Stem Cells for Dogs? Oh yeah, baby. – Dawg Business: It's …

Stem cells are one of the current hot topics. There is a lot of excitement around it, as well as controversy. My friend recently had a baby and she is having stem cells from her baby's cord banked. How cool is that?

But did you know that stem cell regenerative therapy is available for dogs? Vet-Stem, California based regenerative veterinary medicine company, has been making this possible for a few years now. First used to treat horses, it has been available to treat dogs since 2005.

The beauty of the Vet-Stem technology is that the patient's very own stem cells are used, extracted from their own fat tissue. No controversy, no implant rejection.

How does this work? It does involve a minor surgery. A Vet-Stem certified vet will extract a small amount of fat tissue from your dog's shoulder area, which is then shipped to Vet-Stem, where they extract the stem cells from it. They send ready-to-use syringe(s) back to the vet who then injects the cells into the areas needing treatment. Extra stem cells can be banked for future use, and now Vet-Stem can even grow additional doses from the banked cells.

So what is the big deal about stem cells?

The best way to understand that is by understanding what stem cells are and what they do.

Think of stem cells as 'blank' cells. These blank cells can multiply, and they can become any kind of cell as needed, such as blood cells, muscle cells and so on. That is their function. As the name stem cells might suggest, all cells in the body stem from these 'blanks'.

Here is a beautiful little presentation illustrating the process. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/stemcells/scintro/

In an adult body their job is cell renewal and maintenance. Stem cell therapy is based on the same mechanism the body uses to repair itself. It is providing the extra help where body's own capacity is not enough. Did you know that even a simple paper cut could not heal without stem cells? Stem cell therapy simply supplies reinforcements where body's natural resources are not enough.

This therapy can bring amazing results in treating number of conditions.

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Stem Cells for Dogs? Oh yeah, baby. - Dawg Business: It's ...