What *is* this?

[serendipity17]

http://community.livejournal.com/cat_macros/4844688.html?nc=4

Does the device on the cat's head serve a medical purpose, and if so, what?

Comments

[suneclipse]

It looks like a type of external fixation. They're used as a method of aligning bone fragments when casts or internal pins and plates are inadequate. The cat probably fractured it's skull or maxilla.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_fixation

[serendipity17]

Thanks for the link. Barnabas had a student last year who, while riding a bike, got hit by a truck and came back to school with a circular fixator on her lower leg.

[suneclipse]

Eeek! Poor girl! That doesn't sound like fun.