CATS have nine lives, as the saying goes – and one local feline has made the most of his after a life-threatening accident 15 years ago.
Oscar the cat recently celebrated his 17th birthday and is somewhat of a sensation in the veterinary world. After losing both hind feet in an accident involving a combine harvester over 15 years ago, he became the ideal patient of Noel Fitzpatrick, better known as the “Supervet” from his appearances on national TV.
After his accident, Oscar was referred to the Surrey-based surgeon by Peter Howarth, of Jersey’s New Era surgery, in 2009, where two artificial implants were fitted in place of Oscar’s rear feet. The world-first procedure was the subject of BBC series The Bionic Vet, which aired in 2010, earning Oscar the nickname the “Bionic Cat”.
With only one surgical procedure needed when his first prosthesis snapped, Oscar has since lived a long and healthy life with his Islander owners, Mike and Kate Nolan.
Oscar recently featured on the BBC’s The One Show with Mr Nolan as a surprise for Mr Fitzpatrick, who was talking about his career to date.
One Show presenter Roman Kemp told the Supervet: “You don’t know we’ve done this but Oscar is still going strong 15 years on.”
Open-mouthed in shock, Mr Fitzpatrick watched a short clip of Oscar with Mr Nolan, who said: “Hi Noel, this is Oscar here in sunny Jersey. We just wanted to give you an update on how he’s doing.
“It’s been over 15 years since he had his accident. He’s 17 now and he would not be here without what you did for him.
“So we just want to say a big thank you.”
Mr Fitzpatrick appeared to hold back tears as he said it was an “honour” to help an animal to experience over a decade of love and life with its family.
Speaking to the JEP, Mr Nolan said that thanks to the Supervet his now senior cat had enjoyed many happy years since his operation but that he and his wife had not expected him to live for such a long time.
“We expected him to have a limited life span and if anything 17 is a very good age for a cat regardless of whether they’ve lost their legs or not,” Mr Nolan said. “He’s had a lot of exposure over the years.”
After his successful procedure, Oscar became internationally famous, appearing on Good Morning America and Australia’s 60 Minutes. He also became the subject of a book and was dubbed a “miracle-performing cat” by Asian media outlets, Mr Nolan recalled.
After watching Mr Fitzpatrick’s reaction on the One Show he said that had it not been for the referral by Mr Howarth, Oscar would not be here today.
“If Peter hadn’t put us in touch with Noel, we would have had no option but to put Oscar down,” Mr Nolan said. “[Oscar] was in a bad way.”
