First Knee Replacement on a Cat

So...the cat can fire lasers now, right?

No link?

There is no URL linked to the link.

Whoops! Fixed now.

Disgusting. What's next? Kitty heart/lung transplants? If the cat can't live with three legs(lots of them do) then it should be euthanized. BTW I like cats.

It looks like they put the fancy new knee into the cat's stomach.

So the only acceptable options for you are killing the cat or chopping off it's leg, chriswww? A prosthetic knee joint is just completely unacceptable? Would you say the same if it were a person?

By the way, if you follow the link and read the article- you know, actually look into things before you make judgments- you'll see that amputating the leg was not an option because the opposite leg was broken in 8 places.

That's a really good looking bionic cat.

So I guess Chriswww is also opposed to the benefit to medical science of experimenting with prosthesis in animals? Dude, it's not your money, it's not your cat. I'm glad it wasn't your call.

Medically - it's an interesting accomplishment.

Morally - it's a big step back.

Honestly, how can you ever justify spending this kind of money on an animal when people are dying around the world and haiti is in the shape it's in. It's a sad commentary on our social values, and a very frightening spectre of things to come, when we value animals more than people.

angie493, I assume you live on nothing but the scantest subsistence diet because you give all money that you can possibly live without to charities. Come to think of it, why are you sitting there reading Neatorama when you could be out helping those who desperately need it?

First, the link wasn't there when I made my comment.
Angie493 is right. We need to spend more money on human health care and less on pets.

Why are people complaining about money needing to be spent on humans? I'm sure if the owners of this cat had a child with similar injuries, they would have spent the money repairing their kid.

It's their money. Who cares if they spend it on kitty prosthetics? If you want to spend your own money donating to Haiti or your local homeless shelter then by all means, go for it. Just remember that you don't really NEED that coffee, or those potato chips, so I'd re-think the "justify spending this kind of money" argument.

I gotta say, if this was my beagle Ace, I'd outfit him with the best bionic leg money can buy. I readily admit that I am a sucker.

@MadMolecule

I DO in fact spend my money and time working with the homeless and others in need. Your argument that one should do X for 24/7 if you're advocating that one social value should be encouraged over another is trying to over-simply to ridiculousness that point and you know it.
My point is that shouldn't we value human life over animal life. You'll be surprised how many people wouldn't and won't. And that is what is MOST frightening.
A study was recently done that asked "If you could go into a burning building and could either save your pet or a perfect stranger - which would you save". Almost 50% answered they would save their pet. THAT is what horrifies me - that someday I might die because people cared more about some animal than a person in need. I certainly don't want to live in a world where that's the case - and it scares me that anyone would advocate for that kind of attitude. Think of what would happen if the whole society believed that?

And THAT madmolecule - is my point

Well, what should I save a perfect stranger for, who might be a total asshole or rapist or whatever, when I know that my cat is a really cool and awesome person?

Furthermore please explain why should we value humans over animals? You just say we should, but you don't give any reason for this behaviour.

Also I don't know anyone in Haiti. I also don't know if my money would actually get there. I'd rather spend it on my cat who's a good friend to me.

Oh and another point. How do you know Missy's owner didn't donate money to Haiti, the homeless or braindamaged people like you?

Angie can you cite your source for the study?

Chriswww, I get really sick of the inevitable "Why are they helping animals when they should be helping humans?" remarks whenever there is a story about people helping animals. It is possible to do both! A companion animal becomes part of the family and people form a bond with it. It's not something disposable. My parents spent thousands on our cat when he had problems and that gave him 15 more years of life, but that doesn't mean that they neglected me when I was hurt.

People who are abusive toward animals also tend to be
abusive toward people, but it can go the other way,
too: People who have compassion for animals can also have compassion for people.

And angie493, the relationship between a person and a companion animal is very much like the relationship between a parent and a child. Would you value your daughter's life over the life of a stranger? You're citing a study where people were asked a simplistic hypothetical question and I'm sure that "both" wasn't
an option. In real life most people would choose both.