An adorable cat who lost all four of his paws to frostbite has been fitted with a new set of titanium feet. Abandoned tom Ryzhik was out in -40C temperatures in Siberia, causing gangrene which led to him having his paws removed. Normally, injuries like this would result in the cat being put to sleep.
However, his new owners were adamant that wouldn't happen and took him to a clinic in Novosibirsk, Russia, to have some new artificial limbs fitted. The paws were created in using sophisticated computer tomography and 3D modeling and are believed to be a 'world first'.
Vet Sergey Gorshkov told the Siberian Times: "He is definitely the first cat in the world who experienced such surgeries. The limbs have fully connected with the skin and bone. "The part of the limb that goes inside the body is spongy, the bone tissue grows inside it." Adding that the surgeons 'achieved a good result'.
Although little Ryzhik looks a little unsteady on his feet now, vets believe he will eventually find walking on his new paws easier. They have also said the fact that the cat hasn't tried to remove them, means he is happy about the whole situation.
The unique clinic where the surgery was carried out is trying to patent its specialist technique for attaching artificial limbs to birds and is also working on ways to rebuild beaks for parrots and hooves for cattle.
Earlier this year, a US cat managed to survive a brush with extreme weather conditions after she was found buried in the snow. Poor Fluffy was found by her owners 'essentially frozen and unresponsive' in Montana in February this year, where the weather dropped to negative eight-degrees Celsius.
Thankfully, she was rushed to a local animal clinic where they were able to save her life. A shocking photo shared on Facebook shows huge clumps of ice matted into Fluffy's fur. Dr. Jevon Clark told ABC News that when Fluffy had been brought in to the clinic, her temperature was so low it didn't even register on the thermometer.
Dedicated vets spent hours trying to warm up the kitty with warm water and blankets until eventually, she was back up and about. In a post, the Animal Clinic of Kalispell wrote: "Amazing success and survival story from this week. Some clients found their injured cat buried in snow.
"They brought her to us essentially frozen and unresponsive. Her temperature was very low but after many hours she recovered and is now completely normal. Fluffy is amazing!"
It seems as though these cats are living proof of the 'nine lives' theory.
