A two-legged kitten has been learning to walk with the help of a 3D printedwheelchair.

Gallery: 3D printing tech is helping disabled kittens walk again Gallery Gallery: 3D printing tech is helping disabled kittens walk again + 4

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When nine-week old Cassidy was found in a forest in British Columbia, Canada, the staff of the Tiny Kittens Society cat sanctuary didn't know if he'd even survive, let alone ever walk again. Shelley Roche of Tiny Kittens told Global News Canada that the kitten "managed to survive somehow for nine weeks, until we found him. He actually had learned how to lift his little bum off the ground and walk like a reverse velociraptor."


After successfully treating Cassidy for a severe E.Coli infection in the stumps of his legs, possibly gnawed off by accident when his mother tried to remove his umbilical cord, Roche made an appeal for help on Tiny Kittens' Facebook page.

Walnut Grove Secondary School students Josh Messmer and Isaiah Walke saw the call for help and discussed ways of supporting the two-legged cat with their teacher. Designs sketched on a whiteboard soon became a 3D model, which the pair printed out on their school's MakerBot 3D printer. "I'm really proud that it's gotten this far, from the computer stage to be able to have it working with Cassidy," said Walker.

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Roche says the wheelchair made Cassidy "so much happier and having the freedom to move is something he's never had before". As he's grown, Cassidy is now happily walking in a new wheelchair, donated by Handicapped Pets Canada.

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Cassidy isn't the only disabled animal to see the advantages of 3D printing. Other beneficiaries of the tech include Bubbles, a high-speed two-legged dog from Texas, and Clark Kent, another two-legged kitten rescued by the Transylvania Animal Alliance, which has been printing him new wheelchairs as he grows.


Clark the Super Kitty is onto his fourth wheelchair, and a GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for his care. Transylvania Animal Alliance says that when four-week-old Clark arrived at its shelter, he had lost the use of his hind limbs and was dragging himself around. The charity knew they had to "get him in a more normal walking position so that his bones grew normally".

However, with no standard walking carts suitable for a tiny 10 ounce (283g) kitten, Clark's foster mother started searing for ways to make a cart herself. According to the GoFundMe page, after twenty attempts at making a cart, Clark was fitted with a new set of wheels and "there has been no stopping him since" "He doesn't think he has any limitations. He spends his time playing with the other foster kittens, toys, and shoes just like any other kitten. As he grows, his cart gets rebuilt and modified to help keep him upright and mobile," the fundraising page read.

You can donate to both the Tiny Kittens Society and the Transylvania Animal Alliance online, and you can check in on Cassidy live on the Tiny Kittens video stream.