Would you believe: prosthetic paws for a cat?

AFP Photo: Oscar the cat is walking after successful, first-ever surgery to provide ITAP …It's true.

In first-ever operation, a U.K. cat that had both its back legs severed by a combine harvester was fitted with prosthetic paws. Two-year-old Oscar is walking again after veterinary surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick attached the custom-made implants, developed by a University of London team.

"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, explaining the operation, which occurred in November.

Oscar's recovery will play out in a six-part BBC documentary series, "The Bionic Vet,'' set to air later this month. The surgery itself is groundbreaking, but the fact that Oscar is walking after overcoming infections is remarkable. In less than four months, he was able to stand and bear weight on all four limbs.

"Oscar can now run and jump about as cats should do," Fitzpatrick said.

Oscar's owners told Reuters they wanted their cat to regain a good quality of life after the operation, and Oscar seems quite on his way. But they also were well aware Oscar is paving the way for similar procedures for humans.

The prosthetics, intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (ITAPS), are already being tested on humans. One was created for a woman who lost her arm in the July 2005 London bombings.

Maimed cat walks again with artificial paws [Reuters]
Amputee cat gets bionic legs [AFP]