Wheel Chairs

Alright, this question comes up. How do you build a cart, because they are NOT cheap!

First, check on ebay and on the handicapped pets websites, sometimes you will see one given away or sold.

The patterns is allot llike a horse drawn cart, except instead of the cart behind the animal, the wheels go straight down from the hips. I can say I do not use a cart with Boogar anymore, he crashed into so many things in my house and got stuck...he loved it outside though.

What it did for him is taught him proper walking position, enough so that he figured out how he was supposed to move. His spine did the rest. Mammals have the ability to form a thickened area in the spine below the injury, much like a dinosaurs 'hindbrain'. This becomes a second, not very smart walking brain. Singals from the legs go to the spine, but instead of going to the brain for processing, then head right back down to the feet. There is no 'feeling' because the brian isn't recieving it. But the spine is receiving signals.

This creates reflex or spinal cord walking.

Take a good look at the picture. The frame is light aluminim rods. The wheels are toy wheels or light tool wheels. Around Boogars hips are two bars that have been bent into circles for his legs to go through, padded and wrapped in tape and joined together underneath him ( you can't see that) so that they are like a 'V'.

The wheels have a bar between them, and they connect to a frame that goes up and over. Think of a square of wire rod or rectangle, the bottom bar holds the wheels and the top bar makes sor tof a 'handle' above the hips...and I used it as a handle to grab hin when he took off after bugs...

What holds this all in place is padded straps over his shoulders (1) and under his belly (2)...a well fitted pet harness might also work.

Look around online at the different styles out there. Some of the sites have detailed pictures. Hardware stores have most of the parts. Print a photo and take it in and ask the guys that work there...

Anyone who has a photo of a home made cart, if you want to share photos and plans, let me know....I'll post them.

cool links for carts
http://www.k9cartswest.com/
http://handicappedpets.com/www/index.php/help-pets-walk.html
http://www.webvet.com/main/article?id=2012

boogars cart is by k9carts, made in 2000