Bionic cat X-ray
This is an X-ray of Baby, a six-year-old cat who now has metal implants in all her legs after repeated falls from her third story London apartment. Staff at the Blue Cross animal hospital in Victoria, London have dubbed her the "bionic cat." From the Daily Mail:
"Amazingly, she has healed extremely well and can already move around very well," (said Jess Gower, Blue Cross chief veterinary surgeon.) We hope that in around eight weeks, when we take off the frame, she will move as normal and you'd never know what happened to her."Link (via Peculiarosities)
Ms Gower added: "She's had two lucky escapes but needs to be very careful to keep her remaining lives intact. We have had a long chat with her owner as we believe Baby was probably sitting in the sun on the edge of a balcony - we recommend people in high-rise blocks with pets keep their windows shut."
the latest
latest episodes
"Bionic" would imply that at the implants have electronic or hydraulic components -
These seem to simply be metal splints
Sounds like the cat needs a new owner. How can you let your pet fall out the window THREE TIMES ? There's nothing cool about this, it is sad.
Yeah, Elaine. I would be so freaked out if my kitty fell off the balcony ONCE that he would be an indoors kitty for the rest of his life.
Ewww...x-rayed cat poop!
I, for one, welcome our new catborg masters...
That's a lot of adamantium. In the meantime, the technology that needs to be applied first is screens on the windows.
Perhaps the cat is depressed.
I can has bionics?
OK, you are really going to have to STOP reading the Daily Mail. It's bad for the health. Look at this article for example:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/emma_clarke/2007/11/mind_the_gaffe.html
written by the actual woman who recorded the jokey announcements for the tube. The Mail invented their story.
Seriously, Britain has some good newspapers. the Daily Mail is not one of them.
Screens, eh? I was thinking they could magnetize the windowsills.
If you like bionic cats and comics about bionic cats, check out We3... http://www.amazon.com/We3-Grant-Morrison/dp/1401204953/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196227642&sr=8-1
It's awesome and very sad at the same time.
I've read that cat injuries increase with altitude up until the seventh floor. After that the cats seem to have more time to think about the situation, relax and land better and so injuries actually decrease in floors higher than the seventh floor. Presumably there's a limit to this - throwing them off the space shuttle probably wouldn't work.
The definitive article was in "natural history" 1989 (I think it was also featured in "Nature"). Obviously it is unethical to do actual experiments so the data was rather limited, but did seem to show that intermediate heights were the killers.
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/jcabbott/courses/bio208web/bio208restricted/copyrighted/how_cats_survive_falls_Diamond1989.pdf
"We think she fell from the third floor of a building. Contrary to popular belief, cats don't always land on their feet - Baby landed on her back."
So what happened to her legs?
@ #12: Yeah, there's a limit, but I think it's below the 7th floor, which is pretty far from earth already. A friend's cat who fell out of the window of her 10th floor apartment did not remotely survive.
There's making adjustments to land better, and then there's acceleration due to gravity... :(
"I know I shouldn't have the window open, but Baby always cries so pitifully if she doesn't feel the breeze...she's the child I never had and I can't help but spoil her."
We have this amazing thing where I live, called WINDOW SCREENS.