A young cat Lapa was discovered about six months ago and brought to the clinic by volunteers. She had no front paws and she couldn't walk, but the veterinarians decided to give a chance for a full life for a cute and nice kitty. Lida veterinarians had an experience at prosthetics. But the prosthetic operation of cat`s two front paws at Belarus performs at first.
The chief doctor of the veterinary center "Kot Begemot" Pavel Zhulpa point out, that the operation was preceded by serious preparation. “The prostheses are anatomically curved to the specific contours of the cat's bones. In order to create them, we had to do computer tomography for Lapa and create a 3D model of Lapa`s bones. On their basis, a model of prostheses has already been created in Novosibirsk. This is a very painstaking job - no mistakes could be made”, - told a specialist.
Titanium bionic prostheses printed on a 3D printer. They are covered with a special composition that will help to get used to cat`s bones. The operation was performed on a free basis by Pavel Zhulpa, Grigory Chegodaev and Andrey Eliseev. Funds for prostheses - more than Br1,2 thous. - gathered by volunteers and caring people.
Now the first prosthesis has been implanted in Lapa, the second one will be implanted in the near future. The forecast is good - the kitty feels good. Special physical rehabilitation is not required, rather, the cat needs to realize that she again has paws.
In Lida planning to continue development of prosthetics, make it more accessible, teach and prepare specialists, in order that operations for the implanting prostheses can be performed in the other clinics. For this was submitted an application for a competition of social projects.
