Amputee cat gets bionic legs

LONDON (AFP) – A


cat which lost both back paws after a traumatic accident involving a combine harvester has regained a spring in its step after being fitted with prosthetic limbs.

In a groundbreaking surgery carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a Surrey-based veterinary surgeon, the custom-made implants "peg" the ankle to Oscar's foot and mimic the way in which deer antler bone grows through skin.

The prosthetic legs, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (Itaps) were developed by a team from University College London, led by Professor Gordon Blunn.

"The real revolution with Oscar is [that] we have put a piece of metal and a flange into which skin grows into an extremely tight bone," Fitzpatrick said of the operation which took place last November.

"We have managed to get the bone and skin to grow into the implant and we have developed an 'exoprosthesis' that allows this implant to work as a see-saw on the bottom of an animal's limbs to give him effectively normal gait," he added.

The veterinary surgical team took three hours to insert the pegs by drilling into one of the cat's ankle bones in each of the back legs.

The Itap technology has already been used to create a prosthetic for a woman who lost her arm in the July 2005 London bombings.

Oscar's recovery will feature as part of a six-part BBC One documentary series, The Bionic Vet, starting later this month.

a new word:
amputee =  a person who has had an arm or leg cut off
bionic = using artificial materials and methods to produce especially a human activity or movement

paws = the foot of an animal which has claws or nails, such as a cat, dog or bear
tramutic = mIf an experience is traumatic, it causes you severe emotional shock and upset
combine harvester =  a large farming machine which cuts the plant, separates the seed from the stem and cleans the grain as it moves across a field
flange = a flat surface sticking out from an object, which is used to fix it to something or to make it stronger
implant = an organ, group of cells, or device that has been put into the body in a medical operation
see-saw = a long board that children play on
gait = a particular way to walk
a prosthetic = an artificial body part, such as an arm, foot or tooth, which replaces a missing part