Meet Oscar, the adorable bionic pet cat

This is Oscar. The cute little feline from Jersey in the U.K. had an accident about nine months ago when a combine harvester ran him over while he napped in a field, severing the bottom part of his two back legs. But Oscar is plucky. His local vet, Peter Haworth, consulted another vet, Noel Fitzpatrick of Surrey, England, who has an advanced practice. They discussed Oscar's case via phone and e-mail, and after viewing X-rays and photos, they reasoned that Oscar was a good candidate for a cutting-edge new procedure Fitzpatrick had been developing: bionic cat legs.

(Credit: ABC News screenshot by Matt Hickey/CNET)

They're called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (ITAPs), and they're drilled right into what was left of Oscar's bones. They protrude down as stumps while the other ends are designed so that his skin will grow around them, making a sterile seal. Later, when everything is healed and Oscar is used to walking on his pegs, prosthetic flexible paws will be affixed to his appendages to give him a more natural gait. The BBC video above shows that Oscar appears to be living a far better life than most cats would after similar accidents and is in good spirits. Oscar will be with us for a while--and in fact will be featured in a BBC One documentary series, "The Bionic Vet," starting soon. Also, if he finds four more robo-kitties, we might be looking at a real-life Voltron. That would be excellent.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)