London: Oscar the cat may have lost one of his nine lives, but his new prosthetic paws make him the world's first bionic cat.
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 ankle to the foot and mimic the way deer antlers grow through skin. Oscar is now back on his feet and hopping over hurdles like tissue paper rolls.
After Oscar's farming accident, which happened when the two-and-half-year-old-cat was in the British Channel Isles, his owners, Kate and Mike Nolan, took him to their local veterinarian. In turn, the vet referred Oscar to Dr Noel Fitzpatrick, a neuro-orthopedic surgeon in Eashing.
Together with biomedical engineering experts, Fitzpatrick gave Oscar two metal prosthetic implants that are a bit wobbly, to imitate a cat's natural walk.
