Derrick Campana is an animal orthotist who creates braces and artificial limbs to help increase animals’ mobility and improve their lives. Campana is one out of ten people in the world who make custom animal prosthetics, according to the Washington Business Journal. It’s amazing just how mobile animals with prosthetics can be, these few people are making a profound impact.
In 2004, Campana founded the Animal Ortho care in Sterling, Virginia, and since then, he has helped over 20,000 animals. The company sends out kits to pet owners and veterinarians so they can cast molds of their pets or patients. Then, they send back the casting kits, where campana crafts a personalized prosthetic, or brace, out of thermoplastic material.
Despite his success, this was not a planned career path for Campana. He went to college to learn how to make prosthetics and orthotics for humans, but after a he made a limb for a chocolate lab named Charles, he never turned back. He explains,
I was doing the whole ‘human thing’…but a vet brought in her dog, who needed a prosthetic, to my human practice. I made a prosthetic that was a success, and I immediately knew that this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life
Since he started, his client base has grown dramatically. Now, he doesn’t only treat dogs or cats, he’s also making prosthetics for camels, horses, gazelles, sheep, birds, and elephants. “Now we’re seeing people caring about animals more, and we’re showing the world that things like dog prosthetics exist, and you can give your animals a second chance,” Campana proclaimed.
Campana said:
If you bring a dog in with a fractured toe, a traditional vet might amputate the entire limb. But even though people say ‘my dog does pretty well on three legs,’ when you hop on one leg, the rest of your body can break down so quickly. We have proven that we can tack on at least two years to a dog’s life by adding a prosthetic.
The prosthetic pieces Campanas creates are made from medical-grade plastics and custom-made to fit each animal. The prices run around $1,000 for prosthetic limbs and $500 for braces, which are much less expensive than surgery. For example, surgery to fix a dog’s torn ACL can cost around $3,300.
