Some promising research is being done to help treat dogs suffering from arthritis.
It’s centered around using stem cells and is being introduced by a San Diego company.
Tuba was rescued by his now wonderful owners and they believe him to be about 10 years old.
He suffers from some serious arthritis that makes it hard to walk at times.
He qualified for this clinical trial and his owners say they’re seeing a world of difference in his mobility.
“He’s 90 pounds but he’s very low to the ground, so he’s not in the habit of jumping up on anything. So that’s when we knew for sure that it was really, really making a big difference,” explained Christine Castiglioni, Tuba’s owner.
The goal is to treat dogs suffering from arthritis with less pain medications, and in turn give them a better quality of life.
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San Diego-based Animal Cell Therapies is behind the effort. The treatment being done at the East County Large & Small Animal Practice in El Cajon.
The qualified dogs come in, get a little sedation, a joint injection with the stem cells and then some follow up appointments to see if it’s all working.
So far, veterinarians are encouraged by what they’re seeing.
“If we can use the stem cells to get the anti-inflammatory effect, you get pain relief and then you can get a much more comfortable animal say, that may need a joint replacement, but you can’t feasibly do a joint replacement or there is no other option,” said Dr. Daniel Oman, owner of East County Large & Small Animal Practice.
It takes about a week to see if any improvement is being made.
The stem cells are collected from umbilical cords when puppies are delivered through c-sections, tissue that would normally be thrown out.
The next step is for San Diego-based Animal Cell Therapies to get this FDA approved.
Interested dog owners can go to this website for more details — www.dogstemcellstudy.com — and for an initial screening questionnaire to determine if their pet could potentially qualify.
