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The new feet are custom-made implants that "peg" the ankle
to the foot. They are bioengineered to mimic the way deer antler bone grows
through the skin.
The operation - a world first - was carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a
veterinary surgeon based in Surrey.
His work is explored in a BBC documentary called The Bionic Vet.
The cat, named Oscar, was referred to Mr Fitzpatrick by his local vet in
Jersey, following the accident last October. Oscar was struck by the combine
harvester whilst dozing in the sun.
The prosthetic pegs, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation
prosthetics (Itaps) were developed by a team from University College London
led by Professor Gordon Blunn, who is head of UCL's Centre for Biomedical
Engineering.
Professor Blunn and his team have worked in partnership with Mr Fitzpatrick
to develop these weight-bearing implants, combining engineering mechanics
with biology.
Mr Fitzpatrick explained: "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."
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