Cat Gets New Tiny Legs to Allow Him to Walk Once More

Nobody knows how a stray cat named Pooh had his rear legs damaged. It’s possible that a train, or maybe a car, collided with him in his little Bulgarian village. Whatever had happened, Pooh had suffered significant injuries and required immediate assistance.

Although a neighborhood woman occasionally left food outside for Pooh, he didn’t truly belong to anyone. When the woman realized Pooh was wounded, she hurried him to the Central Vet Clinic in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. A surgeon who worked there, Vladislav Zlatinov, was the first to examine Pooh.

Pooh was suffering from serious soft tissue injury as well as open, infected sores. Zlatinov was well aware that he needed to act quickly.

Zlatinov first believed he had just two options: amputate the rear legs high up on the limbs or euthanize Pooh to put him out of his pain.

But Zlatinov didn’t want to do either of those things. He’d heard about Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick, a celebrity vet in the U.K., who’d done a complicated surgery on a cat named Oscar, repairing his injured back legs and attaching permanent prosthetics – tiny “peg legs” – into the cat’s ankle bones.

“I had a hazy understanding that this was done,” Zlatinov recalled, “but it sounded impossible for our practice.” “However, I wanted to give it a go.”

It wasn’t a simple task. To preserve Pooh’s upper legs, Zlatinov had to undergo numerous operations. Then Zlatinov arranged for custom-made prostheses to be drilled into Pooh’s ankle bones and permanently attached to his legs.

“He’s doing surprisingly well so far,” Zlatinov said. “Pooh can move freely on flat surfaces – walking, running, even making small jumps. For now, he can’t make bigger jumps. What’s important is that he doesn’t seem to be in pain.”

Pooh may appear awkward, but Zlatinov believes this has nothing to do with his prosthetic legs. “He’s just an overweight, lazy lad,” Zlatinov opined. “Eventually, he’ll be able to move freely… assuming, of course, that he removes the big tummy.”

Pooh seems to be getting used to his new legs already, and treating them like any other part of his body. “He grooms them and tries to keep them clean,” Zlatinov said.

“We’re very proud,” Zlatinov told Reuters. “It was quite a success … It gives hope to other patients.”

Pooh is currently being cared for by a local rescue group, Let’s Adopt Bulgaria, but this special cat will soon be looking for his forever home. Contact the rescue organisation if you’re interested in adopting Pooh.