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A darling and clever little cat with prosthetics on her hind legs is making news this week after an amazing little video of her going down the stairs started making the rounds. In the 9 second video, uploaded on May 29 and titled ‘Double Amputee Cat Flying Handstand,’ Boots, who is missing her hind feet and wearing a pair of little blue boot prosthetics in their place, hesitates just a moment at the top of the stairs before flipping herself onto her front paws and flying down the stairs doing the fastest moving handstand you’ve seen.
Boots’ petmom Megan Brocato introduces the video, saying: “Boots is a double amputee cat that was saved from euthanasia at just 10 days old. Life is hard for any orphan kitten, but even harder for a kitten with just 2 paws. Her blue “house slippers” were made by OrthoPets in Denver, where she will continue to receive care for her “disabilities”. In our opinion, she is not handicapped in the least bit! You can read more about Boots’ story (and donate towards her care!) at www.lifeisbetterrescue.org, [the website of Denver, Colorado based Life is Better Rescue].”
Boots and her littermate were dumped in the night-dropbox at the local shelter at just two weeks old. Boots’ hind feet were missing and had been unevenly severed in some sort of accident.
Life is better Rescue writes: “The doctors have confirmed that her limb amputations were not as the result of a birth disorder and were not naturally occurring – both bones are quite ragged and the exposed nerve endings cause her pain as she grows, gains weight, and tries to walk on what are essentially exposed nubs. Our best guess was that she was either closed in a door or perhaps caught in a recliner as it came upright – not intentional – but certainly being dropped in the night box at the municipal shelter not a humane solution either.
“She will eventually need surgery to clean up the ends of her legs, and to help with the permanent fitting of prosthetics. In the meantime, she now wears “house slippers” to help to teach her to walk with her back straight, to keep her muscles from atrophying, and to help spare her the pain of walking on the painful ends of where she should have tiny kitten feet.”
“Boots came to live with me when she was about 5 – 6 weeks old,” Megan told BuzzFeed.
“She had been passed up by other rescue groups because she was missing her rear paws. ”
“A vet in Denver fitted her for “house slippers” (the blue prosthetics) when she was 6 months old.”
“It was tough as she re-learned how to walk. But as you can see from our video, she has no problem now.”
Even though Boots has learned to walk and to compensate for her challenges, she will need surgery to even off her leg stumps and get permanently fitted prosthetics.
Meanwhile, watch her incredible moves going down the stairs if you have not seen them already.
Double Amputee Cat Flying Handstand:
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