NBC 17
Prosthetic Paw Could Give Cat Second Life
N.C. State Vets Perform Groundbreaking Surgery
POSTED: 6:30 pm EST March 22, 2005
UPDATED: 8:02 pm EST March 22, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- George Bailey has never taken a step in his life, but that could soon change because of a groundbreaking surgery by North Carolina State University veterinarians.
The tuxedo cat was born a year and a half ago with only part of his hind legs. His owners said he made up in personality what he lacked in physical size.
Prosthetic Paw Attached To Cat
"George Bailey is the runt of the litter, so he's very small. But he fights, knocks around. He doesn't know he's this little bitty runt," Al Simmons said.
But the Simmonses wanted to make his life a little easier, so they called Dr. Denis Marcellin-Little at the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine to do something that had never been done before -- attach a prosthetic paw to the cat's actual leg bone.
The surgery is so rare it's been performed on just 70 humans worldwide.
The inner core of the prosthesis is made of porous metal -- material that actually allows the bone to grow into the new foot with the help of tiny screws.
Prosthetic limbs usually act as sleeves and are attached on the outside of the skin. Marcellin-Little, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery who operated on the cat for more than two hours Tuesday, said that would be nearly impossible with a frisky feline like George Bailey.
"After a month, the bone will have grown into the prosthesis. I will place the lower part of the leg, and then we train George Bailey to walk on his new foot," Marcellin-Little said.
It could take four to six weeks to figure out how well the cat's paw heals. If all goes well, Marcellin-Little might perform surgery on the other leg. The vet school picked up most of the tab for the initial surgery.
"We've gotten so used to his little cock-side pirouette dance he does. You'd say we might miss that, but not really because he'll be able to actually walk," Simmons said.
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