Animal ambulances
Animal ambulances from Animedix are available in a range of sizes and based on various vehicle brands and models to meet our clients’ preferences. Some require a small vehicle such as the Renault Kangoo, Ford Transit Courier, or Fiat Doblo (all of which provide a floor space of around 1.8 metres length by 1.5 metres wide) whilst others request larger models such as the Ford Transit Custom, Fiat Scudo or Peugeot Expert. There are many more models than these to choose from.
Animedix ambulances also come with a variety of interior layouts and on-board equipment reflecting the diverse operational requirements of mobile animal ambulances with no two businesses being quite the same due to varying geographics and populations.
Animal ambulances how they are used and by whom.
The how, why and by whom the animal ambulance is to be used significantly influences how we undertake the van conversion.
Veterinary Practice animal ambulances
Our ambulances are used by veterinary practices to enhance the services they provide to their customers and provide an additional income stream. A proportion of pet owners do not have their own pet friendly vehicles and rely on their local veterinary practice to collect and return pets for either surgery or simply a check up. Other pet owners are often “too busy” and with the growing reliance on home shopping expect a home collection and delivery service to be provided by practices!
By offering a transportation service a Practice can, in todays competitive environment, use it to extend their geographic range and discourage others from encroaching on their patch. Ambulances are also ideal for inter branch transfers or transporting patients for referral to specialist hospitals.
An often overlooked but none the less important benefit to a Practice of running an ambulance service is the advertising benefit that can be accrued via external graphics on the vehicle. It is said that a branded vehicle can generate anywhere between 30,000 to 70,0000 impressions per day whilst running around a town.
One veterinary practice we know of, located in a very out of the way building, attracted new patients simply by parking their liveried ambulance on the nearby main road! Fortunately, there were no parking restrictions, so the advertising provided was free added value!
Veterinary practices usually want a basically equipped ambulance conversion consisting of cages for dogs and small animal carriers for cats and other pets. Afterall the vehicle is primarily providing a transportation service and litttle else although the inclusion of some storage drawers does enable the provision for home health checks and similar.
Animal Ambulance Services
We have found that many qualified and entrepreneurial veterinary nurses enjoy the freedom of running their own businesses which has been a key factor in many having established Animal Ambulance Services, finding this more rewarding and less restrictive than working in a large Practice. At Animedix we can help and advise in the creation of any such new enterprises based on the experience of working on so many of these ventures.
Whilst they primarily provide pet transportation services taking pets to and from those veterinary practices without such services, they also provide invaluable emergency transportation in the event of accidents and many offer a variety of additional home based services including health checks, nail clipping, first aid for minor injuries, microchipping, end of life care, euthanasia and postmortem transfers.
The ambulances operating these services are more comprehensively kitted out vehicles than those used solely for transport. At Animedix we collaborate closely with our clients to install the equipment they need based on the services they aim to provide and while we are happy to work to their specification, we always input our own suggestions with recommendations based on previous successful vehicle conversions.
Animal ambulances for Mobile Veterinary Practices
The cost of establishinga new veterinary practice based in fixed premises can be prohibitive to a vet wishing to escape the confines of working for a large or corporate practice. The alternative can be a much lower investment in one of our Mobile Veterinary Surgeries which are based on long wheel-based high roofed vans such as the Fiat Ducato or box bodied chassis cabs like the Ford Transit platform cab.
For many however our smaller animal ambulances provide the ideal new start up business venture from which a surprisingly wide range of pet care and medical services can be provided.
Again we find the range of such care services provided by Mobile Veterinary Practices differs greatly depending upon the vets own preferences and specialisation so here again there is no one design, one standard solution, to the vehicle design and content. Once again we bespoke build each one which can even contain a small office facility for administration.
Animal ambulances for Animal Welfare charities
Be they large or small all animal welfare charities require vehicles to transport animals in their care and with some neglected pets suffering both emotionally or physically from abuse it is essential for the animal ambulance to provide a safe, comforting, and secure means of travel.
With many patients suffering from neglect or serious injury it is important to avoid cross contamination when carrying multiple patients, a reason why we design our vehicle conversions, and especially cages, to avoid the spread of contaminants and infections. Ease of cleaning a vital design feature.
Through our experience in the production of bespoke animal ambulances for veterinary practices, we can assist with the valuable work of these organisations by providing them with variations and hybrids of our vehicles, so successfully in use with our veterinary clients.
Animal ambulances for wildlife
Sadly neglected and abused pets are not the only animals requiring help and transportation. There are many dedicated wildlife charities who provide outstanding emergency rescue and medical care services whose mixed range of patients require versatile vehicles but providing similar features to those used for domestic pets. If anything transportation must be made far less traumatic for these creatures given their lack of human contact.
Hence many ambulances used for wild life are designed to provide as much on site medical intervention to minimise and if possible avoid the need for transportation.
Equipment installed in animal ambulances
Hygiene and animal well-being are to the forefront of our minds at the design stage and an essential in all of our conversions.
The few standard features of our animal ambulances are the sealed robust floors and insulated wall and ceiling linings installed to provide fully enclosed easy to clean insulated interiors. Roof mounted ventilation systems such as the Flettner Ventilator or powered models like the Maxxair Maxxfan also being very much standard to all vehicles.
When it comes to on board equipment and layout every one of our vehicle conversions is unique. As previously mentioned there are no rights or wrongs about the specification as this depends entirely on the individual activity. Here however are some of the common features:
Secured cage for large animals (we manufacture own bespoke Animedix cages from various materials)
Removable small animal carriers There are many off the shelf models: Ferplast, Mappa, Rosewood)
Stretcher (we make our own bespoke Animedix model)
Storage system for medical equipment and consumables (we use various makes and plus our own bespoke build)
Lockable controlled drugs cabinet (examples being from Technik, Phoenix, Pioneer)
Removable chiller box (from Dometic, Igloo and others)
12-volt Handwash sink with paper towel holder (Eberspacher HandiWash, Teal Handeman)
Waste bin
Internal lighting
First aid kits for drivers
Less common features but occasionally required:
Administration workstation
Scales
On board oxygen supply
Walk on ramps to avoid lifting larger or injured animals
External lighting
Technology:
At Animedix we have a wealth of experience in the installation of CCTV cameras and screens to monitor animals in transit, Dashboard cameras, navigation systems, reversing aids and the very latest in on-board communications systems and payment systems.
Animal Ambulance Vehicle Graphics
Having already mentioned the added value provided by good external graphics on an ambulance it will come as no surprise that we provide a complete one stop service which includes design (if required), supply, and application.
Regulatory compliances
Our clients’ operational intentions or equipment requests can on occasion be regulated, examples being DEFRA Welfare in Transport Regulations or carriage of hazardous materials (oxygen bottles) which require an Approval or Certification. Where applicable we will provide advice and ensure that all such issues are covered correctly.
Our mission
Receiving veterinary care can be a stressful period for domestic pets (not to mention their owners!) and animals in the wild.
This inspires us to design and build our animal transportation solutions to the highest quality, to provide a safe, comfortable, and appropriately equipped vehicles.
It is also our priority to continually investigate ways to improve and make use of new materials and equipment to upgrade the products we manufacture, providing cutting-edge developments in our veterinary vehicle conversions.
How to contact us
If you are looking to add a vehicle to your existing business or starting out with a new business venture, we would welcome your enquiry which can be by phone on 0116 326 1802 or via Microsoft Teams (or alternatives). We are also more than happy to do it the old-fashioned way and meet in person with visitors always assured of a warm welcome with a tour our factory here in Leicester.
Alternatively, you can simply write to us at sales@animedix.co.uk and we will be sure to reply to you very quickly, answering any questions and concerns you may have, providing a quotation and if required a sketch of your proposed vehicle.
Animedix animal ambulances is a trademark of Multi Vehicle Technology Ltd
