Meet Ryzhik, The First Cat In The World That Has Prosthetic Limbs
When animals experience permanent damage to some parts of their bodies, they either spend their lives disabled or are euthanized.
Nevertheless, this was not the case with Ryzhik, a ginger-face cat, which suffered horrible damages from the frost in Siberia. Namely, in January, he was left on the streets of Siberia alone at a temperature of – 40⁰C.
Even though the cat was later taken by some people, the condition was getting worse and worse. Ryzhik experienced gangrene, complete death of all his limbs as a result of the cut-off supply of blood. All his four limbs were amputated.
However, the owner of Ryzhik did not give up. He took the cat to a prosthetic Clinic near Novosibirsk, where Ryzhik received 4 bionic titanium limbs. Even though it is hard to get used to these artificial limbs, Ryzhik got very comfortable limbs that were designed with 3D modeling and computer tomography.
The surgeon of Ryzhik, Dr. Sergey Gorshko, said that the prosthetic limbs were attached to the bones and the skin of the cat.
Dr. Gorshko added that Ryzhik was the first cat that has undergone such surgery.
Even though Ryzhik does not walk as assured as before, at least he is not trying to put them off. As time goes by, he will get used to his new limbs.
The Prosthetic Clinic in Novosibirsk is constantly trying new solutions for helping disabled animals. They are also developing new techniques for placing prosthetic beaks to parrots.
Dr. Gorshko said that it is of utter importance to keep your pets warm during the cold winter days if you want to prevent them to experience terrible damages and injuries. You should not permit your pet to go into snow before covering its paws with pet apparel, such as paw gloves, overalls, hoodies or boots for domestic animals.
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