Fat cat has knee-replacement surgery

A fat cat has become America's first ever feline to undergo knee-replacement surgery after vets ruled out amputating his cancer-stricken leg because of his size. Cyrano, a 10-year-old tom who weighs more than 20 pounds, has been helped by doctors and engineers at North Carolina State University after cancer left his left hind leg almost useless. Surgeon Denis Marcellin-Little and university engineer Ola Harryssonare are at the forefront of osseointegration, a process in which a prosthetic limb is fused to a living bone.



Although a British doctor carried out a full knee replacement on a cat crushed by a car in 2009, the surgery carried out by Marcellin-Little used materials more like those used for human operations. 'This is the most complex implant that NC State has made and really, in all honesty, that anyone has built for any situation that I know of,' Marcellin-Little, a French-born vet, said. The scientists used plastic and cobalt chromium alloy implant for the operation on Cyrano, whose full name is Mr. Cyrano L. Catte II. 'It has a form of articulation that is unique - that allows the implant to bend and rotate,' Marcellin-Little said. 'The devil is in the details.'



While these implants are commonplace in dogs, a cat's small frame is harder to work with. Cyrano's damaged bones posed an extra challenge, Marcellin-Little said. The new knee was made using a laser process that hardens metal powder to replicate his tiny bones. The two interconnecting parts each measure around two inches long. Marcellin-Little practiced the procedure four times on plastic models ahead of the surgery, which took around six-and-a-half hours to complete. The kitty is expected to be back on his paws in about a week - but won't be catching mice just yet. 'We would like him to take it easy for about three months after surgery,' Marcellin-Little said. 'And then we will let him be himself.'


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Treating the process more as a research project, much of the time and materials used were donated so a cost estimate was impossible to make. But it cost owners Sandra Lerner and Len Bosack around $20,000. Speaking from the waiting room, Lerner said that 'Rat Boy' is worth every penny. 'He's my child. And if it were your child, would you begrudge the money?' she said. 'I have a personal philosophy that people are, at best, equal with the other inhabitants of the planet. And I'm very, very grateful that I have the money and (am) able to do it.'