Panama City
Beach, Fla: A Group of Bay County veterinarians are proving that old dogs can feel like pups again.
The Animal Care Center in Panama City Beach is the first clinic in Florida to perform in-house Animal Stem Cell Regenerative Therapy.
Two dogs are making history in Florida: 7-year
old Hummer is suffering from hip dysplasia and
11-year old Rascal has osteoarthritis.
“We have some interesting memories, when he was a
year or two, he swallowed a golf ball,” explained
Hummer’s owner, Barbara Stokesbary.
Stokesbary is bringing her Yellow Labrador
Retriever back to the veterinarian. No, not
because he digested sports equipment, but because
he’s one of the first patients in Florida taking
part in Animal Stem Cell Regenerative Therapy. The
procedure targets pets suffering from degenerative
diseases.
Dr. Mike Hutchinson represents MediVet America,
the pet supplier for the procedure.
Hutchinson came to Panama City Beach to instruct
local veterinarians how the stem cell process
works.
“I can use the body’s repair system, its own regenerative repair system to repair disease. These cells are already sitting in our fat, we are taking them out of the patient, out of the dog, processing them two or three hours, injecting them right back into the same patient. We take their stem cells and put them right back into them,” Hutchinson said.
“It is amazing because the other options for hip dysplasia are hip replacement, which is thousands and thousands of dollars and a lot of recovery, which is something we would never be able to do, so this is affordable,” Stokesbary said.
This stem cell procedure is different from what
comes to mind for many people.
“There are no ethical or moral issues, we are not
using embryos we are using repair cells that are
in the dog,” Hutchinson said.
The entire process from start to finish takes about three to four hours and the patients can be in an out within one day. The stem cell procedure is only being done in five states, including Florida and costs about 1,800 dollars.

