Bionic cat gets artificial paws
Bionic cat gets artificial paws
Oscar the cat may have lost one of his nine lives, but his new prosthetic paws make him one of the world's few bionic cats.
After losing his two rear paws in a nasty encounter with a combine harvester last October, the black cat with green eyes was outfitted with metallic pegs that link the ankles to new prosthetic feet and mimic the way deer antlers grow through skin. Oscar is now back on his feet and hopping over hurdles like tissue paper rolls.
Together with biomedical engineering experts, Fitzpatrick gave Oscar two metal prosthetic implants, or pegs. Those were attached to custom-built faux paws that are a bit wobbly, to imitate a cat's natural walk. But first, he covered the brown implants with black tape to match Oscar's fur.
Fitzpatrick said he and biomedical engineers designed the artificial paws so that they would be fused to the bone and skin. "That allows this implant to work as a seesaw on the bottom of the animal's limbs to give him (an) effectively normal gait," he said. "Oscar can now run and jump about as cats should do."
The veterinarians then inserted the peg-like implants by drilling them into Oscar's ankle bones in his rear legs. The metal implants are attached to the bone where Oscar lost his paws and were coated with a substance that helps bone cells grow directly over them. The cat's own skin then grew over the end of the peg to form a natural seal to prevent infections.
After rehabilitation training that taught Oscar how to walk again, the cat was on all four feet in less than four months. Oscar's owners said they hoped his new paws would also further the technology for developing artificial limbs for humans.
Dogs might cope better with some sort of animal-wheelchair for their back legs, but cats don't usually adapt to that because of their freer lifestyle, he said. "If a cat has two legs that are damaged beyond repair, it's very hard to keep him going," he said. "We would generally euthanize a cat in that situation."
He doubted the technique would be widely available due to the cost and said it was still relatively rare for animals to lose two legs at once. Gordon Blunn, head of biomedical engineering at University College London, who led the effort to make Oscar's fake paws, said they cost about 2,000 pounds ($2,996) to make, not including the cost for the operation itself.
Johnston said the next six months to a year would be critical for Oscar. He said veterinarians would have to closely monitor the feline to make sure no infections, sores or other movement problems crop up.
"It may not last forever, but even if you provide the cat with a few years of pain-free mobility, it may well be worth it," he said.
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- Posted on July 1, 2010
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That cat is so cute. I hope the kitty cat gets better.Just saying cats don't have very good luck ,but I still love cats
That is so cool. Its like a terminator cat. Can it shoot bullets from its tail. Can it jump really high. That is really awsome.
cats are not very good licking their paws.cats are very playful. cats are very nice to people and other people. cats are not very good at using the toilet. cats are very nice to other cats too.
Oscar the cat had a surgery after losing his two rear paws to a combine harvester in October. Fitzpatrick and biomedical engineers had given Oscar metal pegs with fake paws that were wobbly, to impersonate the way a cat normally walks with real legs. To imitate Oscar's fur color, the pegs were covered in black tape. The pegs were designed so that they would join the Oscar's skin and bone. The veterinarians attached the pegs to Oscar's ankle bones by drilling them in. After the operation, Oscar got rehabilitation and was able to walk within four months. The fake paws cost about 3,000$ to make.
In my opinion, I thought that this was a nice article. I think it's nice that even if a cat loses its legs in a bad accident but I think it costs too much. I think this news article has a positive affect on the world because now people with pets who have lost legs and paws can now have them replaced. I think this will affect how pet lovers spend their money on their pets.
Good for Oscar! He sure is one lucky cat. If it were any one who didn't like him that much he would have been put down. This shows how far we can go with technology. Amazing things can happen if we have the right minds working on it.
I guess cats really do have nine lives! I think this is really awesome. The fact that they can not only have prosthetic limbs for humans but for animals too. I really enjoy seeing some of the many advancements that are created in our world. It ia all mostly things that can save a life or make a hard life better.
Poor little thing! I wonder how it happend and what caused it to happen! She must had to get surgery to get those legs replaced!
I think it is very good science because its helping the cat walk again and unlike humans when we get like a fake arm or fake legs most of the time we still need like a wheelchair or crouches to move around place to place but the cat is free to walk as it pleases even though its walk is a little bit wobbly.
In my opinion, it is good science. The reason why I say that is because it starts a whole new scientific inventing dimension for people. Someday, getting artificial body parts will be common and it'll, I infer, will save billions of lives.
Just shows how far we are in technology if we could restore a cats ability to walk when its legs were practically destroyed now its just up and doing its old usual life sooner or later well be able to make more mechanical things rather then just limbs