What are the different types of veterinary clinic flooring used?
Veterinary clinics are all different. Every practitioner knows exactly what they want to accomplish, and every staff member has a specific workflow that makes the most sense to optimize treatments, maintenance, cleaning and treatments. As a provider of veterinary products for animal hospitals and other animal health facilities, we take these considerations seriously.
These nuances that are present in every single facility has helped us to drive a product mix of components that are modularly designed to build out semi-custom or fully custom spaces for veterinarians and their staff. This means you can get exactly what you need for your space footprint and workflow and layout, while being able to rely on easy to source replacement pieces, and utilize the benefits of our individual piece designs (e.g. being able to remove a single panel for cleaning in an autoclave, etc.)
This article is designed to understand the different ways our products can be used and help to highlight how our varied offerings can be utilized regardless of the needs in your facility.
The short version: we have a lot of veterinary clinic flooring options, that all work cohesively to help you get the custom aspects designed for your space, while providing the ability to get the real advantages of the modular pieces.
This can help you to:
- Lower cleaning times and routines
- Improve overall maintenance costs
- Cover all areas needed without having to pay “custom” prices
- Improve animal health by raising the flooring
- Improve overall risk management for your animal patients
- Improve ergonomics for staff and employees
- Achieve better cleanliness for surgical areas and housing facilities as well as part time spaces
What types of flooring do clinics in veterinary treatment facilities need, and which areas make sense for elevated flooring?
We are a purveyor of animal flooring products that are built for long-term durability. We primarily cater to health and housing facilities for animals. We offer a tight mix of products that have strategic advantages over competitor products in this space. We are proud to offer many items to hospitals, doggie day cares, clinics for the treatment of animals and other animal centric- establishments, including zoos, grooming operations, and kennels.
In the case of veterinary facilities, we would be offering raised flooring solutions for any space where an animal would need to walk, sleep, bathe or eat, so that contamination, bacteria and discomfort can generally be managed.
This may include the following:
- Treatment areas
- Grooming areas and preparatory areas (shaving, showering, etc.)
- Sleeping areas, cages and kennel setups
- Walkways and bridges that connect animal areas
- Runs
- Bathing enclosures and tubs
- Certain emergency medical setups, including at zoos and shelters
The facilities in this industry vary greatly in design and functionality, and we do our best to build products that can be used intentionally, but also in a crossover capacity. This includes standard sizing, and accessory options like gutters and standoffs/footings.
We offer these items for a wide variety of the spaces that exist for animal use. A room or facility doesn’t need to specialize in medicine or veterinary treatment to use our products – even if this article is highlighting that aspect of our product mix.
We invite you to view our catalog and see where we may be able to help you accomplish goals with our standard products. We also remind you that for projects bigger than a few pieces, we can customize exclusively to your needs.
Some important points when selecting animal flooring for a veterinary clinic
Animal health is improved when:
- Feces and urine are not in contact with the animals
- Cleaning can be performed on specific areas, with a wide range of cleaning options
- Animals do not have the chance to injure their paws or feet through poor design
- Temperature can be managed properly
- Durability is high and longevity can help keep consistent surroundings for animals
- Staff can more easily access animals
Benefits of RACS veterinary clinic flooring
The raised flooring made by RACS offers characteristics that enhance these aspects as mentioned above:
Feces and urine are not in contact with the animals
The holes and structure of the products we manufacture allow for urine and feces to be moved through the surface. Cleanup is easy, and the coating helps protect animals against bacterial contamination they may be exposed to otherwise.
Cleaning can be performed on specific areas, with a wide range of cleaning options
These products can be cleaned in an autoclave. They can be pressure washed, both with hot and cold water. They can be cleaned with standard cleaning agents without deterioration. The modular build styles allow for easy removal for spot cleaning – minimizing waste and effort.
Animals do not have the chance to injure their paws or feet through poor design
The holes on our product are consistent and appropriately sized for the animals using the floor so as not to be large enough to allow a foot to pass through.
Temperature can be managed properly
Polyvinyl (Plastisol) keeps the ambient temperature of the environment, unlike metal, so animals are not made uncomfortable by extremes in temperature. The soft feel of this coating provides insulation and protects the underlying steel framework.
Durability is high and longevity can help keep consistent surroundings for animals
Strong steel frames and thick (around an 1/8”) polyvinyl coating means you are getting simple, strong materials with proven track records. And all the benefits of each because they are complementary. The steel does not have opportunity to rust thanks to the durability of the coating. The coating is UV resistant, difficult to casually vandalize and looks excellent.
Staff can more easily access animals
When you have elevated flooring for the animals, staff injuries are less likely as there is less bending, crouching and the staff can benefit from the increase in slip resistance. Convenient design details and sizing makes it easy to bathe animals on tables in tubs, to improve ergonomics.
How can we work together?
We hope we have been able to showcase the value proposition of our products – but we’d love to talk with you over the phone to help you through the process of outfitting your veterinary space. Contact us today with any questions!