Bionic Cat Gets World's First Implant Paws

Several readers send in the news of Oscar, the first bionic cat, whose hind paws got cut off in a harvester accident. In a world's-first operation, a neurosurgeon has now given him exoprosthetic paws that are implanted directly into his leg bones. The BBC artlcle has a video captured just after the operation, and PopSci has an apparently later one in which Oscar is walking and running almost completely normally.

Comments

And?

[Pharmboy]

Big deal, they have been grafting lasers onto sharks for years now.

After all, everyone deserves a hot meal.

Re:And?

[chudnall]

He used to have four paws. Now he has fore paws and faux paws.

Claws

[IflyRC]

Does this mean that the kitty gets adamantium claws next?

And how does the kitty-kat feal about all this?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

I guess the press can't interview him. But I was just wondering if he accepted his new paws, or tried to bite them off? I mean, even some humans have some problems with new limbs, and they can understand what is going on.

What is going on in that cat's head right now?

Any cat psychologists on Slashdot?

"WTF!?!?! Where the hell did these come from!?!?! Oh, well, at least I can walk again."

"Hey, you, Walks-on-two-Legs! Where's my dinner! A tin of tuna would be a nice change from that dry stuff!"

Re:And how does the kitty-kat feal about all this?

[misexistentialist]

Most cats probably find being born with a tail to be more confounding.

This is the worlds luckiest cat

[Gavin Scott]

Cats in a farming environment generally seem to be considered disposable and people who grew up on farms rarely seem to be cat lovers.

Cats apparently like to hang out and hide in fields of grain, and after any harvesting/mowing operation you end up with a lot of cut grain and a field full of legless cats.

My father once described having the job as a kid of going out into the field with the .22 rifle he got for his birthday and having to shoot all the maimed cats to put them out of their misery.

So this is one damn lucky cat.

G.

Re:Slow motion

[Chris Burke]

No, it plays the Meow Mix jingle. Which admittedly takes some of the drama out of it.

This is, kind of a big deal, actually

[s122604]

The through-the-skin interface is the real story

Huge implications if this can be approved for human use.

Getting something to anchor postively to the remaining bone and go through the skin, yet be sealed, so its not a huge source of infection would be a big big deal.

Getting a prosthesis to properly fit into a stump has always been hard, and expensive, and doesn't even work that great when its executed perfectly.

It often also being a source of lifelong discomfort, skin irritation, and annoyance.

What I'd envision is a permanent bone-interface protruding and few inches or so, with a strong locking mechanical interface on the other side, so that the user can tailor the prosthesis to the occasion

Re:We can rebuild him.

[Mister Whirly]

Yes, I can see that raising a creature that depends on you to feed, shelter, and keep it safe while teaching them how to do things for themselves is not even remotely analogous to raising a child. Thanks for dropping that knowledge bomb on me.

I didn't claim it was exactly the same. But your claim that it isn't "even remotely analogous" isn't even remotely analogous to logic. They are at the very least in the same ballpark.