He doesn't have CH, and it might be better if he did. I have a cat with CH; Mother Nature gave her the condition which she lives with very well. Some human abused this cat through extreme neglect. They didn't bind his hind legs together with duct tape, it's true, but they allowed his coat to become so totally matted that his back legs were welded together as one. The muscles in his back legs have atrophied from lack of use and we don't know how much use he will get back after being unable to use them for a long time. I'll be talking to my vet about massage, stretching exercises, hydrotherapy, etc.

He does have some general neurological damage also, whether due to a medical condition, trauma or neglect they can't tell. It causes him to jerk one of front legs out occasionally and makes it hard for him to chew. I'm sure there is more but I had only one evening to observe him.

In spite of all this neglect and the physical problems he faces constantly, he is extremely sweet natured and very positive. He does enjoy attention but after some fuss he's off to explore. He's truly one of those lemons=delicious lemonade souls. No wonder they kept hanging on to him.

I could hardly walk away from a cat like that could I? Could you? I'd meant to visit and discuss, and I did at first, even asking if another rescue could put him out for adoption (it had been tried) or why one of them couldn't take him. I visited, talked and thought for about 30 minutes and when I asked for the paperwork and commented my vet would still be open if they wanted a reference, they simply got out a little receipt book to write my name and phone number and said he was mine, no charge. I was shocked. I didn't have a carrier and they didn't have any to purchase so we put him on the back seat of my car until I could get to a pet store. But he just lay there perfectly at ease so I drove home like that.

He's extremely thin and you can see every vertebrae. I was surprised because he's been in care for 3 months but I think I know what must have happened. He loves wet food and stormed through 2 cans of Fancy Feast last night and 2 more this morning. I think while he was in care he was fed mostly dry food because he doesn't poop inside a litter box. Since he finds dry food hard to chew, he wasn't really eating enough although he did gain 8 ounces over 3 months.

He won't be called Smokey for long but I have to find the right name for a cat who has coped with so many bad things happening to him and still has a very positive and energetic outlook.