Gracie-Allen is a nine-year-old Shar-Pei.  Over the years, her knees developed arthritis that eventually began to slow her down.  In late 2017, Gracie was taken to her veterinarian, Dr. Nancy Hampel of VCA Animal Medical Center of El Cajon, who determined that Gracie had mild arthritis in her knees and recommended stem cell therapy.

Gracie was scheduled to have an anesthetic dental cleaning the following March, so her owners elected to wait until then to have the fat collected for stem cell therapy.  Scheduling your dog’s stem cell procedure at the same time as another routine procedure can be a good idea for dogs that are older or otherwise not great candidates for anesthesia.  Collecting the fat for stem cell therapy is a relatively quick and minimally invasive procedure that can potentially be done at the same time as a dental cleaning, spay/neuter, etc.  Speak to your veterinarian about your options for stem cell therapy.

Within 48 hours of the fat collection, Gracie received three stem cell injections: one in each knee and one intravenously.  It only took a few days for Gracie’s owners to notice a difference in her behavior and activity.  You can catch up on Gracie’s story here.

We recently checked in with Gracie’s owner and got a shining report!  Here is what Gracie’s mom said:

“Gracie is doing great.  She now stands on her hind legs to look over fences.  It was something she used to do and it hadn’t dawned on me that she had stopped until she started looking over a wood fence for Annie (Bulldog) when we go on our walks.  She sometimes jumps off our front porch and back on instead of using the step and she flies up and down stairs in the house.  She will stand on her hind legs and does a dog paddle when I ask her ‘what do horses do’ and sits on her bottom (with front legs off the ground) and dog paddles when I ask her to ‘sit pretty’ and ‘sit pretty patty cakes’.  I had stopped asking her to do these tricks since it became obvious that she didn’t want to do them, but now she will start the trick before I finish the question.  She oozes happy . . . which makes us very happy.”

Arthritis is a common problem that can affect all breeds of dogs.  If your dog is slowing down, limping, or less active than they were before, check with your veterinarian to determine if your dog has arthritis.  You can also contact us to receive a list of VetStem providers in your area.