A disabled tortoise has his owners in a spin after being fitted with the rear wheels of a Hotwheels toy car to help him zoom around when he lost a leg.<br /><br />Little Lena Hale, aged three, was horrified to hear her pet tortoise Touch? would have to have his rear leg amputated after a nasty accident at home left him crippled.<br /><br />But creative staff at Highcroft Vetinary Hospital in Whitchurch, Bristol, fixed the base of a toy car - including to the rear axle and two wheels - to the underside of his shell.<br /><br />The 'suped-up' surgery took an hour and a half to complete and was a "complete success" with little Touch? left un-phased by his new prosthetic.<br /><br />Mum Lisa Purnell, 33, said: "It did upset me when I heard Touch? would have to have his leg amputated but seeing him now I know it was the best decision.<br /><br />"Lena and Touch? are best friends. She wakes up every morning and wants to play with him, kiss him, feed him.<br /><br />"She got really hysterical when she had to leave him at the vets, but I took her up there to say goodnight.<br /><br />"She knows that she has to be really careful with him now, but he seems to be doing really well and getting to grips with his wheel."<br /><br />"It's almost as though he doesn't realise he hasn't got a leg - he is zooming around the house as if nothing happened."<br /><br />Lisa, a support worker from Withywood, Bristol, described vet Sonya Miles as "amazing".<br /><br />Sonya said: "The little tortoise broke his leg in an accident and it was sadly a case of amputating his leg or putting him to sleep.<br /><br />"We used a special resin to attach wheels that would lift him off the ground, so he would avoid traumatising the underside of his shell by dragging his back end."<br /><br />The Hotweels car chassis used was chosen from a range of toy cars donated to the vets by kind-hearted animal lovers to help get injured pets back no their feet.<br /><br />Touch? has made a speedy recovery since the operation on Friday and is now "zooming" around the house on his 'hot' wheels.
