(24 Nov 2021) LEAD IN:
A dog in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk has been fitted with a full set of prosthetic titanium limbs, made using a 3D printer.
Monika, a rescue dog from the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, is the first dog that vet Sergei Gorshkov has performed such an operation on, after previous success with cats.
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This dog's name is Monika. Aged between two and four-years-old, she's now learning to walk again.
The first steps on prostheses just two weeks after her operation are still not very confident, but progress can already be seen.
Sergei Potkov, a veterinarian from Novosibirsk, has been practicing animal prosthetics since 2015.
He's completed 37 prosthetic operations, but this was his first such operation on a dog.
"We never did such a thing before," he says.
"This is complicated, and it is a dog, which is not a cat, it weighs a lot, more than cats, and this dog had leg deformations at that. So, we considered all pros and cons, and thought that if we fail at least we will be back to where we are now."
The dog was rescued in the city of Krasnodar in the south of Russia in December 2020. She was found lying on the side of the road covered in snow.
After providing necessary medical treatment, vets in Krasnodar suggested volunteers euthanise the dog as she was suffering.
An animal can still lead a normal life after losing one or even two limbs, but without all four, it can only crawl to its food bowl or sleeping place.
Vet Gorshkov says the wounds looked as if they might have been caused deliberately.
"Judging by the way her bones were sticking out, and general state was kind of – as they say – they might have chopped her paws," he says.
Prosthetics made from titanium alloy were 3D printed, based on scans of Monika's limbs.
To make fusing them to the bone easier, the prosthetics were covered with a calcium-phosphorus bio-coating at Tomsk Polytechnic University.
Before the 3D printing process, a digital prototype of the prosthetic was developed on a computer.
"People, like you and I, are the same, but animals are different, they each have (different paws) - short, long, curved paws, so the creation of a prosthesis is individual every time, it does not suit another dog," says Gorshkov.
"After we create a digital model of the prosthesis - just for this animal and considering all possible errors – only then do we begin to print it".
Gorshkov says it usually takes six to eight weeks for bones to fully integrate with the titanium.
According to the vet, it doesn't hurt to live with prostheses, Monika should be relieved from any pain in about two weeks.
But to ensure such a smooth process, two months of preparation is required.
"No one does even one (prostheses), two is difficult, and four – a dog or a cat does not have a self-preservation mode. The dog has two modes - it hurts, or it doesn't hurt, so as soon as it stops hurting, the dog can run and rush, and the probability that it (the prostheses) will fall out or become infected is very high, so you need to take all this into account when you prepare."
says Gorshkov.
"The preparation process took us two months, and only after that could the operation be performed."
Monika is now going through a rehabilitation process. Her new home already awaits her.
After being discharged from hospital, which should be in about four weeks, Monika will go to live in London at a shelter for cats and dogs who have been victims of violence.
After hearing Monika's story, the shelter owner offered to care for the little survivor.
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