3D Printing Is Helping Animals Too!

3D Printing Is Helping Animals Too!

Yesterday we told you about how 3D Printing is being used to combat cancer. Today we are looking at how 3D Printing can help improve or even save the life of your pet or livestock.
http://allabout3dprinting.allabout3d...ot-300x224.jpgButtercup’s New Foot!

How much is the life of an animal worth? Thoughts are usually: “Is it a loved pet, valued livestock, or rare animal?” If my answer to any of those options was ‘yes’, then most people would say: “as much as could be afforded”. In the realm of injuries and disabilities, being able to afford the necessary care for a person or even an animal that is important to us is a very real concern.
As the availability increases and the price decreases, 3D Printing is being looked to as a solution for affordable prosthetic limbs. Buttercup was born in a high school biology lab with one foot facing the wrong way. Using regular techniques, the cost of a prosthetic foot, even for a duck, would be very expensive. But thanks to 3D Printing, Buttercup was able to get his new 3D Printed Prosthetic foot for a fraction of the cost.
http://allabout3dprinting.allabout3d...ot-300x202.jpgButtercup Admires His New 3D Printed Foot!

Mike Garey of the Waterfowl Sanctuary (Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary) in Arlington, Tennessee, cared and reached out to the 3D Printing specialists Novacopy. Technically, Buttercup’s foot isn’t 3D Printed; a mould was designed using CAD software and 3D Printed. Silicone was chosen as the material for the Prosthetic due to its flexibility and then poured into the mould to then make the foot. It took about 13 hours to make the mould for this Prosthetic foot. In a world of 3D Printing, making a Prosthetic limb for “just a duck”, is not only possible but even practical in many instances.
Do you think the time taken and money spent using 3D Printing to help a duck was worth it?