Vincent the cat is walking around like a bionic pet should after receiving two 3D-printed titanium-alloy prosthetic hind legs to make up for the ones he was missing since he was a kitten.
When the domestic short-haired cat was brought to the Story County Animal Center in rural Iowa three years ago he was missing his two back legs below the midway point of his tibias, or shinbone.
Cindy Jones said she "fell in love" with Vincent at the Nevada shelter and brought him home, but it was her daughter, Emily, a student at Iowa State University's Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center, who wondered if anything could be done for him, said a university
new release.
Dr. Mary Sarah Bergh, a veterinary orthopedic surgeon, attached Vincent's legs and has been guiding his recovery.
"I anticipate that he'll be jumping and doing really normal cat things very soon," Bergh said.
Bergh worked with BioMedtrix, a veterinary orthopedics company, to design Vincent's implants so they could be inserted into the femur bones of his hind legs. Bergh said the design will allow Vincent's bone to grow onto the titanium shaft to support his weight.
Vincent's initial surgery occurred in February 2014 and since then the cat has had additional treatments to strengthen and lengthen the peg legs.
John Biggs of
TechCrunch said Vincent's new legs put him on the cutting edge of cat prosthetics.
"While many animal lovers are using 3D printing to make little crutches or wagons for injured pets, legs like Vincent's are amazing in that they take advanced materials and techniques and make them available to the general public," said Biggs. "Plus, Vincent looks like a little peg-legged cat pirate, which is also cool."
Vincent has been a hit on social media, with an Iowa State video on his story getting more than 644,000 views on YouTube since it was posted last week.
Twitterites have responded as well.
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