How to Succeed in Animal O&P Care

Successful leaders in the field shared advice concerning training and preparation for those seeking to establish and grow an add-on or stand-alone O&P animal-care business—and their potential employees: Is specialized training necessary? What should you study? Whom should you recruit? Is Specialized Training Necessary? “Yes, definitely,” replies Angela Boncz, CTPO, Specialized Pet Solutions, Washington. “If entrepreneurs aren’t prepared to do the work properly, they won’t succeed, and their performance will reflect poorly on the rest of the animal O&P care facilities—and potentially damage the level of credibility and trust they’ve earned, as well.” She recommends transitioning from human O&P into full-time veterinary care for training rather than adding it as a sideline to a regular human O&P business. “You’d be better off with that kind of hands-on experience than just coming straight out of school. “Animals are completely different, so studying animal anatomy should be at the top of one’s list, and learning a bit about human resources wouldn’t hurt. “I’ve struggled with finding employees,” she says. “I’ve hired O&P technicians who really didn’t have a lot of experience in even basic knowledge. Look for somebody who’s eager to get into the animal O&P industry, like one with human O&P experience if they have basic skills as a technician. “Vet techs are great. They’ll know more anatomy, and they’re going to be more familiar with animals, and know how to handle them. “Look for someone who is artsy, with the hand skills to design and craft solutions, because it’s a very creative area.” What Should You Study? [caption id="attachment_249253" align="alignright" width="225"] Santoro casts Remy, for a CCL brace. Assisting are instructors at IIOP, Heather Coffey, holding Remy, and Brad Martin, applying plaster.[/caption] Kristen Santoro and Maddie Jannott, students at the International Institute of Orthotics and Prosthetics, designed and implemented a project to survey O&P practitioners concerning their interest and experience with veterinary O&P. They received responses from several who had participated in efforts to provide care to a variety of animals, including dogs, horses, bald eagles, cows, and a bull. Their survey was undertaken to increase their understanding and experience in the field. They are also expanding their knowledge of quadruped anatomy by fabricating two braces for a dog with a torn cranial cruciate ligament; the performance of the braces—and measurable improvements in the dog’s mobility—will be reported in a study comparing the brace with two single-axis tamarack joints to a brace utilizing two polycentric or multiaxial joints. The study will include gait analysis and monitoring of the dog’s rehab therapy program. Kevin Carroll, MS, CP, FAAOP(D), vice president of lower extremity prosthetics, Hanger Clinic, Texas, has noticed a recent upsurge in O&P students interested in pursuing a career specializing in animal care. He encourages their interest, suggesting that they pursue it by identifying potential mentors in the animal O&P care field. “There are experienced people in this business they should reach out to,” he says. “Going it alone, you’re just experimenting. Having somebody that can give you some guidance is better than trial and error. Reach out to people that you know have had experience in working with animals; to try it by yourself could cause just a lot of anguish for you and potentially the patients.” He recommends a residency with one of the experienced people in the field—after first qualifying as a CPO. Frank Snell, president and CEO, Snell Prosthetics & Orthotics, Arkansas, who has spent a lifetime in the family O&P business that offered no training in animal care, shares relevant wisdom: “I don’t know the first thing about dog or cat anatomy; that would be my shortcoming. If I were to charge for something and represent myself as an expert professional in veterinary O&P care, I’d need far more credentials than I have. For a minimum, those credentials should include vet tech schools, or at least the anatomy classes you’d find there.” Commenting on some veterinarians’ wariness of animal O&P providers who send bracing kits by mail, he advises, “If you’re going to make a successful business of it, you’ve got to prepare yourself both educationally and experientially.” Ben Blecha, CPO, founder of Hero Braces, Nebraska, agrees, and spends a lot of time educating students. “We go to several vet schools and a lot of vet certifications, and we actually teach casting and bracing courses all over the world. So we’ve put a lot of our effort into continuing education and being involved with the universities at that base level. “This is just one tool in a veterinarian’s toolbox. And this is still a niche market, so there’s only a handful of people providing this service. Most veterinarians don’t have the mechanical-spatial skills like the prosthetists and orthotists have; they’re more on the empathy and science side of physiology. There’s a subset of physical therapy and orthopedic surgery that understand it more. “Orthopedic surgeons tend to regard bracing as more of a competitor,” Blecha says. “So there’s some resistance from orthopedic surgeons in the veterinary field. Because in human medicine we do surgery and a brace and physical therapy and all these different modalities. But in vet medicine, the dog owner only has a set amount of financial assets to put into it, so they choose: Are they going to do a brace—or surgery—or physical therapy? They might be able to do a couple, but generally not all of them. “The fact of the matter is, there are several dogs that can’t have the surgery, and that’s really who we’re trying to help.” Whom Should You Recruit? Bobbie Adams, RVT, CCRP, MSPO, LPO, veterinary O&P strategy and development coordinator, OrthoPets, Colorado, notes that people with mechanical engineering degrees are very smart, but that’s not a substitute for learning veterinary anatomy. “And while you may be a human physician or nurse or CP or what-have-you—the pathophysiology of the disease in the dog or cat is different than in humans. Obviously, the biomechanics of how that quadruped moves is different than in a human, and animal behavior is far different from human behavior. So those four major categories—anatomy, pathophysiology, biomechanics, animal behavior—reveal huge discrepancies between what the person’s base knowledge might be and what it could be. “Most veterinary O&P clientele are going to seek out the people with the expertise that have the specialized knowledge and the blend of skills to properly care for their pet—because most of the time, when these pet parents find you, they want a guarantee,” Adams says. “And while we can’t give them a guarantee, we can explain why we are equipped to help them and their pet through their vet’s diagnosis.” This is the knowledge that leads to success in animal O&P. Blecha feels that anyone planning to set up an animal O&P add-on or stand-alone business would assuredly find that a background in O&P is helpful. “Right now, there’s still a lot of trial and tribulations within the field because the textbooks aren’t written yet. I’m contributing the O&P chapter to a vet rehab textbook, but that’s in no way close to what we have in human O&P, where we have the Human Atlas of Orthotics and the Atlas of Prosthetics as comprehensive references. “Alternatively, getting into a company where you can be mentored would be helpful.” Editor’s note: The third edition of the textbook " Canine Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy" by Dr. Daryl Millis and Dr. David Levine, is expected to be available in 2024.

How to Succeed in Animal O&P Care

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