Ashley Duffy was leaving work and saw a tiny kitten laying in the parking lot. Assuming the feral mama cat was going to come back, she headed home. When Ashley got home, she realized it was about to rain and she couldn’t quit thinking about the poor little kitten, so she turned around and went right back to check on it. There it was, still lying in the parking lot.

She picked it up and realized that both back legs were only partial legs with no back feet. She took it immediately to her sister-in-law, who works at a clinic for cats, and was told that he was born that way. The kitten, a male, was about a week old and healthy. If she was going to help him, she had to feed him, every 3 hours, 24 hours a day, until he was old enough for food. That is exactly what she did! 

He was such a precious kitten that a local artist, Rex Hausman, used him as a muse for a series of paintings. Ashley even has a cute print and coffee cup adorned with the painting of her precious Carlos.

 As Carlos grew up, he never knew he was missing anything on his body; he acts like a normal cat - just putting most of his weight on his front legs and using the back ones for stability. Over time, one of the back legs was not doing well and he lost most of it, but it didn’t slow him down. He still plays and runs with his cat siblings Hobbes and KitKat. Carlos has a wonderful life living with Ashley and her family; believe it or not he is now 12 years old!