Sassy Cougar

Appx. DOB 1/1/1999

Rescued on Oct. 17, 2016

Died Oct. 24, 2017

Sassy Cougar she came to Spirit of the Hills in 2001 from Jim and Judy Morrow of Wildcat Valley Sanctuary of the Black Hills, Keystone South Dakota.

She’s 17+ estimate. She is spayed. Sassy had already had the tips of her ears frozen off by the time she came to live Jim & Judy in 1999.  Judy Penland Morrow died of cancer in July 2009. The last mention I found of Jim Morrow was in an April 2011 interview: at that time, he still owned six large cats, but he had transferred them to Spirit of the Hills Sanctuary in the Northern Hills for safe-keeping. He was having health issues of his own; and without Judy, he told the interviewer, his heart just wasn’t in Wildcat Valley anymore.

Sassy and 5 others arrived at Big Cat Rescue on Oct. 17, 2016 from Spirit of the Hills.  Find out more about the rescue here: http://bigcatrescue.org/spirit-of-the-hills/

According to her former keepers, “her favorite foods were ground buffalo, deer carcasses and rabbit in the winter. Otherwise chicken like quarters in the warmer months and fresh butchered beef. For enrichment we put essential oils in paper bags , bowling balls, and they always had beef bones or wild game bones.”  At Big Cat Rescue we do not feed road kill, culled sick animals or those killed by hunters because there is no way to assure that the food isn’t laden with parasites, buckshot or drugs.

Feeding Time at Spirit of the Hills

Update June 12, 2017

Sassy was reported to be a limping a bit, so she was sedated and brought in for a full work up.  Dr. Justin Boorstein found that her spinal column is pretty much fused from arthritis and that she has severe arthritis in her elbows, wrists and hips.  Her teeth were rotting and falling out even though she’s never been fussy about eating.  He pulled 10 of the rotting teeth, with virtually no resistance and has scheduled her for root canals on the canines he can save.

Update Oct. 7, 2017

The Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation team came to do those root canals on Sassy.  She did well during and after surgery and was put on antibiotics for a couple weeks.

Sassy had nose bleeds from time to time before the surgery and we’d hoped that fixing those last rotting canines would end them, but it did not.  We feared she may have some sort of brain or nasal tumor, but did not hold out any hope for being able to cure that, if it was the case.

Sassy Cougar Died in Her Sleep

On Oct. 24, 2017 Sassy Cougar was found to have passed away, peacefully, in her sleep.  She was at least 18 years old.

Photos of Sassy during her time here

Sassy LOVED her daily sicles!!!

She would wait with anticipation when she knew the sicle keeper was making the rounds, and had a way of coaxing the keeper to come back and give her an extra sicle.

The Many Faces of Sassy:  Sassy was very expressive and had the most adorable facial expressions.

When the keepers added fresh hay in the dens, Sassy always liked getting an extra arm load just to play with.

Sassy had several favorite napping spots.  Keepers sometimes had to walk for a wild looking before they found her.  THAT seemed to please Sassy!

Sassy, like many of the cats, enjoyed the privacy that hiding in the foliage gave her.

Please, leave your tributes in the comments below.