This lucky cat has two legs, and as the saying goes, has nine lives. He was found injured last year and needed parts of his infected back legs amputated. It left him with two different leg lengths, forcing him to drag himself around.

The animal was taken in by a cat shelter in Wisconsin that named him Sergeant Stubbs. Later, he was adopted by Adam Schofield.

“He walks, he kicks that he kicks his right leg around to keep himself balanced, but mostly, it looks like he’s sort of kicking on a scooter as he goes.”

To see if anything could be done to help Sergeant Stubbs, the cat shelter approached engineering students at the University of Wisconsin-Mandison.

They came up with the idea of using a 3D printer to create new prosthetic limbs.

“This isn’t like a fake project, or like we’re just like designing something. You know, this is a real cat. We’re dealing with real clients, so we need to be as professional as possible when dealing with these plans.”

But it isn’t always easy with a cat for a client as part of the prosthetic process. Sergeant Stubbs had to be put in a full-body cast; it was a challenge because he wiggled out of it.

The students hope their creation can help other cats, too. 

“I think the idea behind our prosthetics can be used further down the line.”

Back at home, Schofied struggles to get the prosthetics on Sargent Stubbs which are strapped to his back legs. He is impressed with the prosthetics, and hopes his cat will get used to them.

“It’s a cat. You can’t make him do it. You never know if Stubbs was a happy street cat, I don’t know. I know it was a very happy cat now.”

Schofield hopes the new prosthetics will make his cat’s life even better.

Deborah Block, VOA News. 

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Words in This Story

amputate – v. to cut off somebody’s arm, leg, finger or toe in a medical operation

prosthetic – adj. used as an artificial part of the body