Stem cell process can help sickly pets

Your loving pet is feeling the effects of old age, is suffering and may need to be put down. It's a tough time for a pet owner, but now there's hope.
A Tauranga company is offering veterinary clinics around the country a process for stem-cell treatment that improves healing and brightens - even lengthens - the lives of dogs, cats and horses.
The ground-breaking treatment is being applied to osteoarthritis, and ligament and tendon injuries, particularly involving sporting horses.
Stemvet New Zealand, established in September 2009, is committed to providing veterinarians with the knowledge and products to make stem-cell therapy an everyday treatment. It also wants to put New Zealand veterinarians in the forefront of developments in regenerative medicine.
"The treatment certainly relieves pain and slows the ageing process,"said Stemvet co-owner Gil Sinclair.
"The degree of improvement varies with each patient. But in most cases, there's dramatic improvement in the animals' mobility and wellbeing. All pet owners will be able to access the new treatment," he said.
His enthusiastic business partner, Kerry Hitchcock, talks about a dog which was "a doormat at home". The dog with osteoarthritis had an intravenous dose of the stem cells, its condition improved and in a short time it was bouncing around.
An inquisitive neighbour asked the pet owner: "What have you done with your dog?" said Mr Hitchcock. "The neighbour was amazed in the change to the dog."
Early cases treated so far have been dogs, aged between 8 and 14 years, severely affected with osteoarthritis, and young racehorses which have suffered tendon injuries or have osteoarthritis.
Dr Sinclair, a qualified veterinarian who has four invitro fertilisation (IVF) laboratories in New Zealand and Australia, has been involved with animal reproduction for nearly 30 years and lately worked with researchers in Sydney on the development of the new stem-cell extraction technology and its application in veterinary clinics.
A blood sample, and fat tissue, 10-20 grammes in size and containing dormant adult stem cells, is taken from the rump area of horses and under the skin of dogs and animals behind the ribs.
Each gramme of fat can contain anything from 4.5 million to 28 million stem cells. The fat is digested in a water bath at 37C, then spun in a centrifuge, and the stem cells filtered from it.
A platelet concentrate - containing natural stem-cell activators - is extracted from the blood sample. The platelet and other solutions are mixed with the "fat-extracted" stem-cell concentrate to activate the stem cells.
The mixture is then exposed to a photobiostimulator, which provides extra activation, and the whole process takes three and a half hours.
The now active adult stem cells are re-introduced to the same animal, mostly by direct injection into the affected joints or tissues. Some are administered intravenously and find their way through the blood system to the inflamed area.
"We are talking about adult stem cells that can be guided into promoting health," said Dr Sinclair. "There is a huge concentration of them in the body but they are non-functional. By taking fat out of the animals and extracting the stem cells and activating them, we can improve the healing process."
Stemvet has become the exclusive New Zealand distributor for Australian-based MediVet stem-cell therapy products and equipment, which includes the water bath, centrifuge, photobiostimulator and extraction kit containing test tubes and solutions.
Late last year Stemvet conducted a roadshow around New Zealand, holding presentations for veterinarians in Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton, Auckland and Whangarei, with addresses from Australians Dr Simon Bailey, a research and senior lecturer at Melbourne Veterinary School; Dr Wayne Thomas, who developed the stem-cell extraction kit that allows vets to perform the procedure in-house; and Dr Malcom Ware, another specialist in regenerative medicine.
The package, including equipment and kit, costs up to $15,000 and in the past month six veterinary clinics, in Christchurch, Blenheim, Wellington, Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland, have signed up.
Stemvet provides training, free of charge, for all clinics that take it up. Pet owners are charged about $2500 for the treatment - cheaper than the $4000 quoted by an overseas competitor.
"We are aiming to service 50 clinics in New Zealand within six months," said Mr Hitchcock, who is concentrating on sales and marketing. Zealand has about 600 veterinary clinics.
Mr Hitchcock, who lives on his kiwifruit orchard at Pyes Pa, spent 20 years working as an executive director with Ancare NZ, the country's biggest manufacturer of anthelmintics (drenches). He concentrated on sales in the overseas markets of South America, Mexico and the Middle East before Ancare was sold three years ago.
Dr Sinclair graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from Massey University in 1970 and worked at Te Puke Veterinary Club for two years.
He started a private practice, Barkes Corner Veterinary Hospital, in 1972 and added clinics in Brookfield, Mount Maunganui and Papamoa, before selling the last two. The Barkes Corner hospital, managed by Scott Raleigh, is already performing the stem-cell treatment.
In the early 1980s, Dr Sinclair decided to specialise in reproductive work involving animals, and set up bovine IVF laboratories in Melbourne, Mackay, Invercargill, and Hamilton at the Ruakura Research Centre.
He said existing stem-cell treatment was just the beginning. "We want to introduce new regenerative medicine products to vets. Once a clinic tries the treatment, it won't be able to stop.
"The treated cases themselves are now selling the technology."