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Langley vet working to give amputee kitten a leg up in life

‘Miracle kitten’ Cassidy is being prepped for prosthetic implants to replace hind legs thought to have been lost shortly after birth
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Mountain View vet Dr. Renee Ferguson administered Botox injections into Cassidy’s hind legs in the hope it will make them more flexible to better allow for the implant of prosthetic limbs

Langley’s ‘miracle kitten’ could make history as the first cat to have prosthetic ‘blade runner legs’ implanted.

Cassidy continues to be an internet sensation, with more than a million views of the video showing the tuxedo kitten walking with the help of a tiny wheelchair.

Now the cat is eight-months-old and is thought to be the first feline to receive Botox injections, which were administered last week.

The Botox was injected into his hind stumps in the hope it will improve his flexibility for the blade-type prosthetic legs to be surgically implanted.

A dog in the U.S. had similar blades implanted in his front legs and now it is able to run around.

Cassidy was saved by TinyKittens founder Shelly Roche.

The Fort Langley woman has been Cassidy’s mom, nurse, physio and occupational therapist since rescuing him when he was nine weeks old. He was on the brink of death, living in a colony of more than 200 feral cats in a rural forest in Aldergrove.

After he lost the lower half of his hind legs shortly after birth, his stumps became infected with E.coli. He should not have lived but his determination suggests he has more than nine lives.

When Cassidy’s story first got out, students at Walnut Grove Secondary built him a wheelchair, using their school’s 3D printer.

The cat has since outgrown his wheelchair and recently a video Roche posted of Cassidy went viral, showing him riding around on a Roomba (a self-motorized vacuum) as his method of transportation.

The Botox injections were administered at Canada West Veterinary in Vancouver.

Langley’s Dr. Renee Ferguson from Mountain View Veterinary Hospital, Cassidy’s primary vet, administered the Botox. Roche said Ferguson has put ‘many hours’ into organizing the injections, working out the dose and figuring out the right spots to put them.

“It wouldn’t have happened without her,” said Roche.

Roche hasn’t seen a lot of change in response to the Botox injections but said it is early yet.

“First we have to see how he responds to the Botox over the next two to four weeks, then we will decide if we can do the osseointegrated implants into his tibia or femur,” said Roche.

“And then we will figure out the attachment and how that works. So I think it will be a while before we will know what surgery is happening, and when.”

Should the Miracle Kitten be ready for the implants, they would fly to North Carolina to the NC State Veterinary Medicine School to get the implants.

See more at tinykittens.com



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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