In pics: This paralysed pooch walks again, thanks to some animal lovers

City-based animal welfare activists have created an affordable walker for partially paralysed canines.

Noida-based animal welfare activists have created an affordable walker for partially paralysed canines. The invention was the result of a distress call from some activists in Delhi, in which they asked Noida-based Sanjay Mohapatra to rescue a female dog, with three puppies, that was unable to move due to two paralysed rear limbs.

The dog had a fractured spine which had rendered her unable to walk. “After rescuing the dog and her pups from Delhi, our biggest challenge was to keep her alive. Two of our activists --- Abhishek Singh and Shubham Upadhyay --- took up the challenge of getting the dog back on her feet. They worked day and night, and came up with a light-weight affordable cart walker attachment to the dog, after which she started walking,” Mohapatra, who runs House of Stray Animals (HSA) at Sector 134, said. (HT Photo)

Singh, who contributed to the invention, said it was not an easy task to make a cheaper and lighter version of the walker, which is available in the market. (HT Photo)

“At present, there are two kinds of walkers available in the market --- a foreign model that costs around `40,000 and the Indian model that costs about Rs 10,000. Besides the cost, another major problem with these models is the weight, which is around 10-15 kg. It’s really uncomfortable for a paralysed dog to carry such a heavy cart,” Singh said. He said that their cart weighs around 2.5kg. (HT Photo)

“We don’t have a manufacturing unit for this. It was an invention which is a result of our love for canines and other animals. We want people to know about this. We are not going to make profits from this. It is purely for animal welfare,” Mohapatra said. (HT Photo)

Veterinary doctors, however, said that the reliability of such a walker has to be tested over a period of time. (HT Photo)