Handicapped Pets - For Elderly, Disabled, Special Needs, and Injured Pets

Pet care - Handicapped pet friendly facility

1 - Commitment:

            This pet care facility cares for handicapped, disabled, and special needs pets where such care will not threaten the health or safety of the pet, the staff, or other animals at the facility.

A)     Establishment will not apply additional charges for the care handicapped pets unless the charges can be shown to be directly associated with the care of the pet such as special food, medicines, or equipment needed that is not supplied by the pet owner.

B)     Staff of the establishment is willing to use any necessary equipment, as supplied by the pet owner, in the care of the pet. This includes

a.      wheelchairs

b.      walking assistance equipment like slings, harnesses, and rear-support leashes

c.      protective equipment such as pet boots, protective boots, or protective clothing

d.      and other equipment as needed by the animal and supplied by the pet owner.

2 – Capability

            This pet care facility has the capability to care for a handicapped pet.

A)     Establishment has a process and procedure in place for accepting and storing special equipment provided by the pet owner for the pet’s care such as a Special Equipment Intake Form (example attached). 

B)     Staff members are familiar with the use of basic handicapped pet care equipment. At least one full-time staff member or two part-time staff members are familiar with common pet care equipment per item 3, below).

C)    All areas that pets must have access to are pet-wheelchair accessible. In the event that there is a limit to the number of pets that can be housed in the handicapped pets accessible area, this will be specified in the application (for example, there could be only 10 first-floor sleeping facilities and the remaining require stairs)

3 - Education.

            One full-time or two part-time staff members are familiar with these procedures for every ten handicapped pets cared for at any one time.

    a) How to put on and use

a.      Front and rear harness.

b.      Belly-type Carrying sling

c.      Pet Wheelchair; support sling type and Fixed Saddle type.

d.      Pet boots and Leg Splints.

e.      Leg Wraps, Diapers.

    b) Expressing an animal (urinary and bowel).

    c) Exercise requirements & Methods

    d) Indications that veterinary care is needed

    e) Lifting a disabled animal

Dog Wheelchairs - 4th Graders raise money to buy wheelchair for injured pets

For the second year in a row, Kathy Barton, 4^th grade teacher in Velma, OK, brought her dog Hope into class. The twenty two 10 and 11 year old boys and girls kids loved playing with the fluffy white Australian Shepherd.

“Anybody notice anything different about him?” Kathy asked the first time she brought Hope into class. Several children looked puzzled.

“She’s blind.” Kathy said.

One student waved his hand in front of the dog’s nose. A pink tongue shot out and licked the boy’s fingers as if the dog could see perfectly well.

For the second year in a row, Kathy’s 4^th grade class was learning about handicapped pets; blind dogs, pets with cancer, and animals that need wheelchairs, harnesses, slings, pet diapers, and other handicapped pet equipment. Kathy Barton works closely with HandicappedPets.com, the leading website for products, services, and support for handicapped pets. She is teaching that pets (as well as people) with handicaps can lead happy, healthy lives and are treasured companions.

Soon this class, like last year’s would be planning bake sales, coke floats, and fund raisers to benefit their chosen special pet. Last year they raised enough money to help Johanna, a dog that had been injured by a gang of teens. They paid to fly the dog to her new home in Maine and purchased a wheelchair for her. This year, the class helped Scooter, a Chihuahua they found on the HandicappedPets.com website that was born without front legs or feet, but is otherwise completely healthy. They also made contributions to several handicapped pets organizations and put together ‘care packages’ for some of the animals pictured in the gallery section of HandicappedPets.com. Soon, they’ll be purchasing another wheelchair for a Handicapped Pomeranian in New York.

HandicappedPets.com is a complete resource for caretakers of elderly, disabled, and handicapped pets and includes products like wheelchairs for pets, pet diapers, special beds for incontinent pets, slings, orthopedic braces, and more. Also on the site are discussion areas, photo galleries, classified ads, articles, and other services and support for families and friends of handicapped pets.

Kathy Barton, along with thousands of teachers and caretakers around the country, work with HandicappedPets.com to create awareness that animals with disabilities can have quality lives and be an important part of a loving, caring family.