Yes he does. :-( He's had a very tough time of it. Shannon, the woman
that runs the rescue, trapped him in the middle of winter 2001 while
trying to catch one of her own cats that had escaped. He had severe
frostbite on his ear and all four paws and had to have a bunch of teeth
removed on top of that. He was very mistrustful of people, is very
afraid of feet (which makes me wonder if his broken leg was cause by
someone kicking him), and had to be socialized, but when he was brought
to adoption days he did so poorly that she stopped bringing him. She put
him on the rescue's Petfinder page and hoped he would be adopted that
way.

He then was bounced around between foster homes (they come and go,
unfortunately) for a long time. A woman adopted him, then returned him
because she decided she had too many cats. He then was in several more
foster homes before being adopted a second time.

When I did the behavior consultation I noticed the limp immediately, and
the owners response was "we just thought he walked that way." Grrrrrr,
so he had been suffering with this for many months. When I said he
really needed to see a vet their response was "We thought when we
adopted him we'd get a healthy cat," as though adopted cats are somehow
magically immune to developing health issues down the line (as much as I
was trying to help them so he wouldn't lose another home, in my mind I
was very angry and pretty much knew he was doomed.) On top of that, even
though he was exhibiting aggression and getting worse, they didn't
bother to take him to a vet to find out if there was a medical cause but
instead constantly yelled at him, chased him away and soaked him with a
spray bottle. I get sick just thinking about it.

I observed Nubbins interact with their cat and they were fine for the 3
hours I was there, but I also noticed that Nubbins was constantly
headbutting the other cat at every opportunity as if to get reassurance
and it was clear he had no confidence left. After I left their house, I
called Shannon in an absolute fury and told her that if they did give
Nubbins up I would adopt him and give him a forever home as enough was
enough. I couldn't stand stand to see him go through another round of
foster homes or another failed adoption. It sure would be nice if we had
a crystal ball and knew in advance how adoptions pan out, but the
reality is it's a crapshoot and you just never know.

He's been doing very well here and has settled in nicely. Putting him on
pain meds did wonders for his disposition, plus I'm madly in love with
him anyway. :-)
I added a second photo I took last night to the page with his xrays and
I think you'll be able to see a difference from a few days ago:
http://community.webtv.net/zuzu22/nubbinsxray

Nubbins arthritis is in a different spot, and deterioration and the
resulting pain will be the reason for amputation. Pain can be managed up
to a point, but the reality is that there are just not a lot of options
for long term pain management for cats, and I would rather see Nubbins
live a pain free life with three legs than be in constant pain with
four. We're not there yet and for now I'll try other things, but it is
something that most likely will have to be considered at some point.

When  giving Adequan, giving Cosequin is mostly overkill. I've found
another supplement I'm going to try that has shown to have some promise
and contains other things that may help. I ran it past my veterinarian
and after looking over the data she said it looked pretty decent and it
would be ok to try. Let's hope it helps.

Megan