Orthopedic braces stabilize and protect injured joints.  They are custom made for your pet only.  A custom brace can be used pre- or post-surgically, or as an alternative to surgery is not an option due to age,  financial limitations, or other medical issues.  Among the issues a custom brace addresses are ACL or CCL damage, hyper-extension or knuckling, elbow luxation and dislocation, and congenital deformities.

Working in cooperation with your veterinarian and My Pet’s Brace, Eddie’s Wheels is available to assist customers in need of casting and fitting their dog for a brace.  Arrangements can  be made by contacting My Pet’s Brace (610-286-0018)  and having a consultation with Jim Alaimo as to the suitability of a brace for your pet.  Once a design is settled upon, clients can come to us for casting and fitting services.  Erika McElwey (www.changeyourrange.com) is available to provide a home strengthening plan for your pet at the same time.

A custom brace can support an injured joint and expedite healing.

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For these animals, and to provide additional tools to rehab practitioners, Eddie’s Wheels has been developing a line of land-based products to assist veterinary hospitals and rehab practitioners work with these patients.

We recently delivered our Equi-lift hoist, adjustable therapy stand and clinic quad to Red Bank Animal Hospital (http://www.rbvh.net) in Tinton Falls, NJ.  There we used it to be put Oden, a 140 lb. Bernese Mt. Dog who had ventral slot (neck) surgery, back on his feet.  Oden has feeling and movement in his forelimbs, but no incentive to try to get up and walk on his forelimbs, since he is too heavy for manual assistance .  Oden was one of those exceptional dogs who didn’t cooperate in the underwater treadmill.   The Rehab department had ordered the therapy stand and equi-lift system, and we brought the clinic quad along to rent to Oden while we built him his individual quad cart for home use.

Coincidentally, that clinic quad had been on loan to Connecticut Veterinary Specialists (http://www.veterinaryspecialistsofct.com/)who had used it successfully post-surgically to support a Rottweiller  who had had neck surgery.  Having been placed in the cart immediately following surgery,  and then been given acupuncture the next day, this patient was sent home, walking, 3 days after surgery.

This rottweiller is shown here receiving acupuncture in the Eddie’s Wheels adjustable clinic quad with a head rest, a day following surgery.

We used the equi-lift hoist in conjunction with a  Helpemup Harness to lift put Oden in the clinic quad which we had pre-adjusted to the right height and length for him.   Then we towed him outside, using the handle, where he used his front legs well to help move the cart along.  We are confident that with more time standing up and feeling his own weight on his feet, Oden will start to work hard to regain his strength and mobility.

We’re looking forward to seeing how rehabilitation practitioners make use of these tools to help animals regain mobility and independence.

Home at Last! Oden will work harder at his rehab now that he’s got the support of a quad cart beneath him and the love of his family cheering him on!

Oden was amazed as he was lifted hydraulically and set down gently into a clinic quad cart.

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We changed Beau’s diet, switching himfrom a prescription diet to a salmon/potato kibble that is easy to digest and produces hard healthy stools.  His therapy regime has consisted of cold laser treatments, massage (fascia release) , traction on our adjustable therapy, and walking on the petzen dogtread (www.dogtread.com).  Just standing in traction on the stand has strengthened his front legs considerably – he no longer automatically splays his front legs.

We called in Dr. Kevin Landau  (www.landauvet.com) to provide him with chiropractic care and acupuncture.  Dr. Landau came in to find Beau perfectly positioned on the adjustable therapy stand for him to evaluate him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s67UZOaSmGE&feature=share&list=UUAUwu6-rzbYUYdvT-87Ovaw

Supported by the stand, Beau is given electro-acupuncture. The stimulation to acupuncture points will help to “rewire” his damaged neurological system.

Dr. Landau mobilizes Beau’s stuck spinal column to give him more flexibility and open up pathways to healing.

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Erika stood Beau, a disabled pitbull, in a therapy stand over a treadmill to analyze his abilities and disabilities, and come up with a strengthening program that will re-pattern him to walk again on his own.

We have always hoped that eventually Eddie’s Wheels would offer on-site animal rehabilitation services, and we are pleased to say that day has come! Erika McElwey, formerly of Rivermeadow Farm Animal Rehabilitation Center,  is joining us on Wednesdays every week to see rehab clients.  Erika was our first rehab practitioner for Sweet Pea, our beloved pitbull who came to us in 2006 (and passed in 2012).  We took Sweet Pea down to Rivermeadow for a couple of years for massage, e-stim, and hydro-therapy, and were impressed with the results she and her team got – building muscle mass and strength.   To learn more about Erika, visit her personal website: www.changeyourrange.com.

Erika came to us last summer after a professional hiatus to care for her twins.  She was interested in our land-based rehab system, which consists of an adjustable therapy stand designed to be used over a PetZen Dogtreadmill.  She appreciated that there are inherent problems with rehab that relies heavily on hydrotherapy – some dogs just don’t like being in water.   The adjustable stand accomplishes what the bouyancy of the water does in helping dogs to stand up, but being land-based, the dog and the therapist don’t have to deal with being wet.  Potty accidents are no longer a sanitary disaster.  The therapist has access to all four legs – so she can work whatever limbs require attention with ease.   And small dogs who have wheelchairs can just use their carts on the Dogtread.

Erika has been working with us for the past several months to come up with protocols for our new equipment.  She’s worked with Webster, our chi-weiner born with deformed dactylic forelimbs to improve his gait, re-balance his posture to help him become evenly weight-bearing on his only legs, and build strength.   She has worked with Albert, a French bulldog, who after 18 months of hydrotherapy and cart use, still was not using his rear legs in his wheelchair.  After the course of 6 weeks, he no longer relies on his cart and is using his rear legs again, having needed the purposeful gait re-training she did on the land treadmill.  She is working with Beau, our newest pitbull who had a broken back, to get him successfully walking again.

Some of the techniques Erika employs are:

• trigger-point massage, myotherapy
• EMS – electrical muscular stimulation
•  LLLT – cold laser – low level light therapy
• gait training using the PetZen Dogtread – a dog-safe treadmill with low speed capabilities – visit www.dogtread.com

Erika enjoys working with your veterinarian to come up with a strengthening plan that matches your pet’s disabilities.  She strategizes in home therapy programs to best allow the owners to implement daily routines that will improve your pets function.   To schedule an appointment with her, contact her at info@changeyourrange.com.

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Every week we talk to dozens of people who have spent thousands of dollars on diagnostics,  MRI’s and CAT scans, and  spinal surgeries, only to face having a paralyzed, often incontinent, pet.    Sadly, even the most skilled surgeons do not have a 100% success rate in restoring mobility in dogs with IVDD.   Some dogs, such as our Daisy, a dachsund with four herniated discs, are not even considered good  surgical candidates.

Dog owners are faced with difficult choices and it behooves veterinary professionals to inform their clients about all their options.  We routinely guide prospective customers to alternative care practitioners, such as veterinary acupuncturists (visit www.ahvma.org for a vet near you), canine rehab practitioners, and online support groups  such as www.dodgerslist.com  that offer advice about how to manage and care for a disabled pet.

Unless a veterinarian has had a positive experience of a dog using a canine cart, it may not ever occur to him to suggest a wheelchair for a paralyzed pet.

Jack had a $6000.00 surgery that left him paralyzed. He’s been using his canine cart for over 4 years – a happy healthy dog on wheels.

Over the 14 years we’ve been doing this professionally, we’ve converted many veterinarians and rehab practitioners into seeing the benefit a canine cart can give a disabled pet.  First and foremost, we offer quality of LIFE – not just for the dog, but for the human family of caregivers who have to watch disabled pets struggle to move and walk on their own.   Most dogs adapt to using a cart joyfully and with ease – in our experience, if a dog is reluctant to use a cart, there’s often a medical issue that ‘s being overlooked.

Some disabilities cannot be solved medically.  More than half our clientele are dogs with degenerative myelopathy, the canine equivalent of ALS, a progressive neurological disease that eventually is fatal.  However, dogs with DM can enjoy longer and happier lives using a cart to get around and go for walks.  Canine carts can also provide mobility for dogs with brain damage, such as cerebellar hypoplasia.  If families are looking for solutions to help their mobility challenged pets, a cart should be the first tool folks can use to give their animals independence and support healing.

The video below shows a 9 month old shihtzu who was brain damaged from anesthesia.  As a result she has no equilibrium and when placed on floor, cannot stand on her own.  When she came to see us, her front legs were contracted and her rear legs were weak and wobbly.  This is video shows her first walk in a front wheel cart with rear training wheels.  Everyone involved was astounded at her ability to walk again with the help of a cart.

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Beau explores a new world of smells in the yard at Eddie’s Wheels

We met Bubba when Helen, the  vet tech who has cared for him ever since he was dropped off at her animal hospital, brought him here to be measured for his wheelchair.   His story was a heart-breaker.  Hit by a car, taken to a shelter, then finally to Helen’s care – Bubba had suffered a broken back and was completely twisted.    At nine months, he was used to crawling across the floor, which resulted in front legs that splayed wide when we tried to hold him up to be measured for a cart.  In fact, we had to use our therapy stand to hold him up and evaluate him for his wheels.

However, once we stood him up and supported him in a healthy normal stance, we could see that he was not  paralyzed in his rear legs, and had lots of disorganized reflexes that we could build upon in his rehabilitation.  As we discussed his case, it became clear to us that Bubba would be a great rehab candidate.  That’s why we offered to foster him.

On October 31, 20012  Erika McElwey came to meet Beau and evaluate him for rehab.  Looking at his x-rays and medical records,  and examining his body, she determined that his scoliosis was a result of his spinal injury at T-13 – L1.  In order to compensate for his injury, he had rotated his pelvis to decompress the injury, which resulted in spastic movement of his rear legs.   Because he locks his forelimbs under his chest and does alot of crawling, his upper body strength is exaggerated, but his chest (pectorals) muscles are underdeveloped.  The plan is to create a custom cart with an adjustable height saddle that allows us to decompress the spine at the point of his injury and then build strength and muscle memory to teach him to walk again.  This will accomplished with cart walking, therapeutic exercise with Erika on a land treadmill, laser therapy on the points of his lesion.  Beau will also be given a different diet to help him gain weight – he’s severely underweight.  Here Erika explains his treatment plan while Beau is supported in the stand.

Here is Erika using the dogtread to re-train Beau’s gait.  We are hopeful with strength building and gait-retraining Beau may regain his ability to walk on his own.  Only time will tell and we’ll keep you uposted.

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Albert went right back to sniffing as soon as he got his Eddie’s Wheels dog wheelchair.

Albert, a French Bulldog, who had spinal surgery in April 2011 came to see us two months ago to have stirrups put on his wheelchair.  Despite having  feeling in his feet, he was dragging his legs and “being lazy” about using his rear legs in the cart.  Nerves regenerate very slowly – only one millimeter a month, and in the time that Albert was using his cart and healing, he had lost the muscle memory he needed to remember how to walk again.   He’d also been going to hydrotherapy for over a year, but was still not “getting” the idea that he could walk on his own using his rear legs again…

By coincidence, we had just started collaborating with Erika McElwey, a canine rehab practitioner who had worked with us with our own dog, Sweet Pea, during her tenure at Rivermeadow Farm Rehabilitation Center in Windsor, Ct.    Erika is helping us to establish protocols for the use of our adjustable therapy stand and  the Pet Zen dogtreadmill we have on our premises.  We were looking for likely rehab clients for her and Albert was the perfect candidate.  After a long consultation that included taking his history, working with him outside on grass, working with him on the stand on the treadmill and doing cold laser treatments, Albert’s owner went home hopeful that these land-based therapies would get Albert back on his feet. In each session Erika re-trained Albert’s muscles by manually assisting him as he walked on the treadmill. His owner re-enforced this training at home by encouraging him to stand on his own and not rely on the cart.  Following our advice, she risked a few scrapes on his toes in order to activate the deep pain reflex and make him pick up his feet and use his legs.    After less than half a dozen sessions, Albert is now walking on his own, using his cart only for long hikes, as he still needs to regain his endurance.  But he’s working hard.  Watch these videos to see his progress:

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Myth #1:  Big dogs won’t use carts. Over twenty years ago, when our 80 lb. Doberman became paralyzed in the rear, that’s what we were told too.  And in fact, the carts that were available twenty years ago did NOT work well for big dogs, which was why Ed designed his dog wheelchair differently – supporting  the dog on the skeleton instead of the soft tissue.  We have built carts for dogs up to 240 lbs., as well a couple of alpacas, a few goats, a couple of sheep, and a pot-bellied pig.

Max, a 175 lb, Mastiff who measured 39″ tall at the shoulder, next to Sweet Pea, a 40 lb. pitbull .

Myth #2:  Dogs won’t rehabilitate if you give them a cart = The Lazy Dog Myth.   We have never met a dog who would rather use a wheelchair than walk without one.  We have seen innumerable numbers of dogs, particularly those who have spinal compressions due to disc issues, torn acl’s and those immobilized due to FCE’s,  rehabilitate while using a dog wheelchair. One key issue is making sure that the dog is supported in a normal weightbearing stance, with its feet on the floor.  In order to motivate a dog to use its legs, it’s crucial to activate whatever reflexes it may have and build upon them.  Even if a dog uses stirrups to keep its feet from dragging, we recommend that the stirrups to be adjusted so that as the dog moves its legs, its toes come into contact with the rear crossbar, which provides feedback to whatever reflexes the paretic dog may have.

Myth #3:  Old dogs can’t use dog wheelchairs.  The oldest dog for whom we ever built a cart was a cattle dog that was 22 years old, but we routinely build carts for dogs who are 14, 15, and 16 years old.  Being old and unable to get up and go outside to toilet is probably one of the main reasons old dogs are euthanized.  But if a dog is not in pain, and not sick – mobility challenges should not be death sentence.  Many old dogs just have problems getting up – and for those we recommend the Helpemup Harness.   We routinely recommend neutral balanced carts for geriatric dogs – this style of cart feels weightless on the dog’s body and adds no load to the forelimbs, while supporting the rear legs completely.

18 year old Bizzy is back to standing and sniffing and poking around the yard in a neutral balanced dog wheelchair, and a Helpemup Harness.

Myth #4:  Dogs can’t get any exercise if they are in a wheelchair.  Take a look at these photos and video.  Try keeping up with these dogs with a towel or sling!

Blueberry, a paralyzed Great Dane, races with the ponies on the farm with his Eddie’s Wheels dog wheelchair

Visit our youtube channel to see hundreds of videos of happy dogs in their wheels: Youtube Channel

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Roosevelt pops a wheelie to get over obstacles during his off-road run in the woods.

Eddie’s Wheels is the inventor of the front wheel cart – we built our first one twelve years ago for a dog living in rescue who was born with deformed forelimbs. Front wheel carts constitute a significant percentage of our business, as we are the only canine wheelchair company that makes a simple 2-wheeled device that allows dogs to sit, sniff and play in their wheels.    We also adopted a pair of chi-weiners, Willa and Webster, who were born without any front legs a couple of year ago.  These little guys have taught us so much about the finer points of balancing a dog in a front wheel cart, and teaching dogs  how to drive it.

Willa sniffs while Webster sits in their front wheel carts.

Front wheel carts are also used by dogs who are missing a front leg due to amputation.  The hopping gait of a three legged dog takes a huge toll on a dog’s body over time.   Tripods can often run more easily than they can walk and turn into sprinters, but as they age, arthritis in the elbow and carpus of the remaining front leg sets in.  The lumbar spine suffers, and the rear legs, having compensated for years, become painful and arthritic as well.  Convincing a young healthy tripod to use a front wheel cart can be a challenge, but once they get used to using the wheels, the long term benefits become obvious.   They actually return to the normal gait of a four legged dog – moving each leg independently and letting the wheels carry a share of the load on the front legs.

Tank, at over 100 lbs., just couldn't manage on three legs. Notice the square rear yoke to make the cart weightless on his already arthritic hips.

Roosevelt, a border collie with deformed forelimbs – watch his video!

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These professional collaborations result in more happy pets getting the mobility aids they need to cope with their disabilities.  Veterinarians enjoy the emotional benefits of knowing that even if surgical outcomes are not what was hoped for, that pets can continue to live long and happy lives with the assistance of a cart.

We were heartened  to read this wonderful blog written by Dr. Mark Troxel, neuro-surgeon at Mass Veterinary Referral Hospital on the IVG  Hospitals website:  http://www.ivghospitals.com/specialty-services/born-to-ride/.   We ‘re proud to say that Mass Referral has been sending their neuro and ortho clients to us exclusively for many years.  We’ve worked closely with their doctors and rehab specialists to provide positive outcomes for their handicapped pets.

Fenway, a black lab who suffered an FCE, spent several years rolling in his Eddie's Wheels

Louie, a mini-dachshund, coming home from back surgery , tries out a set of wheels

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