The much-loved pet is said to be enjoying being able to get around much faster than it used to. [Photo/IC]

A 90-year-old tortoise, called Mrs T, is going double the speed she used to after being fitted with a set of wheels when a rat chewed off her two front legs while she was hibernating in Pembroke, West Wales.

Mrs T's owner Jude Ryder, 56, ran up a £1,000 ($1,566) vets bill before turning to her mechanical engineer son Dale Sinclair-Jones, 37, for help.

Sinclair-Jones used the wheels from a model aircraft and designed an axle which he attached onto her shell using resin.

Mrs T was in her 60s when she was bought as a pet for Dale when he was eight. The pet has the run of Ryder's garden, in the spring and summer before being tucked away in the garden shed to hibernate.

Ryder's grandchildren Nancy Sinclair-Jones, four, left, and Mia Davies, five, with Mrs T, the tortoise. [Photo/IC]