Rainier’s Story

Rainier the German Shepherd

Healing Elbow Dysplasia With Stem Cell Transplants

I recently had the pleasure of talking to Susan Page whose dog Rainier led her to seek Stem Cell transplants for a very serious illness.   As you can see from the photo Rainier is a magnificient beautiful dog with alot of life and spirit for living.  Rainier goes for the gusto in life at full tilt as Susan explains, he loves to move around and is not a layed back dog.

Rainier is a German Shepherd that developed elbow dysplasia around the age of only 5 months. This physical problem stopped the idea of the training Susan had in mind for Rainier to become an assisted care trained dog.

Rainier would try to go on walks with Susan but on his first year’s birthday, he would fall on his painful leg.

Although the German Shepherd breed will have a tendency towards hip dysplasia, the elbow dysplasia was not a trait of this breed, and it was a most unusual development at such a young age.

Elbow dysplasia (ED) is a crippling disease of dogs, which leads to the development of irreversible and damaging arthritis at the elbow joint. It is a progressive disease, which worsens with age, and limit’s a dog’s quality of life.

Susan and her husband Jeff, searched for help from several area veterinarians and was referred to a well-known orthopedic surgeon who recommended arthroscopic surgery at the high cost of $ 8,000.00 with no guarantee of a successful outcome. The complications of surgery would include anesthetic death, infection at the surgical site and unresolved lameness due to the arthritis at the elbow. The surgery would necessitate the complete breaking of Rainier’s leg and a painful 12 weeks recovery, with heavy painkillers.

The surgeon’s assessment was that it was unusual for a dog of that young age to acquire elbow dysplasia and that there was really nothing they could do for Rainier except “keep him comfortable for the remainder of his life”. By this time, Rainier was only 14 months old and the thought of comfort level for such a long period of time, led Susan to search for more effective treatment options.

By late fall Rainier’s attempts at play had ceased and prevented him from any long walks for exercise and normal activity was compromised. You can see the heartbreak of a dog that size weighing 120 lbs who is still a puppy and wants to romp and play, not being able to move or enjoy his life.

Susan was watching a local TV station report one day that did a story on Dr. Tim McCarthy, a local veterinarian who was working with stem cell therapy for dogs.

She made an appointment and took Rainier in for an assessment and found that Dr. Tim suggested Rainier was a perfect candidate for a stem cell transplant and would gain benefit from such treatment. 

 Rainier after Stem Cell Transplant

During the first part of November 2007, the procedure scheduled for Rainier where 3-4 tablespoons of fat was harvested from Rainier’s upper shoulders, which took place on a Monday. The extraction was flown to Vet Stem where the stem cells were extracted from the fat and flown back to Dr. McCarthy on Wednesday and injected into Rainier’s affected elbow joint in a matter of days.  The Vet Stem company is on the cutting edge of medical regenerative disease and is experiencing much success with their method of extracting stem cells from fat tissue in animals.  As you see in the picture above Rainier is hanging out just after the sugery to implant the stem cells into his front elbow.

By January Rainier was up and walking better, with no signs of pain or discomfort.  After 3-4 months, he improved better to the point that he can walk up to 3 miles daily, with increased activities, which are normal for a dog his age.

Stem cells can be derived from fat, skin, and bone marrow amongst other tissues, which scientists are using in regenerative medicine to treat a variety of diseases and injuries in pets and humans. Horses and dogs are being treated with this procedure for anything from diseases, arthritis, fractures, and ligament tendon injuries.

This potential for stem cell transplants is huge, and may be expanded to treat nerves, liver, kidney, heart and other debilitating diseases in the future in regenerative medicine.

We can only hope that this research progresses for humans as well which holds great promise to us all in maintaining good health.

Stem Cells

Special thanks to Susan and Jeff Page -for sharing their story of Rainier’s healing elbow dysplasia in the hope that  readers and other dogs that are afflicted with this disease can find a cure and be healthy again.  We all wish Rainier and the Page family – much good health and happiness.

Written by: Teri Salvador

Tags:

Vet Stem Cell Transplants, arthritis, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, stem cell transplant, Vet Stem, German Shepherd, stem cell transplants, regenerative medicine, stem cells, and ligament tendon injuries, Rainier’s Story, Healing Elbow Dysplasia with Stem Cell Transplants,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Dog Health Issues, Dog News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.