Mark Sharp, a veterinarian in Greenwood, Ark., helped Miller research and refine the implant. “Then everybody will know my company is the implant company, the eyes, the ears, the testicles, and God knows whatever else.”ĭr. “The direction I’m taking now is that I want to create whatever implantable device there is for pets,” he says. The ear implants and plastic testicles have Miller taking his inventions into the realm of animal implantation. “I’ve dribbled them out saleswise and they’re all doing just fine.” So far, 39 dogs have gotten the ear implants. He hopes the ear implants garner “mass appeal” and in a way Neuticals hasn’t. Noteable inventions include Sweet Tube, a long plastic tube that squeezes out jelly candy, and Neuticles, hard plastic testicular implants for pets. Miller, a former newspaper editor and reporter, became a consumer products inventor after running a successful advertising business. It usually takes 30 days to make a batch of the implants. One company does the cutting of the surgical mesh from a molding, another works on inserting the floral fluroplastic spine into the mesh, and the final company sterilizes the device. Miller hired three manufacturers to make the implant, which takes four production stages. Any dog owner can help their dog’s lame ear with the device, Miller says. When you’re showing a dog, Miller says, “that’s petty cash.”īut it’s not just limited to wealthy owners or show dog owners. Most of the ones he’s sold so far are to wealthy pet owners. “Let’s face it, this is definitely a luxury item.” The surgery cost is from $300 to $600.įive years in the making and countless hours of time in research and development racked up a $30,000 price tag. The implants' popularity is yet to be determined, of course, especially in a recession. “The dog doesn’t even know it’s there, it’s so humane.” “Once you put it in, the ear will automatically stand up,” Miller says. The German man had the prototype implanted. He developed a prototype and sold it to a German dog owner who had been inquiring about getting his shepherd’s injured ear implanted. The words that ran through his brain were “surgical mesh.” The mesh prevented infections in the ears. “But I knew if I gave up, then I knew I would fail.” It was killing him knowing he was creating a device that was hurting animals. The dogs used for the testing did not die in the process, Miller said. A 50 percent success rate would not cut it. Two dogs developed no infections, but two dogs did. It was softer, Miller thought, and would create less trauma and, thus, less infection.įour dogs got the silicon implants. Infections emerge if a foreign object is placed in the ear.Ī second clinical trial had the device made of silicon sheeting. It was horrible.”ĭog ears, Miller says, are sensitive. The ear would swell up and blood and puss would spurt out. “After that, these hideous infections would develop. “Everything would go fine at first, five or six weeks,” Miller says. But the rejection rate was more than 60 percent. A veterinarian inserted the device in two dogs. Miller first made the entire implant out of fluroplastic. This happens within 10 days of implantation.Įvery aspect of the device has a purpose after years of refinement and experimentation. In the center is a vertical strand of “fluroplastic” acting as a spine that lends support for the ear.Īn overlay of surgical mesh is welded over the plastic spine that allows tissue growth of the dog’s ear to actually grow within the mesh. The majority of the implant is made of medically approved micro thin surgical mesh. The implant measures 3 inches by 4 inches. So five years ago, Miller began been working on the invention. “They called up and said ‘how come you don’t make implants for dogs with broken ears?’ I’ve heard that a thousand times.” “You talk to all the pet owners,” Miller says. Some of the owners who gave their dogs fake testicles asked Miller about ear implants. Miller’s previous invention, plastic testicles for animals that have been neutered – aptly named “Neuticles” – led him to invent the implants. Consumer demand from dog owners drove Miller to the invention. They’re called PermaStay Ear Implants, used for canines with broken ears. “In all of animalkind, no one has ever been successful in coming out with an ear implant that works,” Miller says. Miller, an inventor who works out of his basement at his home in Oak Grove, calls the implants “revolutionary.”
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