Orange kitten 'Otter' born without a complete skull gets a titanium implant and wears a custom 3D-printed helmet to purrtect his tiny noggin: 'He now gets to live a long, full life'

Usually, orange cats have plenty of skull but no brain cells inside to protect. For Otter, it was the opposite.

Even after nearly 6 years of being an editor for I Can Has Cheezburger, cats still surprise me. It's not just the heartwarming rescue stories filled with kind people, or the cats that are born with rare fur patterns and unique colorings, but how resilient felines are that gets me. Indoor cats can survive for years being lost outside and eventually find their way back to their pawrents, never once giving up. They can carry a whole litter of kittens in the scorching summer heat, give birth, and then find a way to bring their kittens to a wholesome hooman to hopefully give them a chance to live their best lives. 

An Instagram page called @General.knowledge.booster posted Otter's story, and we couldn't resist sharing it with you. Otter was born with an incomplete skull, meaning that part of his brain (yes, he did have one despite popular opinion) was left exposed. Acting quickly, volunteers 3D-printed him a custom helmet to purrtect his tiny head. When he was old enough, he was able to get a special procedure that implanted some titanium to close up his head fur good and keep him safe. Now, Otter is helmet-free and is the happiest little guy his pawrents could ask for.

The life of a cat can be heartbreaking, but it doesn't have to be that way if we use our compassion and hooman brains to intervene. We did that for Otter, and look at him now! He's a fully functioning cat (as much as an orange cat can be), and with a titanium skull that makes him the closest thing to Wolverine we'll have anytime soon. A soft, cuddly, and adorable Wolverine… and we think he should be cast in the new X-Men movie. Just saying.