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| With Dr. Mark Walter, friends from Bayer Animal Health and a few of my pet blogger friends at Capital Veterinary Specialists in Jacksonville, Florida, opened in 2015 by Dr. Walker BVSc, DACVIM |
Dr. Walker opened Capital Veterinary Services, JAX , a specialty veterinary clinic in Jacksonville Florida, to serve Northeast Florida and South Georgia pet parents. We loved meeting Dr. Walker and his compassionate, expertly trained staff! It's easy to see their high level of expertise and feel their passion and love for the exciting work they do.
Dr. Walker gave us a tour of this beautiful state of the art facility and some of the specialized veterinary equipment they use to help the pets that visit them for expert veterinary care and services, including:
If I can be honest, I'm embarrassed to say I thought it was some kind of machine used to repair a piece of equipment in the room! I saw the spool of what looked like white wire at the top and I thought, is this Veterinarian going to repair something?! Don't they have a maintenance guy for that? He's a doctor for heaven's sake!
It's funny now to think of how perplexed we were, but this weird looking machine is actually a 3D Printer! They use it at the clinic to treat pet's injured limbs or other bones. I think we were all transfixed on this strange looking machine, trying to figure out exactly How they use a 3D printer to treat an injured pet's bone and exactly how it works.
The spool of white "wire" you see on top of the machine is actually the material used by the machine as it forms a precise replica of a pet's injured bone.
Digital files are created from Images taken of a pet's injury, such as from an MRI or CAT scan. These files can then be translated into a format the 3D printer can recognize and understand.
The printer then prints out layer upon layer of the material to create a bone replica, based on digital files of the injured bone that have been sent to the printer.
The materials used by 3D printers can vary; plastics, rubbers, etc. can be used. One example of a material used is a plastic polyactic acid (PLA) filament.
Displayed on the table in the photo above are 3 model replicas that were created by the 3D printer, based on injured dog limbs.
In the below photo you can see what the inside of a piece of 3D "printed" bone replica looks like.
The replica created by a 3D printer isn't actually placed inside the pet's body, it is used to form an exact replica of the injured limb or other skeletal body part. This enables the Veterinarian to handle a model of the pet's injured body part to gain a better, more precise understanding of the injury prior to a surgical procedure.
The material that will be placed inside the pet can be more precisely and accurately formed using the replica crated with the 3D printer. The replica is used as a model to create and accurately form the piece of metal orthopedic material, or other material, that will be placed inside the pet's body. Replicas created with a 3D printer can also be helpful in testing out multiple treatment options.
It was so interesting to see a 3D printer and learn how it works, and how it can be used to improve treatment of skeletal injuries to pets!
In their Canine Rehabilitation Department, Capital Veterinary Specialists has both a hydro therapy tank and a swimming pool. Both can be used for Canine Rehabilitation.
In the hydrotherapy tank, dogs receive treadmill therapy, where dogs walk on an underwater treadmill. The buoyancy of the water helps the dog get a low impact treadmill workout. This type of rehab therapy for dogs is becoming very popular with pet parents.
Canine rehabilitation focuses on improving postoperative outcomes for orthopedic, neurological and soft tissue surgical procedures.
It is also used to treat nonsurgical diseases like osteoarthritis, canine athlete injuries, weight management and non surgical spinal injuries. It's also useful for field trial and agility conditioning and strength training.
It's amazing how Veterinary services have become so advanced and specialized! That makes me really happy knowing that such advanced therapies for treating pets are available. I would do whatever it took to help my dogs recover from an injury or disease. I know you would too!
We had some really interesting conversation with Dr. Walker and some of his staff. We talked about how they run their practice, the significant advancements that have been made in pet food over the years, and specialized veterinary medicine in general.
As most of us know, in recent years many pet food companies have been consolidated into huge corporations, like Belgian company Mars Petcare. What I didn't know is that similar to the health care community for humans, many veterinary providers are also being consolidated into larger corporations.
It was interesting to hear that corporations in the pet industry have acquired a large number of Veterinary services providers. For example, Mars Petcare has acquired Banfield Pet Hospital, Veterinary Centers of America (VCA Animal Hospitals), and BluePearl Veterinary Partners. They even own the Wisdom Panel Dog DNA test kit company.
Just like in human medicine, consolidations abound! In case you're wondering YES! it's the same Mars company that makes M&M's, my personal fave, as well as Twix, Snickers, and other delicious candies, including the Mars chocolate bar of course!
We'd like to say a giant THANK YOU to Bayer Animal Health and Dr. Mark Walker for making this visit to Capital Veterinary Specialists possible! It was so educational, and really Fun meeting Dr. Walker and his talented veterinary staff!
On our trip to Jacksonville, we also had the privilege of visiting K9s For Warriors where we learned how they are helping military Veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disability (PTSD).
Have you ever used hydro therapy for dogs or experienced 3D printing to treat a pet's injury? Let us know in the comments!
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| A 3D Printer being used to treat pet injuries at Capital Veterinary Specialists in Jacksonville, Florida |
It's funny now to think of how perplexed we were, but this weird looking machine is actually a 3D Printer! They use it at the clinic to treat pet's injured limbs or other bones. I think we were all transfixed on this strange looking machine, trying to figure out exactly How they use a 3D printer to treat an injured pet's bone and exactly how it works.
The spool of white "wire" you see on top of the machine is actually the material used by the machine as it forms a precise replica of a pet's injured bone.
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| Replica of injured pets' bones, made utilizing this 3D printer |
Digital files are created from Images taken of a pet's injury, such as from an MRI or CAT scan. These files can then be translated into a format the 3D printer can recognize and understand.
The printer then prints out layer upon layer of the material to create a bone replica, based on digital files of the injured bone that have been sent to the printer.
The materials used by 3D printers can vary; plastics, rubbers, etc. can be used. One example of a material used is a plastic polyactic acid (PLA) filament.
Displayed on the table in the photo above are 3 model replicas that were created by the 3D printer, based on injured dog limbs.
In the below photo you can see what the inside of a piece of 3D "printed" bone replica looks like.
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| View of the inside of a pet bone replica created using a 3D printer |
The replica created by a 3D printer isn't actually placed inside the pet's body, it is used to form an exact replica of the injured limb or other skeletal body part. This enables the Veterinarian to handle a model of the pet's injured body part to gain a better, more precise understanding of the injury prior to a surgical procedure.
The material that will be placed inside the pet can be more precisely and accurately formed using the replica crated with the 3D printer. The replica is used as a model to create and accurately form the piece of metal orthopedic material, or other material, that will be placed inside the pet's body. Replicas created with a 3D printer can also be helpful in testing out multiple treatment options.
It was so interesting to see a 3D printer and learn how it works, and how it can be used to improve treatment of skeletal injuries to pets!
In their Canine Rehabilitation Department, Capital Veterinary Specialists has both a hydro therapy tank and a swimming pool. Both can be used for Canine Rehabilitation.
In the hydrotherapy tank, dogs receive treadmill therapy, where dogs walk on an underwater treadmill. The buoyancy of the water helps the dog get a low impact treadmill workout. This type of rehab therapy for dogs is becoming very popular with pet parents.
Canine rehabilitation focuses on improving postoperative outcomes for orthopedic, neurological and soft tissue surgical procedures.
It is also used to treat nonsurgical diseases like osteoarthritis, canine athlete injuries, weight management and non surgical spinal injuries. It's also useful for field trial and agility conditioning and strength training.
It's amazing how Veterinary services have become so advanced and specialized! That makes me really happy knowing that such advanced therapies for treating pets are available. I would do whatever it took to help my dogs recover from an injury or disease. I know you would too!
We had some really interesting conversation with Dr. Walker and some of his staff. We talked about how they run their practice, the significant advancements that have been made in pet food over the years, and specialized veterinary medicine in general.
 |
| I'm glad so many advancements have been made in Veterinary medicine! |
As most of us know, in recent years many pet food companies have been consolidated into huge corporations, like Belgian company Mars Petcare. What I didn't know is that similar to the health care community for humans, many veterinary providers are also being consolidated into larger corporations.
It was interesting to hear that corporations in the pet industry have acquired a large number of Veterinary services providers. For example, Mars Petcare has acquired Banfield Pet Hospital, Veterinary Centers of America (VCA Animal Hospitals), and BluePearl Veterinary Partners. They even own the Wisdom Panel Dog DNA test kit company.
Just like in human medicine, consolidations abound! In case you're wondering YES! it's the same Mars company that makes M&M's, my personal fave, as well as Twix, Snickers, and other delicious candies, including the Mars chocolate bar of course!
We'd like to say a giant THANK YOU to Bayer Animal Health and Dr. Mark Walker for making this visit to Capital Veterinary Specialists possible! It was so educational, and really Fun meeting Dr. Walker and his talented veterinary staff!
On our trip to Jacksonville, we also had the privilege of visiting K9s For Warriors where we learned how they are helping military Veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disability (PTSD).
Have you ever used hydro therapy for dogs or experienced 3D printing to treat a pet's injury? Let us know in the comments!
