Vincent the cat is very special and very famous. In fact so famous that he will surely become a part of feline and medical history. Vincent is one of few animals worldwide to have been fitted with a pair of prosthetic legs.
"He was surrendered to the shelter by a lady who was camping in a local campground. ... He was missing his hind legs from the mid-tibia down and when the lady brought him in, you could tell she was pretty worried," owner Cindy Jones said, according to ABC News. Jones, who works at the Story County Animal Shelter, in Nevada, Iowa, is unsure whether Vincent was born with the deformity or whether he lost his legs in an accident.
It was a suggestion by Emily Jones, her 29-year-old daughter and veterinary student, that saw Vincent meeting Dr. Mary S. Bergh of Iowa State University. "It's the first one we've ever done and they've been very few people in the world that've tried to do something like this," said Bergh of the procedure, reports ABC News.
Vincent's custom-made, 3-D legs were created and donated by BioMedtrix, a veterinary orthopedics company. The procedure normally costs thousands of dollars, according to Examiner.
"The first time I saw him after surgery, it was scary, to be honest", said Jones, according to the TJC Newspaper.
The prosthetic legs were screwed directly into the bones of Vincent's hind quarters, giving him easy flexibility of movement, reports Examiner. Vincent is able to move around and can play with the Jones' dog Oliver.
"He runs around. He plays with my dog Oliver. He lays in a bed. He grooms. He's just ... a great guy. In most shelters he would've been euthanized. He wouldn't have had a future," said a relieved and thankful Jones, according to ABC News.
