Canine cervical brace

The present invention relates to a canine cervical brace for immobilizing the neck and thoracic-lumbar regions of a dog following surgery in those regions. More specifically the brace includes an anterior neck restraining sling which is held in position by a pair of bilateral checkrein straps which are secured to a body blanket. The blanket is held in position by an underbelly retaining member which is integral with the blanket at its front portion and secured by girth straps around the body in the chest and abdominal portions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Canine surgery and particularly surgery to the cervical spine requires 
postoperative immobilization which is difficult to achieve with available 
apparatus. There has been some use made of human knee braces placed around 
the neck for this purpose but the fit cannot be made precise and neck and 
head movement is not constrained in the most desirable manner. 
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus for 
restricting the movement of the neck, head and thoracic vertebrae of a dog 
following any surgery where immobilization is desirable. 
A second object of the invention is to provide a device of the type 
described which can be easily placed on the animal and adjusted to the fit 
necessary to properly accomplish the immobilization.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring to the figures of the drawings, the cervical neck brace 2 of the 
present invention includes a generally rectangularly shaped longitudinally 
stiffened but laterally flexible upper body blanket member 4 adapted to 
cover the back of the animal and depend down over each side of its body. 
Integral with the body blanket 4 and extending from its right front corner 
(as seen in FIG. 2) is a narrowed underbody or belly member 6 which folds 
down over the right shoulder and extends rearwardly between the animal's 
front legs so as to lie against the chest and belly. 
Extending from the left front corner of the blanket 4 is the neck restraint 
sling 8 which is directed down across the left shoulder and lies against 
the anterior portion of the neck and upper chest. The purposes of the 
rearwardly extending and stiffened body blanket 4 and the belly member 6 
is to "splint" the thoracic and lumbar regions and to provide a stabilized 
anchoring platform to secure the neck restraining sling 8. 
To maintain the sling 8 tightly drawn against the anterior neck, a pair of 
checkrein straps 10 and 12 are fixed to the free end of the sling 8 and 
are adapted to extend diagonally back across each side of the neck 
respectively and attach to mating pairs of "Velcro" fasteners 14, 16, 18 
and 20 sewn to the top front portion of the blanket 4. Additional rigid 
bonding of the sling 8 to the body blanket 4 is achieved with a right 
shoulder strap 24 attached to the lower portion of the sling 8 and adapted 
to lie against the right shoulder, similar to the integral connection 25 
between the blanket and the sling which lies over the left shoulder. The 
free end of the right shoulder strap is secured to the front right side of 
the blanket 4 by a "Velcro" fastener 27 lying underneath a belt loop 28. 
Further securing of the sling 8 is provided by complimentary attaching 
patches 29a and 29b of "Velcro" on the bottom of the sling 8 and the inner 
end of the belly member 6. With the checkrein straps cinched tight and 
secured to the front portion of the back blanket, as described, the dog is 
prevented from lowering its head or bending its neck with movement that 
may be harmful to the surgical site. 
The purposes of the belly member 6 are twofold. First, the belly member, by 
being located between the front legs, keeps the body blanket from rotating 
on the dog's body whereby the restraining sling would move to a position 
on the side of the neck, which would not serve its proper function. 
Secondly, the rearward extension of the belly member to the smaller girth 
of the abdominal section of the dog serves to maintain the restraining 
sling 8 on the lower and middle portions of the neck by preventing the 
device from "climbing" to the upper and smaller part of the neck where the 
checkrein straps would be too loose to be effective. 
The belly member 6 is secured to the rear of the body blanket 4 by girth 
belt bands 30 and 31 which are attached to the rear portion of the belly 
member and trained through a pair of belt loops 32 and 33 on the top and 
rear portion of the blanket. The ends of the girth bands 30 and 31 are 
fastened together by well known "Velcro" techniques or other convenient 
means, such as a buckle and may also be secured to the lower sides of the 
blanket 4 by "Velcro" patches 61 and 62. 
Further, and in order to maximize the splinting effect of the body blanket 
on the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine, a second girth belt 52 is 
sewn to the belly member 6 at a point just anterior of the front legs. 
This second belt 52 encircles the body and is disposed beneath belt loops 
53 and 54 attached to the blanket 4 and is secured to "Velcro" fasteners 
55 and 56, also attached to the blanket 4, along its lower depending side 
portions. 
In order to provide the desirable longitudinal "splinting" rigidity to the 
entire structure while maintaining reasonable lateral flexibility of body 
fit for different size animals, the body blanket 4 is stiffened by a 
plurality of flat metal straps 40, 41 and 42 which are retained by casings 
43, 44 and 45, respectively, integral with the top and sides of the 
blanket. Similarly the sling 8 may advantageously be stiffened and made 
rigid by a pair of "T" spaced flat metal structures 48 and 49, likewise 
held in appropriate casings which are sewn or otherwise attached to the 
sling 8. 
A leach loop 50 can be attached to the top of the blanket to serve instead 
of a neck collar, the stiffeners 40, 41 and 42 providing appropriate 
structural integrity to keep the leash tension from buckling the blanket.