Missy receives the first artificial knee made for felines

[Mark-D]

According to Telegraph.co.uk



Missy was found close to death after she was run over by a car, she made a full recovery after undergoing a new surgery to rebuild her limbs and fit a specially-made metal joint.

The eight-year-old family pet had been lying in a bush for two days with one hind leg broken in eight places and the other with a completely dislocated knee before her owners found her.

Dr Noel Fitzpatrick performed the operation at his clinic in Guildford. "It was a case of putting Missy to sleep forever or developing an artificial knee, which had never been done before. Amputation was not an option since the other hind leg was broken in eight places." said Dr. Guildford

The skin and tendons at the back of her other foot had died due to lack of the blood supply and the tissue had all fallen off, leaving bone exposed.

In order to cover the bone, a collagen mesh made out of pig’s bladder was used. The various broken bones were then placed in a scaffolding of pins called a SPIDER (Secured Pin Intramedullary Dorsal Epoxy Resin Frame) until the bone and tissue healed.

The new total knee replacement implant was designed by Dr Fitzpatrick, Professor Gordon Blunn and Mr Jay Meswania of OrthoFitz Implants. It is made of two parts which are linked together with a hinged mechanism so that the knee ligaments would no longer be required and the knee could no longer dislocate.

The implant was custom-designed based on a scan of Missy’s knee and exactly fitted Missy’s measurements, both in terms of the size of her bones and the range of motion of her knee joint. The three-inch long implant is made out of stainless steel and is bonded to the thigh bone and the shin bone using cement.

“The most difficult thing about the operation was miniaturising the implants and matching the hinge motion to allow walking, running and jumping, which cats do a lot of. A human patient with a knee replacement would probably walk and maybe even run but would rarely expect to jump.” Dr Fitzpatrick added:

The operation took two-and-a-half hours to cut the old damaged knee out and replace it with the new implants.

[Rich-D]

An amazing feat for veterinary science!

[Lissi]

That is great. Good luck Missy.

[Rhonda]

Originally Posted by Rich-D

An amazing feat for veterinary science!

I agree, it is amazing!

[rhtwist]

Mark,
The advances in medicine and surgery are truly a wonder. That cat in my childhood would have been considered to far gone. Yay for some science.
Twist

[EnglishCat]

That's so great. Sometimes it's just too amazing what can be done for both humans and animals....and it's wonderful. Good luck to Missy. Having worked for 4 orthopedic surgeons and seeing this type of operation on humans all the time my question is....does she need crutches or a walker and does she undergo water therapy??.....just kidding. Great happy story.