Any Experience of Stem Cell treatment for hip dysplasia?

[davidtq]

Just wandering if anyone has any experience with stem cell treatment for dogs with Hip Dysplasia?

Our vets recommending it for Falco, although hydrotherapy in particular is building his muscle well, and increasing his activity levels (he now jumps for balls etc - which is quite a sight to see...) the vet thinks that stem cell treatment may allow him to come off the medications and be a lot more comfortable.

Its not a cheap procedure at £4000 (covered by insurance, providing they keep up their current stellar service).

Apparantly its a slightly different process to the one day turn around ones in as much as they take less fat and send it off to a lab for stem cells to be cultured so you get a "pure" stem cell solution for the treatment stage and the stem cells remain on file so they can produce more when needed for future treatments.

Just wandering if anybody here has any first hand experience of a dog being treated like this?

 

[marke]

Our vets recommending it for Falco, although hydrotherapy in particular is building his muscle well, and increasing his activity levels (he now jumps for balls etc - which is quite a sight to see...

can't help with the stem cell thing .I have an opinion on what you said . not to tell you what to do with your dog , but jumping for a ball is one of the last things a dog in his predicament should be doing ....... the reason they use hydrotherapy is to prevent impact on the joint ......... i'd walk him , maybe trot him if he moved good , maybe drag pull a chain with him , all less impact than jumping for a ball ......... did you ever post an x-ray of your dog ? good luck with your boy .

 

[marke]

Our vets recommending it for Falco, although hydrotherapy in particular is building his muscle well, and increasing his activity levels (he now jumps for balls etc - which is quite a sight to see...

can't help with the stem cell thing .I have an opinion on what you said . not to tell you what to do with your dog , but jumping for a ball is one of the last things a dog in his predicament should be doing ....... the reason they use hydrotherapy is to prevent impact on the joint ......... i'd walk him , maybe trot him if he moved good , maybe drag pull a chain with him , all less impact than jumping for a ball ......... did you ever post the x-ray of your dog ?

 

[davidtq]

Hi Marke, Thanks for that. Its not a "sport" we have been encouraging. I never got a copy of the x-rays, but they will be doing another round of x-rays before this stem cell treatment. I will be asking for a copy of these ones. Hopefully ones at 10 months old will better show the issues than ones at 5 months old. Seem to remember there was a lot of question as to whether the acetabulum would show properly at 5 months. The jumping is a new development not an encouraged behaviour. He literally never once jumped since we got him at 9.5 weeks old. He has always chased balls once they land on the ground at a leisurely pace (and never return them to hand), but in the last few weeks out of nowhere he has been wanting to run whilst out walking, and trying to grab things out of the air instead of waiting for them to hit the ground, which he never did before (He still wont return the ball, you have to tell him to drop every time for the next throw.) The hydro therapist said that the fact that he has started jumping shows muscle development in the right places. The way he jumps is from a sitting position and he gets his back feet maybe 3-4" off the ground but because his body is upright it makes him nearly eye level, its impressive up close and personal but the potential for collateral damage besides shock to his joints is enough to discourage us actively encouraging the behaviour. Its not something we encourage largelly because 141lb of dog landing on someones feet or flying into a piece of furniture (so far he has only done it around the living room) isnt something we want to enourage anyway. But it is impressive that he is now able to do so and feels "upto it" even if its not something to be encouraged, the progress is in the right direction. We are really hoping that the stem cell treatment works out well, would just be nice to hear some real world experiences.