London ? Oscar the cat may have lost one of his nine lives, but his new prosthetic paws make him one of the world’s few bionic cats.

Oscar, the cat with a pair of prosthetic paws

After losing his two rear paws in a nasty encounter with a combine harvester last October, the black cat with green eyes was outfitted with metallic pegs that link the ankles to new prosthetic feet and mimic the way deer antlers grow through skin. Oscar is now back on his feet and hopping over hurdles like tissue paper rolls.

After Oscar’s farming accident, which happened when the 2 1/2-year-old-cat was lazing in the sun in the British Channel Isles, his owners, Kate and Mike Nolan, took him to their local veterinarian. In turn, the vet referred Oscar to Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick, a neuro-orthopedic surgeon in Eashing, 35 miles southwest of London.

Together with biomedical engineering experts, Fitzpatrick gave Oscar two metal prosthetic implants, or pegs.

After rehabilitation training that taught Oscar how to walk again, the cat was on all four feet in less than four months. Oscar’s owners said they hoped his new paws would also further the technology for developing artificial limbs for humans.

“This is a pretty lucky cat,” said Dr. Mark Johnston, a veterinarian and spokesman for the British Small Animal Veterinary Association. “Giving a cat artificial limbs is a very novel solution.” Johnston said that while there are many “perfectly happy” three-legged cats and dogs, animals that lose two legs do not usually fare as well.