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Meet the cat born with no back legs who has been given a new lease of life thanks to two state of the art metal prosthetics screwed into his bones.

Vincent, a three-year-old short-haired cat, has had the extremely rare implants fitted thanks to scientists at Iowa State University's (ISU) Lloyd Veterinary Medical Centre.

And the fortunate feline now thinks nothing of strolling across an exam room with his new found legs.

The titanium-alloy prosthetics are state-of-the-art in design according to vet Dr Mary Sarah Bergh who attached them.

(Image: ISU/Mercury)

It's estimated as few as a dozen cats worldwide have anything like the design now helping Vincent - which involves the metal poles poking out through his skin.

The design of the implants allows for the cats bones to grow onto the titanium shafts to support his weight.

But the titanium shaft is exposed to the environment, which puts Vincent at risk for infection and is an ongoing challenge Dr Bergh and his owner Cindy Jones.

Cindy, from Nevada, Iowa, first found Vincent at the Story County Animal Shelter when someone brought him in as a kitten missing his hind legs.

(Image: ISU/Mercury)

It was her daughter Emily, who attends veterinary school at ISU, that first thought Dr Bergh could help.

Cindy said: "Vincent was surrendered at the Story County Animal Shelter in Nevada, Iowa, where I work and I took one look at him and fell in love and took him home.

"The first time I saw him after surgery, it was scary I'll be honest because you don't normally see metal things poking out of your cat.

"Normally a cat like him that came into a shelter would not, you know, have a future because his injuries were so staggering, but you know you do what you need to do to make your animal successful."

(Image: ISU/Mercury)

Dr Bergh, an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery in the ISU Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, said: "I anticipate that he'll be jumping and doing really normal cat things very soon.

"His bone is looking great. The implants are stable, and he's walking really well on them, we couldn't be happier with how he's doing at the current time."

Read more:Meet Pee-Wee, a little dog who was born a little different - but doesn't let that stop him

Dr Bergh said when Vincent was rescued he was still very young and the more he grew the more his legs would become a problem.

She said: "He had an abnormality in both his hind limbs, he was missing them from the mid tibia down and was unable to walk.

(Image: ISU/Mercury)

"It's a very unusual abnormality, we're not exactly sure what caused it.

"And we determined that probably that left hind leg was not going to salvageable in its entirety which means that his knee was fixed in hyper-extension and couldn't bend at all.

"Of course he was a kitten at the time so his body weight was small but as they grow there's more and more weight placed on the back legs.

"With no feet or really legs to walk on, he was developing sores in areas on his legs.

"Putting these implants in his femurs was going to be the best option to give him legs so that he could actually walk for the very first time.

"It's extremely rare, in fact if I was to guess I would say there were probably less than 25 animals in the world who've ever had anything quite like what he's got.

"A lot of times when people think of prosthetics they think of something that's strapped onto a leg to allow walking. In animals that's not a usually very viable option especially in the femur or thigh where his injuries are.

(Image: ISU/Mercury)

"There's nothing really to strap on so his implants go inside the bone and then traverse the skin so he actually has metal posts poking through his skin and that's very, very unique.

ISU worked with BioMedtrix, a veterinary orthopaedics company that donated time and materials to the project, to design implants that could be inserted into the femur bones of Vincent's legs and pass through his skin.

Vincent's implants require him to antibiotic spray applied to his legs twice daily to prevent infections.

Read more:Quadruple amputee dog gets a whole new lease of life after being fitted with four prosthetic legs

Vincent's first surgery occurred in February 2014, and he was taking his first steps within days of the procedure.

A second surgery followed earlier this year in February, and he's undergone subsequent treatments to gradually lengthen the prosthetic legs.

Eventually, they'll be as long as the hind legs of an average house cat to normalise his gait.

At that point, he should be able to get around with little difficulty - even if he wants to try jumping.