2004 – The Beginning: Founded by Dr. James St.Clair in 2004, TopDog Animal Health & Rehabilitation opened its doors as a local canine rehabilitation facility in central Connecticut. It quickly became apparent that pet owners were not being referred to TopDog from their veterinarian, but instead seeking us out on their own. At first this was very discouraging that other veterinarians did not understand the value of physical therapy and would not recommend this to their patients. In addition, we began collecting all of the discharge instructions that were given out to our clients after their dogs’ surgery and began the process of trying to improve on these vital guidelines for post-surgery care. There was a wide diversity when it came to the amount of information given to the owners and most of the time it was downright sad. It always amazed us that after spending thousands of dollars on major orthopedic surgeries, these pet owners were being given no guidance as to how to help their dogs heal and recover with success.
2005 – The Focus on Client Education: Dr. St.Clair began the process of writing and detailing every aspect of post-operative care that a pet owner would need to help their dog heal after various orthopedic surgeries. This was the beginning of our client education guides called TopDog’s Home Therapy Guides: A Step-by-Step Guide to Post-Surgical Home Therapy for Pet Owners. Currently on their fourth generation, these simple to read guides have been appreciated by tens of thousands of pet owners across the globe.
2006 – Product Development Continues: Just as the Home Therapy Booklets filled a large gap that Dr. St.Clair defined, more of these gaps continued to reveal themselves. It always amazed us that animal hospitals across the country would often send a pet owner home with a towel to support the hind-end of a dog after surgery. A towel? Once again we went back to the design lab and developed a much more affordable and safe way to control and support a dog after surgery, or even for older dogs suffering with arthritis. The outcome was our SupportRx Total Body Harness System, an incredible front-end and hind-end support harness. This harness provided the support that a veterinarian would want for their patient, with the ease of use that any pet owner longs for when their dog is in need of additional support. The second huge problem that we needed to address was the overall lack of post-op icing and follow-up heat therapy performed on patients after major orthopedic surgeries in animal hospitals and pet owners’ homes across the country. In our market research we found that animal hospitals did not ice for one of two reasons, they never even thought about it or they just did not think it was important. If a hospital did post-op ice, they would assign a technician to sit with the dog for 10-20 minutes and hold the ice manually. In order for TopDog to change these habits, we needed to accomplish two things, educate veterinarians about the importance of post-op icing and make it incredibly easy and hands-free so that it would not take up valuable technician time. In addition, we wanted to develop a product that was affordable enough that the hospital would then send it home with their patients. We accomplished all of this by design the ThermaVet Hot&Cold Wrap, a completely hands-free option for effective thermal therapy.
2007 – Focus Turns Towards Comprehensive Joint Health: Over the years pet owners would come into TopDog with bags of the supplements that they were giving to their dogs. Some were good… but many were bad. Again, it quickly became apparent that most pet owners were not educated properly or warned of the diversity of joint supplements that were on the market. In 2006, Dr. St.Clair began what was going to be a monumental relationship with Dr. Ronald Breteler, a scientist who had spent the last 10 years “cracking the code” on designing and manufacturing only the highest quality animal nutraceuticals available. Throughout 2006, Dr. St.Clair and Dr. Breteler spent countless hours discussing exactly the type of supplement that Dr. St.Clair wanted for his patients. Understanding that their was a tremendous amount of “junk”products on the market, TopDog set out on designing and manufacturing its own line of joint health supplements that would be second-to-none. Establishing the core philosophy of putting only the best pharmaceutical-grade ingredients into its products and using a scientific formula founded on comprehensive joint health (i.e. powerful chondroprotectants with powerful natural anti-inflammatories), GlycanAid was introduced into the TopDog family line of products. Two versions of GlycanAid were developed: GlycanAid Maintenance Formula, which was the complete package for ongoing joint health and arthritis prevention; and the GlycanAid-HA Advanced Formula, specifically designed for dogs who were post-op or for dogs suffering with moderate to severe arthritis. Since putting both of these products on the market, TopDog has defined itself as a leader in the marketplace when it comes to joint health.
2009 – Product Licensing: Coming off of a world-wind explosion of its GlycanAid Joint Health Supplements, we at TopDog still felt as if there was more that needed to be offered to pet owners and veterinarians in terms of powerful natural anti-inflammatories. Far too many veterinarians across the country prescribe NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) as a first line of defense when it comes to treating and managing osteoarthritis. These medications, though very effective many times, come with potential short and long-term side effects. Pet owners across the country are becoming increasingly aware of these potentially life-threatening side effects and are looking for more natural options, especially when it comes to long-term management. Early in 2009, TopDog was approached by Dr. Kent VanKampen the CEO of SVK Laboratories, who has recently signed a deal of licensing and distribution of a very unique, patented and proprietary product called Supernol ®. Supernol ® is the ultra-pure extracted oil from the coveted Green Lipped Mussel of New Zealand. For over three decades these mussels have been researched and studied extensively as to their incredible healing properties. The problem in the early days was the overall handling and processing of the mussel tissue. It was not until recently that innovative technology was developed by Bionovata, Inc. in order to adequately preserve the very potent Omega 3 oils found in these mussels. In addition, Bionovata Inc., an international research firm, then developed a patented and proprietary combination of adding this extracted oil with a low molecular weight Hyaluronic Acid to form what they term, Supernol ®. Timing is everything and TopDog was primed to sign licensing contracts to market and distribute Supernol ® to the canine arthritis market. We call this product Flexerna™ and there is not a shadow of a doubt that it will solidify TopDog Animal Health & Rehabilitation as a true leader in the canine arthritis market. Clinical studies are currently underway.
