PIPPIN — a six-year-old border collie-cross with chronic osteoarthritis from Bude — has benefitted from pioneering stem cell therapy.

Pippin previously suffered from OCD — Osteochondritis Dessicans, where the cartilage in a growing joint fails to develop normally — in his shoulder in the past and for his owner, Margaret Goulden, the news that he also had chronic arthritis was the final straw.

Pippin had been a successful agility dog but more than that, he has always been a much-loved family member.

With an intolerance to many traditional medicines, Pippin was unable to get much respite from the arthritic pain, so Margaret was delighted when veterinary surgeon, Patrick Ridge at Ridge Referrals in Dawlish, mentioned the possibility of stem cell therapy.

Patrick was aware of this ground breaking process of stem cell therapy, which involved harvesting cells from the patient either by way of extracting fat from under the skin of the host pet in a small surgical procedure.

The sample is then transported to Veterinary Tissue Bank, Europe’s first tissue bank for veterinary surgeons, where the stem cells are extracted in cell culture and then returned for injection by the veterinary surgeon into the patient’s injured tissue or joint.

Margaret was happy to explore any options that would alleviate the constant pain she believed her dog was enduring.

Patrick said: “It is a straight-forward procedure. Pippin only had to stay in hospital for a couple of hours while we injected the cells, then he was able to return home. I did repeat the procedure a while afterwards and he is responding very well now. I am very pleased with the improvement.”

Pippin had previously undergone two operations for OCD surgery in his shoulder and Margaret had become increasingly concerned about the discomfort he was enduring.

She said: “Pippin had the second injection in the autumn and after keeping him on a restricted exercise regime for a few weeks, he is now back to his old self but a better than old self version. He is running around like a puppy and has a new zest for life.”

Although Margaret has cut back on the agility that they both enjoy so much, they are now a force to be reckoned with in the rally obedience arena, and have also taken up the new canine sport of Hooper.

She added: “I hadn’t realised how effective and simple stem cell therapy was in alleviating the pain of arthritis. I would certainly recommend it to anyone whose dog is suffering from arthritis pain.

“This energetic, pain-free dog can often be seen fast asleep upside down, finding life a lot more relaxing.”