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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Precious is just that precious for Connie and Sparky Sparks. The 9-year-old pit bull is the baby of the family and their best friend. Shes my life, said Mrs. Sparks, fighting back tears. For the Sparks no amount of money spent on Precious care is enough. Shes our best friend! You would take your kids to a doctor, you would take your kids to surgery, I would take my dog to do anything, she said, fighting tears.

And Precious has had her fair share of doctors visit. In 2011, Precious underwent a stem cell treatment for a sliding knee cap. She could not get up and down the furniture, said Mr. Sparks. She was uncomfortable.

The couple sought a breakthrough treatment at Park Cities Animal Hospital. Dr. David Hille recommended stem cell therapy for her knees. Probably within two weeks after the surgery, you couldnt even tell she had any problem, recalled Mrs. Sparks. She was jumping and running like a regular dog.

Four years later, shes fighting another battle soft tissue cancer.

This time the Sparks took her to Dr. Glen King at the Veterinary Specialists of North Texas. Doctors removed the tumor but it wasnt enough. There were some fingers left and were treating those fingers with radiation, said Dr. King.

Chances for a cure are 85 percent to 90 percent. Thats all the Sparks wanted to hear.

The technological advances in veterinary sciences has expanded in size and scope of the medical field. Twenty to 25 years ago, it would have been like, the pets not going to get through this. Crude drugs, crude procedures, poor outcomes, said Dr. Audrey Cook, a veterinarian at the Texas A & M University, Dept. of Veterinary Sciences. These days the technology is stunning. So our chance at getting a positive outcome is also stunning. she said.

Breakthroughs in technology have also seen stunning crossovers. Once upon a time most procedures and drugs were tested on animals first, now veterinarians are drawing inspiration from human sciences and using that technology to treat their four legged patients.

Were lucky in the sense that the difficult heavy lifting in figuring these things out have been done in humans and now wonderfully is being translated backwards to pets, said Dr. Cook.

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Specialized Veterinary Care Worth The Price For Pet Owners