It took veterinarian Diana Drumm only a few seconds to inject the stem cells into 4-year-old Mercie, a chocolate lab who has been crippled by arthritis in her right rear leg for years. If all goes as planned, Mercie will no longer suffer debilitating pain from her condition.

Dr. Drumm, who owns Lakeside Animal Hospital in Reno, harvested fat cells from Mercie earlier in the day, processed stem cells from them, and injected them into the affected joint and into her bloodstream.

"When you put stem cells someplace like a knee joint," Drumm said, "the local environment acts on it. It says, 'Hey, you're in a joint, so you should become a joint fluid cell, or a ligament, tendon, or bone cell.' Whatever needs to be there."

Mercie's owners, Shane and Kim Hunter, say they were happy to pay approximately $1,800 for the procedure to free their beloved pet from her unrelenting pain.

"It's part of the responsibility of pet ownership," said Kim. "She's a family member, and we would go to the ends of the earth for her."

Dr. Drumm is the first veterinarian in Nevada to perform the complicated procedure in one day, in one location. Previous efforts have required sending cultures to out-of-town labs for processing, multiple visits for dog owners and multiple anesthesias for their pets. Mercie is the first dog in Nevada to have the entire process completed within a few hours.

Dr. Drumm says she expects Mercie to be up and around gradually, then free of pain and acting normally within four to six weeks. The procedure should not have to be repeated. It also made it unnecessary to give Mercie powerful painkillers and other medications for the rest of her life.