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A brave stray kitten who was found without any working limbs has taken significant strides in his road to recovery.

The affectionately named Tater Tot was found by a dog belonging to one of the volunteers at Kitty CrusAIDe, a small nonprofit animal-rescue organization in Utah. Kitty CrusAIDe is a TNvR rescue, which works to 'trap, neuter, vaccinate, and release' cats into feral colonies managed by caretakers. The animals there are given medical support with the overall aim of reducing the feral cat population.

PETA estimates that there are somewhere between 60 and 100 million homeless cats living in the U.S. For a time, Tater Tot was among that number, but that was before Ash Houghton, his foster mom and the co-director of Kitty CrusAIDe, took him in.

Houghton told Newsweek how Tater Tot was born with "several malformations" that made the early part of his life difficult. "While I was trying to get him to latch onto the bottle, I noticed he was really struggling to figure out what he was doing," she said. "That's when we checked the roof of his mouth and found that he had a cleft palate, which was making it impossible for him to eat."

Since then, Tater Tot has switched to tube feeding, but his difficulties have continued. "In addition to his cleft palate, he was born with all four of his legs malformed," Houghton explained. "The front legs were stuck at a downward 90-degree angle at the wrist and his back legs are completely curly."

Despite these setbacks, Tater Tot has managed to maintain a sunny disposition. This and his story have also helped him garner an army of fans on social media who have quickly fallen in love with him.

Videos and pictures of Tater Tot regularly receive up thousands of likes and views on Houghton's Instagram, @Ash and Grey. Some of the content has migrated to Twitter and Facebook, where it has gotten a similarly adoring response.

"I've always shared my foster kittens online in various cat groups, but people seemed to really connect with this tiny little guy," Houghton said. "I mean, I knew he was cute, but I had no idea the world would take such a liking to him. We certainly were not prepared to go viral the way he has!"

While it's still early on, the signs are also looking good for Tater Tot making a recovery and ultimately going on to enjoy a long and happy life.

"We are working with an orthopedic specialist and, currently, Tater Tot has his front legs in splints to hopefully correct them without needing surgery," Houghton said.

"As far as his back legs go, we will need to wait a few months until his bones are dense enough to show up on an X-ray to really get an understanding of what is going on with them. Once we are able to do that, the vet can make a plan for next steps," Houghton added.

Plenty of people will be watching his progress with interest, while Houghton will be keeping everyone up to date with photos and videos of her brave little cat.

"The world just loves an underdog, and this little guy has a lot of things working against him," Houghton said. "A lot of people have said his fight and zest for life are really inspiring, and I know he has been a tiny inspiration for me."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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