kitten with weak hind legs?

Question
I aquired a kitten a few months ago that weighed only eight ounces, was near death, and upon taking her to the vet, was told that she was seven or eight weeks old, and extremely malnourished.  She is now about 4 months old, and still cant jump at all. She has tried to jump the foot and a half gap between my coffee table and couch once, and failed miserably.  It's that her legs just wont do it, she can climb, but not jump.  She couldnt walk more than a few steps when i first got her, but now runs up and down the stairs, but occasionally favors her back legs.  Should she be all better now, or could the starvation at such a young age have caused permanant damage?

Answer
Allysha,

I too have rescued emaciated kittens on more than one occasion. This baby is still quite young, give her time to get herself sorted out - with proper feeding, gentle therapy in the form of play, plenty of love and attention she should come around. It's still fairly recently that her life was far from positive and since she's growing it will take some time for her system to regain it's strength and stamina. Don't give up on her yet! If you are concerned that the issues could be medical or neurological in origin don't hesitate to consult your vet since there are syndromes that can happen as a result of mom having poor nutrition, lack of medical care, etc during pregnancy...Either way, I know with my youngest who was also in rough shape when we rescued her it took some time and patience to get her over the physical after effects of starvation, abuse, neglect, etc, but you'll be happy to know that although Kiz had some difficulty with walking, jumping, running, etc she's now a completely normal healthy cat (in spite of us being told that her neuro damage might be permanent). If you haven't considered this I'd recommend that you think about treating her with homeopathy - some holistic vets are trained in the use of this gentle but incredibly powerful form of medicine, some human homeopaths are willing to treat pets, but I have seen amazing things happen for pets who receive treatments consisting of homeopathic remedies, in fact different homeopathic remedies have saved the lives of my two oldest cats so don't underestimate the power even though many conventional docs don't see the value yet.