You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Although not licensed for use in bone healing in animals, Consil^TM has been  reported to be beneficial in the management of bone healing

At the North American Veterinary Conference 2000 held in January in Orlando Dr Robert Parker of the Animal Medical Centre, New York reported that orthopaedic surgeons at his Centre were routinely using Consil^TM (a Bioglass^(R) product - Nutramax Laboratories Inc) to promote bone healing in patients in which it has not been possible to harvest sufficient cancellous bone autograft. 

Consil is a synthetic, surface active ceramic material composed of minerals (calcium, phosphorus and silica) that are naturally present in bone, and it has a calcium to phosphorus ratio similar to that in bone. It is currently only licensed for use in animals in the USA for dental procedures.  Apparently, when packed around fractures, the surface of Consil^TM is converted into a silica-calcium -phosphate rich gel layer which is colonised by osteogenic stem cells. These form an hydroxyapetite layer and osteoblasts differentiate and produce bone throughout the implant site.  Consil^TM is claimed to be the only synthetic bone graft that has these osteoproductive properties.

So far it has been used at the AMC in hundreds of cats, without evidence of any side-effects.

It must be stressed that this is only an anecdotal report at this stage, and that this product is not approved for this clinical use at this time. However, the results are currently being analysed and it appears that there could be a role for this product in bone healing in the future.

Feedback request : Provet would like to hear from other Centres that have used this product to achieve bone repair. Send the details to feedback@provet.co.uk