a joint condition I probably would do the treatment as it is the best available at this time (but still far from perfect). for that price they better start knowing. I dont consider it the best at this time if they can make no guarentee on how many cells and uptake rate! Dear god thats the basis of the whole procedure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 True, but if there is even a small chance that there will be improvement, imo it is worth taking. I personally think its better than doing nothing. If I had a dog that could be managed with diet, physio/chiro, accupuncture etc I wouldn't go ahead with it though. It would only be if all these things had been tried and the dog still had a poor quality of life (like my old girl). In horses they have used fluorescent labelled cells to measure uptake rate of the stem cells. It is a shame no such testing happens in dogs. At a minimum i am surprised that they do not CT scan them a few months down the track to see if there are actual physical improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rottifan Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 I myself havent tried this but I made enquiries about it too for my Rotti (now 10) who has hip and severe elbow displaysia and when no other supplements at the time were working and he was on metacam and 2 other pain killers. My vet said that it was relatively new and he was not sure of the results or if it was worth trying in relation to cost (which meant nothing to me when its my boys life!). I then asked him if it could do any harm and he said that there was a possibility with something new that it could....that put me off enough not to experiment. I really hope more information becomes available because it seems very much an unknown. I was lucky since that time and my boy now walks like a puppy after finding a brilliant animal chiropractor and I havent looked back, no medication and walking perfectly, but I'm still interested in the success of it. Hopefully in time we'll hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted December 14, 2010 Share Posted December 14, 2010 True, but if there is even a small chance that there will be improvement, imo it is worth taking. I personally think its better than doing nothing. not at that price. if it's so hit and miss they should be offering it at a low rate in order to perfect the procedure. Few people have that type of money just lying between the couch cushions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inevitablue Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hi, I have seen a few dogs who have had the stem cell therapy. Some really amazing results. I know people who have paid $2400 for the service from vets in Sydney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 There's a blogger who's dog had it done in Canada and it didn't go too well. Dog has since had an operation (can't recall the details) and is now doing much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raybees Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Hi, I have seen a few dogs who have had the stem cell therapy. Some really amazing results. I know people who have paid $2400 for the service from vets in Sydney It was all over the news (ch9) tonight, australian veterinary stem cells now have a stem cell treatment therapy. supposedly good reports. I don't know how much it is though, 2000+ would be too expensive for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weigirl Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I am interested in understanding more about this. For those in SA note that Noahs Crossing Vet is holding a Stem Cell Seminar at Dogs SA on Thursday 28th July at 7pm. Their seminars have been fantastic for information purposes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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