Royal Oak

Vet first in state to provide on-site stem cell therapy

By Chris Jackett
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by David Schreiber Dr. John Simon, left, uses cold laser therapy on Lance, a 10-year-old golden retriever, as Lance gives his owner, Garden City resident Robert E. Pope, a kiss. The cold laser therapy relieves pain in older animals. Photo by David Schreiber Dr. John Simon, left, uses cold laser therapy on Lance, a 10-year-old golden retriever, as Lance gives his owner, Garden City resident Robert E. Pope, a kiss. The cold laser therapy relieves pain in older animals. Photo by David Schreiber A palm-sized unit, the cold laser machine helps relieve pain in pets by heating the tissue below the skin. It has resulted in positive results for local cats and dogs, and can also be used on horses. 0 Photo by David Schreiber A palm-sized unit, the cold laser machine helps relieve pain in pets by heating the tissue below the skin. It has resulted in positive results for local cats and dogs, and can also be used on horses.

ROYAL OAK — It used to take several days to complete stem cell therapy on a pet. Now, local hounds and felines can get relief in the same day.

Woodside Animal Hospital, 27452 Woodward Ave., has successfully been able to perform adult in-house stem cell therapy for the past few months. The treatment helps relieve joint pain, osteoarthritis, soft tissue injuries and hip dysplasia. Adult stem cell therapy also means no embryonic tissue is used, which Dr. John Simon said is a potentially touchy issue for some people.

“There’s been stem cell therapy (for pets) for three or four years. It used to have to be sent out to California to be processed and then sent back, so it required a second trip,” Simon said. “It is also of great benefit because the stem cells are more viable. I was the first one in Michigan to do the in-house stem cell therapy.”

The stem cell therapy, which is a one-time procedure priced at about $2,000, has been able to use the primitive, non-differentiated stem cells to regenerate and renew themselves from a dog’s fat deposits. They can also change and develop into more specialized cell types and tissues, including cartilage, often making aging dogs seem young again.

“As pets age, it’s natural that their range of movement becomes restricted,” Simon said in a release. “While oral joint care supplements and prescription painkillers can help, medication alone cannot restore a full range of movement. Our treatments help restore activity and movement.”

Woodside Animal Hospital also, more recently, began offering cold laser therapy, which also focuses on pain management by using a low-level energy beam to penetrate just below the skin’s surface and use the laser’s energy to repair cellular damage.

“Cold laser therapy is a revolutionary treatment for natural pain management in animals,” Simon said in a release. “Laser therapy allows for advanced pain management, especially for pets suffering from chronic conditions or soft tissue injuries.”

Simon said the new cold therapy only takes about five minutes per treatment, as opposed to the 15- or 20-minute time frame the older version took, and can greatly help animals with ligament, tendon or muscle strain.

He said each session costs between $40-$60 and must be spaced out between three and seven days. Different amounts of pain and sizes of animals create the variation in cost, time and the number of treatments.

“The new laser therapy is more effective,” Simon said. “As a holistic veterinarian, I am committed to providing high quality, cutting-edge care that combines traditional veterinary care with advanced holistic treatments.

“Our in-house stem cell therapy and cold laser therapy procedures alleviate pain in limping dogs and promote internal healing following an injury. I also recommend these procedures for pets with osteoarthritis.”

For more information on Woodside Animal Hospital, visit www.doc4pets.com or call (248) 545-6630.

For more on the two procedures, visit www.michiganpetstemcelltherapy. com and www.myholisticpetvet.com.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Chris Jackett at cjackett@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1110.