[nagdu] Fw: [blind-catholics] OT: British cat gets bionic paws

Ed Meskys edmeskys at roadrunner.com
Sat Jun 26 20:08:25 UTC 2010


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "alex thynne" <alex.thynne at talktalk.net>
To: "bc" <blind-catholics at googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 11:47 AM
Subject: [blind-catholics] OT: British cat gets bionic paws


British cat gets bionic paws

The Associated Press, June 25, 2010

Oscar the cat has full mobility in his hind legs thanks to two peg-like
implants that have fused with his bone and are attached to artificial feet.
(Jim Incledon/Associated Press)

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 Oscar lost 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 his ankles to new prosthetic feet. Oscar is now back
on his feet and hopping over hurdles such as tissue paper rolls.

After Oscar's farming accident, which happened when the 2½-year-old-cat was
lazing in the sun in the British Channel Isles, his owners, Kate and Mike
Nolan, took him to their local veterinarian. The vet referred Oscar to Dr.
Noel Fitzpatrick, a neuro-orthopedic surgeon in Eashing, 56 kilometres
southwest of London.

Fitzpatrick, working with biomedical engineering experts, gave Oscar two
metal prosthetic implants, or pegs, which were attached to custom-built faux
paws that are a bit wobbly, to imitate a cat's natural walk.

Fitzpatrick said he and the biomedical engineers designed the artificial
paws so they would fuse 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 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, forming a natural seal that prevents infections.

Rehabilitation training taught Oscar how to walk again and the cat was on
all four feet in less than four months. Oscar's owners said they hope his
new paws will also further the technology for developing artificial limbs
for humans.

"This is a pretty lucky cat," said Dr. Mark Johnston, a veterinarian and
spokesman for the British Small Animal Veterinary Association. "Giving a cat
artificial limbs is a very novel solution." Johnston said that while there
are many "perfectly happy" three-legged cats and dogs, animals that lose two
legs do not usually fare as well.

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,
Johnston 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 added
it is 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 ($3,100 Cdn) to make, not including the cost for the operation
itself.

In 2008, Fitzpatrick made an artificial knee for a cat named Missy who was
injured in a hit-and-run. In the U.S., several animals have had artificial
limbs directly attached to their bones at North Carolina State University's
College of Veterinary Medicine.

Johnston said the next six months to a year will be critical for Oscar.
Veterinarians will 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.


Alex
klango ID: alex-thynne
skype name: grytpype2006
windows live messenger name: alex.thynne at hotmail.co.uk

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"blind-catholics" group.
To post to this group, send an email to blind-catholics at googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
blind-catholics+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/blind-catholics?hl=en-GB.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2963 - Release Date: 06/25/10 
14:35:00





More information about the NAGDU mailing list