14 thoughts on “The bionic kitty”

  1. When my daughter was a vet student at Colorado State, one of the researchers there was working on prosthetic legs for Dogs. He was trying to refine techniques like the one above where the prosthetic would be inserted into the bone. He said the difficulty with dogs is they are just so active they damage or destroy the connection and tend to get infections at the interface. It looks like this cat is not all that hard on his pegs. It should last quite a while, but there would still be a danger of infection where metal meets skin.

    1. I was wondering about the skin and the metal. I was under the impression that skin keeps trying to grow around intrusions, eventually encompassing it or it gets damaged, leaves an area that is a constant open wound, and is susceptible to infections.

      Does anyone know the details? Have they found a way to allow the skin to bond onto the metal, or will the cat require constant checkups and trimming of skin near at the metal?

      A curious ape wants to know.

  3. I’ve had a cat for 14 years that has the ball of his ball and socket hip joint removed.

    He was hit by a car, resulting in a dislocated hip. the vet was unable to reset the joint, so the ball was clipped off (at some expense). The vet predicted 95 percent function. I’d say it’s higher than that. His vertical leap is unimpaired, and you have to know about the surgery to detect a slight limp.

    An advantage of having four legs.

  4. I used to have a cat called Vincent, he was named after a classic English motorcycle. He came home one day with one of his hind legs badly shredded, it looked as though he had got it trapped somewhere and had then practically torn it off trying to get free. The vet amputated the leg and Vincent appeared to hardly notice the difference, it certainly didn’t affect his mobility. His only problem came when he tried to scratch himself with his missing leg, the humans were always happy to help him out.

  5. FYI

    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=vincent+motorcycles&biw=1517&bih=741&tbm=isch&imgil=q3-OBu4-g5FJ1M%253A%253BZr_V8qERFO8HsM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fsilodrome.com%25252Fthe-death-of-vincent-motorcycles-history%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=q3-OBu4-g5FJ1M%253A%252CZr_V8qERFO8HsM%252C_&dpr=0.9&usg=__o68e6a6OMSLFdcOhl3n5QOFb6bE%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiYhKP9jdLJAhXBPRQKHVLvBScQyjcIMw&ei=ed1pVtjjBMH7UNLel7gC#imgrc=q3-OBu4-g5FJ1M%3A&usg=__o68e6a6OMSLFdcOhl3n5QOFb6bE%3D

  6. Thomas the cat that has me- also came home one day with a shredded leg. We had it amputated and he tends to run a bit smoother than he walks/hops. He also scratches with the missing leg and his humans help out. 🙂

  7. I worked with Vincent many times as a vet student, and scrubbed in on a couple of his surgeries, too. It’s been a long road for him, but finally there’s a light at the end of the tunnel!

    1. Can you perhaps add anything to the discussion above about how the skin/metal interface is treated so as to avoid constant infections or lack of healing?

      1. The road to get to this point for him was not without turmoil. The implants are made of a titanium alloy, pass through his skin, and are inserted into the distal femurs. They were designed to have the bone grow on to the shaft of the prosthetics. Infections? Absolutely a realistic concern. The implants have been in the works for years. He has gone through *hundreds* of less than comfortable bandage changes. Infection was common. His implants remain open to the environment, so his owner uses an antibiotic spray on the interface between skin and implant twice daily.

        For now, these are working well for him. But I, along with everyone else, question for how long. Antimicrobial resistance is certainly a worry.

        1. Thank you, very interesting! How wonderful it would be to refine this technique and perhaps find a way to diminish this particular problem. Each instance surely furthers the learning process.

  8. Shouldn’t those legs be a bit longer or bendy? He looks a bit sloped.
    Also, I always enjoy when Jerry learns new technical tricks.

    1. He’s had two major surgeries, and then minor procedures. The plan is to slowly lengthen the prosthetics to normalize his gait. He’s been scooting around his entire life, so it will take time for him to get used to longer “legs.”

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