I have a 7 year old black female lab called Jenna which we rescued when she was 9 months. She has a number of health problems including chronic kidney disease (treated by special diet), urinary sphincter weakness (for which she takes Incurin) and both hip and elbow dysplasia. She had an arthroscopy when she was three on her elbows which helped her for a couple of years before the problem worsened again. Because of her kidney disease (discovered by chance via a scan for something else) she can no longer take anti inflammatories, so I try to manage her condition with a mixture of hydrotherapy, dietary supplements (Seraquin and Yumove) and a sensible exercise regime. I have recently heard about Class 4 laser therapy and Jenna has had 4 sessions so far out of a block of 6 (2 per week). I have read and heard about good reports for this treatment and wondered whether any other labrador owners had tried it for their pets and whether they considered it to be effective?
Just to point out, this is spay-induced incontinence. Something like a quarter to a third of female dogs will develop spay-induced incontinence after spaying. Owners are rarely told about this by their vets... Laser therapy is very effective for many dogs with joint issues. You can also try golden paste (which is coconut oil and turmeric - anti-inflammatory) and if you are in the UK, I highly recommend pretty much all the Riaflex supplements: riaflex.co.uk - they have the highest concentrations of ingredients and are the purest available. You can compare Yumove with their own Joint Plus for eg, using the comparison tab on that site.
Hello Jo Thank you very much for your advice. Unfortunately Jenna was already spayed when we rescued her, but I have been told by others too that her weeing problems were probably caused by being spayed too early. I will have a look at the Riaflex supplements and am pleased to hear that there are good reports about laser therapy. The laser therapist has even spoken to me about stem cell treatment at a veterinary hospital called Greenside in St Boswells in the Scottish borders and I wondered if you knew of any labradors or other dogs which had had this treatment?
No, I don't I'm afraid. Maybe someone else does... Hope it all goes well and works for her. I guessed she was already spayed, I just wanted to put that info out there.
So glad to hear Jenna is doing well thanks to your sensible care. I would be very skeptical about stem cell therapy. If this is practice mentioned I would have the following questions: https://www.greensidevetpractice.co.uk/stem-cell-therapy/ "Greenside Vets uses culture expanded pure stem cells which are quality controlled with guaranteed viability." - What cells are used? Jenna's (autologous) or another dog's (allogeneic)? - From what source? Blood, bone marrow, fat? - How is the dose calculated? References to published literature should provide answers - Precisely what type of cell is used and what is the rationale? "Expanded pure" culture suggests this an allogeneic product. If this is correct, why wouldn't Jenna's immune system recognize the cells as foreign and kill them? It's tricky to expand (grow) cell cultures without contamination so I would want to know about the manufacturing process. For human use the standard would be Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), which is a closed sterile process performed by professionals and as you would suspect, it's extremely expensive. In my opinion this statement is misleading: "New applications for this exciting new medical technique feature regularly in the news." It's more accurate to say that news stories hype stem cell research but in the main this is research with cell cultures or mice and offers *potential* application in future. Perhaps.
