It’s taken some time, but with advances in veterinary care such as TPLO, PennHip and ventral slot surgeries, veterinarians and their clients alike are looking for safer, better ways to support those surgeries. Safely moving, transferring and supporting a groggy painful dog with towels and slings is unsafe for animals and the vet techs. That’s why we designed the adjustable clinic quad cart.
The cart, which adjusts without tools to support animals ranging from medium (border collie) to giant breeds, allows veterinarians to place animals in a normal weight-bearing stance and tow them around the hospital, if needed. Here are some ways veterinary hospitals use clinic quad carts:
- Diagnostics: placing the paralyzed or lame dog in a normal weight-bearing stance to do empirical neurologic and orthopedic evaluation.
- Waking up a dog from surgery in a supported sternal position, minimizing the risk of aspiration pneumonia; lowering stress by allowing the pet to awaken with its feet on the floor and its head supported on the head rest; providing an opportunity to give acupuncture in a contained comfortable position.
- Above: Receiving acupuncture following ventral slot surgery at Veterinary Specialists of Connecticut as a prelude to a rehab session.
- Transporting post-surgical patients outside to do their toileting and allowing them to use whatever abilities they have to participate in their rehabilitation with no risk of falling to both the patient and the vet tech.
- Encouraging gradual increases in weight-bearing on post-surgical limbs ensures that additional surgeries will be less likely to occur. Using the quad cart allows pets to weight bear evenly without over-compensating on the other legs.
Ed Grinnell designed the clinic quad cart for use in major veterinary surgical centers and veterinary schools. So far, the University of Georgia, NC State, Ole Miss, Massey University in New Zealand and the Cummings School at Tufts University, as well as many animal rehab centers have acquired adjustable clinic quad carts to improve the standard of care they can offer their patients.
Here’s Hope, a giant Newfie, rehabilitating from ventral slot surgery at Steele Creek Veterinary Rehabilitation: Notice that Hope is unstable in her front legs but walking in the quad cart is strength-building exercise, restores her self-confidence and engages her in her rehabilitation.