Calf Fitted With Two Artificial Legs

Calf Fitted With Two Artificial Legs AG WORLD 34-2-23 Thanks to two prosthetic hind legs, Meadow, a yearling Black Angus calf, runs and grazes with other animals at her home in northeastern New Mexico. While the cost of surgery and prosthetic limbs doesn't make sense for most livestock, Meadow falls into the pet category. Her new owners rescued her after her ears and back hooves were severely frostbitten. She was taken to Colorado State University veterinarians who coordinated with OrthoPets in Denver, Colo., to make suitable prosthetics. "First, the calf was fitted with temporary prosthetics," explains Dr. Rob Callan, head of the university's livestock unit at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. "Then a surgery was performed to amputate the distal right rear limb at the level of the fetlock. After surgery, we waited about three weeks for the calf to acclimate, and then a second surgery was performed on the left rear limb. Finally, castings were made of the amputated limbs and the prosthetics were made to conform to the legs. It took about another two weeks to get the final prosthetics and try them on. There have been some minor adjustments to the prosthetics since then." Prosthetics have been used on other livestock, but Meadow may be the first double amputee. Callan notes that the yearling surprised everyone with how well she did. "While this is not cost effective or practical for regular commercial livestock, it is something that can be considered for pet livestock or livestock with high genetic merit," Callan says. Martin Kaufmann, owner of OrthoPets says that 90 percent of their patients are dogs. Often things such as ACL injuries can be treated with a $600-$800 orthotic brace or prosthetic instead of expensive surgeries. But, the company he and his wife started 6 years ago has also worked with larger livestock including llamas, horses, goats and two calves. "Our tagline is that if we have an animal with a heartbeat and an appendage, it's a candidate," Kaufmann says. They take molds and build a Stage 1 device. Then they tweak it to create the final prosthetic that can be adjusted slightly if the animal grows. Cost for prosthetics for larger breeds ranges from $1,500 to $2,000. The biggest challenge, Kaufmann says, is making the prosthetic durable and easy to clean in the dirt and manure environment cattle live. Meadow wears her prosthetics 24/7, but they are checked often to make sure they aren't rubbing or causing problems. The prosthetics are made out of hard plastic, silicone and foam, and fasten with Velcro straps. Months after amputation, Meadow is doing fine according to her owners. They were willing to pay thousands of dollars for the surgery and prosthetics to save her, because she quickly became one of their cherished family pets. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dell Rae Moellenberg, Colorado State University, 311 Administration Building, Fort Collins, Colo. 80523-0114 (ph 970 491-6009; DellRae.Mollenburg@ColoSta), OrthoPets, 702 West 48th Ave., Unit H, Denver, Colo. 80216 (ph 303 953-2545; www.orthopets.com).

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