Prosthetic devices for humans are easy enough to obtain, and they’re getting more advanced every year. But animal prostheses are a little harder to find, so creative vets often find themselves making up their own solution for injured animals.

Blade the tortoise was having a hard time in life: a growth disorder made it difficult for him to hold himself up, and he wasn’t able to move around normally. His owner took him to Dr. Carsten Plischke, a vet who had a novel idea for getting Blade up and running. (The video below is in German but has some great footage of Blade scooting around.)

Dr. Plischke fitted Blade with two sets of Lego wheels on the underside of his shell. The wheels lift Blade off of the ground just enough that he can move his legs to scoot himself around. This isn’t the first time Lego wheels have been used to give shelled friends a mobility boost; another German vet used a similar technique on a turtle missing a leg.

The makeshift Lego wheelchair is only a temporary measure; the vet says that Blade will eventually regain full use of his legs and be able to walk like any other tortoise. Until then, he gets to ride around on one of the sweetest animal mobility scooters ever built.

The post Scooter on a Half Shell: Lego Wheels Get Turtle Moving first appeared on Gajitz.

There are animal people, and then there are people who will go above and beyond to give everything they have to help an animal in need. Kitty Martin is an above-and-beyond kind of person. She found a young calf frozen to a field in Virginia, nearly starved to death with its hind hooves lost to frostbite. The retired truck driver jumped into action, calling animal hospitals all over the country to find help for the little calf she named Hero.

Hero’s fate was uncertain for a while. He was so badly injured that his veterinary team at first thought it would be best to euthanize him. But Hero lived up to his name and regained enough health to receive his first pair of prosthetic legs. The company that made Hero’s new legs had never made bovine replacement legs before, so they studied cows’ natural gaits to see if they could reproduce those movements biomechanically.

It took a while for Hero to get used to his new legs. He was wobbly and unsure at first, but eventually learned to use them almost as effectively as a set of natural legs. Watching the growing cow totter around on his prosthetic legs is precious and heartbreaking all at once. Since receiving his first pair of legs, Hero has outgrown the prostheses and received a new, larger pair.

Although Martin rescued Hero and spent nearly $40,000 on his new legs, she doesn’t plan to make him a house pet. Hero is going to live on a farm in Texas where she can visit him regularly. According to this all-star animal lover, she would like to see Hero work with human amputees as a source of inspiration and companionship.

The post Calf Frozen to the Ground Rescued + Given Shiny New Legs first appeared on Gajitz.