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Celebrity veterinarian is using holograms to heal posh pet patients

By
Beth Landman
Published July 12, 2024, 5:50 p.m. ET

It was the week before Memorial Day and Dr. Cindy Bressler was already inundated with frantic calls. There was a poodle with a tick bite, a dachshund with sudden back pain and a Labrador who had ingested a bucket of sand.  

Now, the owner of a 7-year-old goldendoodle was extremely worried and agitated because her dog was wobbly, drooling, and suddenly both uncoordinated and hypersensitive to noise. 

“She was afraid he was having a stroke or seizure,’’ Bressler told The Post. “She was in a panic, and the roads were packed with cars. I didn’t want her or the dog to waste time.’’

Handily, Bressler had recently acquired a $8,500 Proto M hologram machine. She had the goldendoodle’s mom send her a video and then watched it as a hologram on the Proto M — a countertop gadget that is about 30 inches tall, 12 inches wide and 8 inches deep — to more accurately observe the pup’s behavior than she could with a simple video.

A small dog on a couch being filmed with a phone.
Cindy Bressler is using a hologram machine to help remotely diagnose patients. To use it, a pet is first recorded with a phone or camera. Stefano Giovannini
A phone with an image of a dog is held up to a hologram machine with the same image of a dog.
Bressler said the hologram allows her to better see a pet’s condition than a traditional video or image. Stefano Giovannini

“As soon as I saw it, I knew right away the dog had gotten into someone’s eatables. He was clearly high,” she said. “With this machine, people can beam a better image to me than we’d get with a flat video. I can often help them without their having to fight bumper to bumper traffic.”

To beam using the Proto machines, users video with their own phones or cameras and connect to the Proto device using the platform’s cloud. The device can transform a 2D image or video into one with a 3D appearance with the aid of shadows and its special display. Video can also be livestreamed. For an enhanced effect, operators can use the Proto with professional 3D cameras and lighting.

The Proto comes in three sizes — the small M version for $8,500, a life-sized machine for $22,000, and a deluxe version with several bells and whistles for $80,000. The gadget has been featured on “America’s Got Talent” and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Bressler is using the hologram machine in her practice for diagnostic purposes, but it also has a sentimental use.

Cindy Bressler with a small white dog.
Bressler is famed for having high profile patients. Courtesy of Dr. Cindy Bressler

She’s employed it to create recordings of her elderly parents telling favorite stories and dancing, so she’ll have a 3D memento when they’re gone.

And, at her just-opened Hamptons animal wellness boutique, Wave, she’s offering the devices to well-heeled customers who want something to always remember a beloved animal by.

“Over my 30 years as a vet, I’ve seen how losing a pet can cause so much grief and affect a person for years; many people don’t ever get over it,’’ Bressler told The Post. “Ninety percent of my clients feel closer to their pets than to other humans. They will say ‘I miss the way he looked at me and would bring me his toys when I walked in the door.’ These personality traits can be captured.  People may be skeptical at first, but if you do it, you will always have the option to experience your animals doing these things.  It is familiar, comfortable, and feels like home. You can’t kiss, or hug, or touch them; but you can have more than just a faded memory.’’