Gingivitis is a condition in which the gum tissues that surround the teeth become inflamed. Stomatitis refers to inflammation affecting other soft tissues in the mouth, such as the inside of the lips, the tongue and under the tongue, or the back of the mouth. When both conditions occur in a cat’s mouth simultaneously, what you then have is a case of gingivostomatitis, an extremely painful and debilitating disease. Feline Chronic Gingivostomatitis (FCGS) can become so painful that the cat loses its appetite, can no longer groom properly, and may even gag and drool due to its inflamed and painful mouth. Left untreated, the inflammation eventually spreads into the underlying bone, damaging structures supporting the teeth and leading to bone loss. Full tooth extraction becomes an option.
What follows is an article published by UC Davis Veterinary Hospital about a cat named Bob who had been suffering from FCGS and had already lost all of his teeth due to the condition. In a last-ditch effort, Bob’s owner enrolled him in a clinical trial to receive a novel stem cell therapy treatment. Luckily for Bob and many other cats in the trial, the approach worked and Bob went on to live a normal, pain-free life until his eventual death due to other causes. The results from the clinical trial appeared in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
“FCGS is a challenging disease to treat, and we were frustrated that some cats wouldn’t respond to traditional treatment,” said the study’s lead author, Boar Arzi a veterinary dental surgeon at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine “We were banging our heads against the wall, and this stem cell therapy was a last resort.”
This is the first study to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of using this type of stem cell therapy for a naturally occurring, chronic inflammatory disease in cats, and holds hope for the future, even with regard to humans!
Read the full article here: Cat Stem Cell Therapy Gives Humans Hope
Kim Somjen, DVM, Belle Mead Animal Hospital
Kim Somjen, DVM, Belle Mead Animal Hospital