Animal wellness
Animalwellness For a long, healthy life!
Stem cell
Living pawsitive!
therapy
Helping dogs & cats with arthritis & more
10
tips for tough times How to weather the recession
Tweet,tweet! Connect online with fellow animal lovers
Managing
diabetes
Team effort
Color therapy Is he hypersensitive? Flower essences can help
Work with your vet to stay informed
The truth about
animal behaviorists
February/march Display until Mar. 16, 2010
$5.95 USA/Canada
VOLUME 12 ISSUE 1
AnimalWellnessMagazine.com
animal wellness
Contents February/March 2010
18 features 18 The future is now
Regenerative stem cell therapy is relatively new on the scene, but it’s already being used to successfully treat arthritis and related conditions in dogs and cats. Continuing research shows it may be able to do even more.
22 Team effort
Whether you opt for holistic or integrative care, it’s important to be informed and proactive and to work closely with your vet so you can make the best possible health choices for your dog or cat.
28 Best behavior You’ve heard of animal behaviorists, but what exactly are they and what do they do? Most importantly, how can they help your animal companion?
36 Diabetes in dogs
This common disease strikes thousands of canines every year. An integrative approach can help them regain stability and well being.
39 Two-pronged approach
Integrative medicine offers a harmonious combination of conventional and alternative therapies. It can be especially helpful when dealing with these five common health conditions in animals.
45 Longevity here and now
You want your dog to live as long as possible. Here are two ways – one holistic and one conventional – that can help lengthen his life.
animal wellness
36 50 Quality counts
How a chance encounter led to a successful raw food company for dogs and cats.
52 Colorful vibes
We may take color for granted, but it can offer a variety of subtle healing benefits. Learn how to use it to help improve your companion’s well being.
56 10 tips for tough times
These days, a lot of us are pinching pennies, yet we still want to pamper our animal friends. Here’s how to do it on a budget.
60 Fear or hypersensitivity? There’s a difference between the two. Flower essences can help with both, but for the best results you need to choose the right remedies.
64 Tweet if you love animals!
From email groups to blogs, there are lots of ways to connect online with fellow dog and cat lovers.
71 Policy of caring
Buying health insurance for your companion animal is a personal decision that requires research and forethought. Be sure to understand what you’re buying and to make sense of what your policy offers.
76 First date
You’re getting on wonderfully well with your new partner…but what about his or her animal? Learn what to do when meeting your date’s furry friend for the first time.
78 Second chance
After seeing all the dogs and cats left homeless after 9/11, one concerned woman founded an organization to promote the importance of planning for your animal’s care in case of your illness or death.
81 Committed to comfort
Thanks to one entrepreneur’s elderly arthritic cat, these high quality memory foam pet beds are now helping animals nationwide.
86 Fighting the good fight
A strong immune system is your animal’s best protection against illness. Along with a healthy lifestyle and diet, supplements like AHCC help attack the cells that cause cancer and other diseases.
45 Columns 14 Yakkity yak 32 Dr. Martin Goldstein 48 Warm & fuzzy 82
56
Communication
84 Passages
Departments
89 Book reviews 98
8
Tail end
Editorial
12 Mail bag 63 Product picks 67 Animal Wellness resource guide
75 The scoop 91 Ad spots
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96 Events calendar 97 Classifieds animal wellness
The future
is now
Regenerative stem cell therapy is relatively new on the scene, but it’s already being used to successfully treat arthritis and related conditions in dogs and cats. Continuing research shows it may be able to do even more. by Rona Sherebrin, DVM, CVA
A
few years ago, I spoke with a colleague at a veterinary conference about a new procedure she was involved in testing. It sounded too good to be true – isolating stem cells from an animal’s own tissues and injecting them back into diseased tissue to promote healing. At the time, it was commonly thought that stem cells were found only in embryos, and that adult animals didn’t have any. The researchers were getting excellent results with preliminary studies using stem cells to treat arthritis. Wow, I thought. If this study’s final results live up to the promising early work, this is going to revolutionize veterinary medicine.
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animal wellness
Well, the studies have proven its effectiveness and stem cell therapy is now available for dogs, cats and horses. It is used in dogs and cats with arthritis (both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis), fractures and tendon or ligament injuries. To date, over 5,000 animals have had regenerative stem cell therapy.
What is a stem cell? Within every animal’s body is a resource that has an incredible capacity to heal – the stem cell. These cells are present in small numbers in all tissues, and patiently
wait for the chemical and biological triggers that arise from injury to get to work. They can differentiate into just about any cell type, such as tendon, ligament, bone, cartilage, cardiac, nerve, muscle, blood vessels, fat, and organ tissue. Their job is to quickly produce the correct cell types needed to repair the damage.
What is regenerative medicine? Regenerative medicine refers to the use of stem cells to repair injury. When stem cells are isolated, concentrated and placed directly at the site of injury, we can “supercharge” the healing response and even begin to heal previously untreatable conditions. It is now known that fat tissue contains enough stem cells to make it a good source for collection and isolation. And most of our animals (and us too!) have a bit of spare fat tissue “hanging around”. The San Diego-based company Vet-Stem holds exclusive rights to fat-derived stem cell therapy in veterinary medicine. The current approved uses of Vet-Stem Regenerative Cells (VSRCs) are for osteoarthritis (of the leg joints), osteochondritis dessicans (OCD), partial tears of tendons or ligaments, and fractures. Cats always have to do things a bit differently, so they need to have a blood sample sent to the lab as well as the fat tissue. Because the stem cells are the animal’s own cells, there is no concern with tissues being rejected and no need for harsh anti-rejection drugs.
How does it work? Like the conventional mainstay of arthritis relief (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs), stem cell therapy reduces inflammation. But unlike NSAIDs, stem cell therapy actually rebuilds healthy tissue so the joint improves. During a day surgery procedure, a small amount of fat is collected from the animal, immediately placed in a special sterile transport fluid, chilled, and express shipped to VetStem in San Diego. There, the cells are isolated under strict aseptic conditions to prevent contamination. The number of cells required to treat the patient are portioned out, and any extra are frozen and banked for later use. The treatment syringe is express shipped on ice back to the clinic, where it is injected into the joint to be treated. Most animals will require a light sedative to ensure they are comfortable and relaxed for the injection into their painful joints. continued on page 21 animal wellness
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