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While there&/news2022-07a/8217;s no denying the healthcare textile market for humans is a booming business, the same can certainly be said for those of the four-legged population. In fact, researchers estimate the veterinary equipment and disposables market to .

Through organizations like ., fabrics are being used to add extra functionality and ease of use for wound care management in both veterinary and equine care uses.

And institutions like are creating innovative smart textiles to aid veterinarians and other caregivers in providing the best possible care for their animals.

Cohesive Flexible Bandages & Veterinary Tape

Through its . produces cohesive flexible bandages, synthetic adhesive tape, and wound management systems for the veterinary market.

Photo courtesy of Milliken & Co.

According to Julie Gatto, vice-president of global sales at Milliken & Co., the majority of these products use Milliken&/news2022-07a/8217;s warp knit weft insertion fabric. For example, with the company&/news2022-07a/8217;s PetFlex and PowerFlex lines of cohesive bandages, the warp knit weft insertion fabric is used as the base textile that is then coated with a cohesive.

Gatto says the Milliken fabric provides a number of benefits for the cohesive bandages, including high abrasion resistance and the ability to hand-tear the bandages. &/news2022-07a/8220;(That) really changed the cohesive bandage in the market because you didn&/news2022-07a/8217;t need bandage scissors,&/news2022-07a/8221; she explains.

Additionally, the cohesive bandages are self-adhering. And they only adhere to themselves — they do not stick to animal skin or fur.

The PetFlex cohesive flexible bandage is sold into the companion animal market for use on dogs and cats. &/news2022-07a/8220;It comes in fun prints (and colors) — we even made a glitter PetFlex at one point,&/news2022-07a/8221; Gatto says. &/news2022-07a/8220;That will be used mostly in your veterinary practice when you bring in your dog or cat and they might use an IV or they may wrap a wound or something with it.&/news2022-07a/8221;

The PowerFlex line, Gatto says, features a stronger warp net wet insertion fabric, allowing it to be used in the equine market to protect the limbs of larger animals. &/news2022-07a/8220;On the Kentucky Derby &/news2022-07a/8230; you&/news2022-07a/8217;ll see all the horses &/news2022-07a/8230; their legs are wrapped,&/news2022-07a/8221; she says. &/news2022-07a/8220;They wrap with PowerFlex bandages.&/news2022-07a/8221;

Photo courtesy of Milliken & Co.

Milliken&/news2022-07a/8217;s all-in-one wound management systems, PetFlex AFD and PowerFlex AFD, utilize the base cohesive bandage with an absorbent foam attached to the bandage. &/news2022-07a/8220;It&/news2022-07a/8217;s for quick application in a wound situation where you put it on the wound, and then you can apply the cohesive (bandage) over the top of it, which is stretchy, so it offers compression to help stop the bleeding,&/news2022-07a/8221; Gatto adds.

And the company&/news2022-07a/8217;s PawTape uses the same base fabric. Gatto says because it is a synthetic-based product, it does not stretch and loosen like a cotton-based veterinary tape might. &/news2022-07a/8220;So, if you&/news2022-07a/8217;re using it in any kind of high endurance areas, particularly with a horse, it&/news2022-07a/8217;s not going to stretch out like a cotton tape would,&/news2022-07a/8221; she explains. &/news2022-07a/8220;The synthetic tape just stretches less.&/news2022-07a/8221;

Large Animal Smart Sensing Textiles

A closer look at the specially designed pre-programmed patterns of sensors on the inside of a horse slicker designed for remote health monitoring. The horse slicker is designed by a team of engineering researchers at Purdue led by Chi Hwan Lee, Leslie A. Geddes associate professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. (Purdue University photo/Rebecca McElhoe)

Speaking of horses and other large livestock animals, in February, Chi Hwan Lee, associate professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, and his team including Laurent Couëtil, professor of large animal internal medicine in Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Martin Byung-Guk Jun, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue&/news2022-07a/8217;s School of Mechanical Engineering, published a study on the use of a &/news2022-07a/8220;smart&/news2022-07a/8221; horse slicker used for monitoring a horse&/news2022-07a/8217;s health.

According to Lee, the research team developed a novel manufacturing method called dual regime spray. This spraying technique allows them to apply submillimeter resolution lines — either curved or straight — onto any textile. &/news2022-07a/8220;It actually deposits nano-conducting nanoparticles into the inside of fabrics, along with additional pre-programmed lines of encapsulation material, so that your textile can become functional after the spraying process,&/news2022-07a/8221; Lee explains.

For their project, the team used a commercially available horse slicker. As the horse wears the slicker, it is connected to a separate portable unit that wirelessly transmits data via Bluetooth to a veterinarian or rancher&/news2022-07a/8217;s laptop, iPad, or smartphone.

A horse wears the smart horse slicker designed by a Purdue University research team. (Purdue University photo/Rebecca McElhoe)

&/news2022-07a/8220;This smart horse slicker is capable of monitoring muscle activity, which are EMG signals, and heart activity, which are ECG signals,&/news2022-07a/8221; Lee says. &/news2022-07a/8220;Caregivers or veterinarians can get important health signals or data from a remote distance without being on site.&/news2022-07a/8221;

Since the release of their study earlier this year, Lee and his team are now using the smart horse slicker for the remote management of chronic horse diseases, such as asthma. &/news2022-07a/8220;We are now trying to … customize this same … design layout in the horse slicker to detect the respiration rate and some others that could be useful for the monitoring of horses with asthma,&/news2022-07a/8221; Lee explains.

&/news2022-07a/8220;We want to deploy a number of these horses slickers to the horses in a farm,&/news2022-07a/8221; he continues. &/news2022-07a/8220;And then we want to collect all the 24-hour respiration rate signals from a number of horses in a farm to the veterinarians so that they can manage the disease in a very efficient way. That&/news2022-07a/8217;s something that we are currently doing.&/news2022-07a/8221;

Although the smart horse slicker is not commercially available yet, that is something Lee and his team wish to achieve. They currently have a US patent pending for their design.

The Future of Animal Healthcare Textiles

So, what&/news2022-07a/8217;s next for textiles in the animal healthcare market?

Gatto says they see a few distinct trends, including a need for wicking and cooling textiles in the equine market, such as seen in the human apparel market. &/news2022-07a/8220;That may be a coat you put over the top of (a horse) or something to cool them down if they&/news2022-07a/8217;re performance horses, or just in general,&/news2022-07a/8221; she explains. &/news2022-07a/8220;I think that cooling fabrics, particularly in the equine segment, are very popular.&/news2022-07a/8221;

Photo courtesy of Milliken & Co.

There is a growing demand for sustainability in the animal health market, including a focus around biodegradable fabrics, Gatto says. &/news2022-07a/8220;Particularly a lot of times in the dairy market or even in the equine segment of the market, when you use textile (based products) on the animals and the animals are outside (and) if it falls off, there&/news2022-07a/8217;s definitely a desire to have more biodegradable products just in general,&/news2022-07a/8221; she explains.

And both Gatto and Lee agree there is a definite trend towards more smart textiles in the animal healthcare industry.

&/news2022-07a/8220;There have been great developments in the wearable technologies out there &/news2022-07a/8230; this sort of technology has been immersed so repeatedly for the last decade,&/news2022-07a/8221; Lee says. &/news2022-07a/8220;But most of this wearable sensing technology has been tailored for humans — (there are) not many cases for animals. There is a huge market potential in caring for large animals or small animals through the use of this wearable sensing technology.&/news2022-07a/8221;

Thanks to companies like Milliken and researchers like Lee and his team at Purdue, there is no denying textiles will continue to play an important role in the animal healthcare industry.

ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥ the Author

is a journalist, editor, and freelance writer with more than 23 year experience. A former associate editor for Nonwovens Industry, her byline can be found in a variety of consumer and trade publications, with past and current clients including Medical News Today, Rinksider Magazine, Hometalk.com, PassportHealth.com, Funworld magazine, and Sacramento News & Review, as well as ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥Review and ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥News.