All our cats were waifs/orphans. Oscar sort of had a home, but he was the pet of a young child, and he fell so ill they didn't know how to nurse him so he'd get better. (It took someone up with him 24/7 for 7-10 days to get him out of the woods. We did "shifts" with him to manage this. He had to be carried to the food/water dish every little bit because he was so sick and weak he could only eat a bite or two at a time.)