Little Russell, a ginger tabby, was found on farmland near Kingston on December 11 - it was believed he had been attacked by a hawk, and dropped by the bird from height.
Taken in by Kingston resident and Queenstown Cat Rescue volunteer Lydia McCarthy, he was emaciated and dehydrated, and had a nasty abscess on his back.
He was unable to hold his head up, had no function in his left front leg, and vet checks showed damage to discs in his back and a herniated diaphragm.
He was also profoundly deaf and had limited eyesight.
While, initially, euthanasia was contemplated, Ms McCarthy was determined to give the little fighter a fighting chance.
A Givealittle page raised $4270 of the $5000 needed to cover the cost of his vet treatment - and Russell, now about four months old, has made a remarkable recovery.
While still deaf, his eyesight had improved, though was still limited and he had a little wobble, more pronounced when he was tired, or had just woken up.
However, the kitten vets thought may never walk, is now running and learning how to jump.
"His jumping’s still not great, but that’s just time - he was delayed, massively, by simply not being able to walk."
Despite indications he would need to have his leg amputated, instead Russell had a splint on it for a couple of weeks, after which he started learning how to walk on it - while that foot’s reflexes were still limited, he was now learning how to use his claws.
There were also still questions over his spinal damage and it would be another six months before they would know the long-term implications of that.
His quirks, however, were not stopping him from being entered in his first cat show, in May, in Christchurch.
Ms McCarthy said one of her friends, who used to breed "fancy cats", but now showed them, was enlisted to cat-sit Russell.
She fell in love with him and decided she would enter him in the domestic section, "which is just moggies".
"It doesn’t matter if he’s different; it doesn’t matter if he’s a bit wobbly - it’s [about] personality, and he’s amazing."
