Committed to Your Pet’s Health & Mobility with Specialized Dog Braces
Pets are part of our families, so when they experience injuries or conditions that limit their mobility, you want compassionate, caring professionals to provide options and solutions that meet your pet’s needs and get them back to a healthy active lifestyle.
Pet Ortho Braces provides custom bracing and prosthetics for dogs and other animals to get them back to a healthy active lifestyle.
How Custom Bracing Works
Evaluating Your Pet
Our certified clinicians work with pet owners and veterinarians to understand the underlying condition and recommended treatment. If your pet has already been evaluated, please contact us or we can provide an overview before you see the veterinarian.
Custom Fabrication
Each animal has unique anatomy, so each orthotic and prosthetic device is custom molded and fabricated to your pet, ensuring the best outcome during the healing process. Our team has 20+ years experience designing custom prosthetics and orthotics.
Fitting & Adjustments
Once fabrication is complete, your pet will be fit with the custom brace, making sure it has proper fit and function to achieve the desired outcome. We’ll provide instructions and test the device on your pet, ensuring the animal moves appropriately while healing.
Ongoing Treatment
Our treatment protocol includes follow up appointments during the 14 week healing process to make any adjustments needed. We work closely with veterinarians, make adjustments as needed and do follow ups at our clinic or your vet’s office in the Phoenix area.
A Non-Surgical Alternative
In some cases, custom bracing can be used as an alternative to surgery. The most common need we see in our practice is for dogs with torn or damaged cranial cruciate ligaments (CCLs). The CCL is an important ligament inside the knee (stifle) joints of dogs. In people, it is referred to as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The ligament plays an important role in stabilizing the stifle during weight-bearing.
Surgery can be utilized, but for some pets, surgery is not an option due to the pet’s age, budget or other reasons. Many pets will see the same benefit with a custom orthotic brace and treatment protocol. See our Success Stories page or YouTube channel to see the braces in action.
Meet Our Team
David Vowels, CPO
David Vowels, CPO, serves as President and leads clinical operations for Pet Ortho Braces. David, an ABC Certified Prosthetist and Orthotist, has 20+ years experience evaluating, designing and fitting prosthetics and orthotics. He provides on-site and video consultations with pet owners and veterinarians to ensure they develop the best treatment plan for the pet.
Once a treatment plan is established, David oversees the custom fabrication, fitting and follow up to ensure optimal outcomes.
Mark Robinson
Mark Robinson serves as advisor to Pet Ortho Braces. Mark and David launched Pet Ortho Braces in 2022, following Mark’s extensive career leading Handicapped Pets and Walkin’ Pets, where his services helped the lives of more than 1 million animals across the world.
Mark is passionate about helping pets and their owners, especially those pets who have been impacted by an injury or condition that is keeping them from living an active, healthy life.
Diana Vowels
Diana Vowels is cofounder and COO of Pet Ortho Braces, bringing deep experience in healthcare, veterinary, tech education and media. A proven operator and community builder, she’s been named a Top Tech Leader and led startups and scaleups across Arizona’s innovation ecosystem, including as CEO of StartupAZ and Arizona General Manager at Galvanize. Diana currently serves on multiple nonprofit boards and is passionate about empowering others through entrepreneurship, leadership, and service.
Mark Aggen, Technician
Mark Aggen serves as an orthotic and prosthetic technician. His work includes design, fabrication, laminations and adjustments to custom braces.
Mark has 10+ years experience in the orthotic and prosthetic field.
Austin Hawes, CoF Clinical Specialist
Austin Hawes, certified orthotic fitter, combines his expertise in orthotics and a Kinesiology degree to offer clinical evaluations, treatment plans, and fabrication, alongside community outreach. His love for animals and orthotic knowledge ensures exceptional care for our clients.
Our Veterinary Partners
We work closely with veterinarians, surgeons and technicians across the Phoenix market.
We often see pet owners looking referrals for veterinary services, particularly practices specializing in rehabilitation and orthopedic care. If your practice wants to join our network, please contact us.
“Arnold was born with deformed paws so he could barely walk. His braces helped him so much as he grew. He’s now such a happy dog, loves the outdoors and hiking the mountains nearby.”
Lexi, Phoenix
Arnold’s Pet Parent
Contact Pet Ortho Braces
Flexible appointments at our Scottsdale location.
Call 602-456-2511