Anasazi

Female Bobcat

DOB 4/22/02 Earth Day

Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 5/20/02

Died 11/20/17

On May 20,2002 Big Cat Rescue received a call from an animal clinic in Ruskin, FL about a bobcat. A local resident had supposedly seen a bobcat cub in her yard all by itself, fearing that the mother had abandoned it or had been hit by a car, she caught it and brought the dehydrated kitten in. After giving the cub fluids the clinic called us and we agreed to come and pick up the kitten.

The bobcat cub was very sweet. She purred anytime she was picked up. She was about 4-5 weeks old and was obviously hand raised. A kitten her age from the wild would be a hissing spitfire.  I remember getting the call to come get her while I was away from the sanctuary, so I drove straight there.  I thought I’d need a carrier, or could buy one from the vet, who had called me.  He said it wouldn’t be necessary as he handed me the limp, purring, puff of fur.  Turns out she was so sick that she just sat in my lap all the way back to the sanctuary.  It was a moment of bonding with a wild cat that is rare for me.

We had some tests done on her, only to find out that she was very sick with all kinds of worms and bacteria. She immediately went onto vitamins and medication and started to eat a specially prepared ground meat diet.

She has made a full recovery and is the definition of rambunctious. Ana is now old enough to share a Cat-A-Tat and a life with Will the bobcat. They have been spayed and neutered and will live out their lives together. When ever possible, we try to pair cats together so that their lives in captivity will be enriched by the company of one another. However some of our cats are just deteremined that they would rather live alone.

On Nov 20, 2017 Anasazi was on the chart for not eating very well the day before and this morning she was said to be closing her eyes, as if in pain, when she tried to chew.  Her chin looked swollen, so we called Dr. Justin, who was in the midst of spaying 80 cats.  He said he’d come by after work and we tried to catch her all day, by luring her into her feeding lockout, but she wasn’t falling for it.  We finally had to net her, but thankfully it was quick and easy so there wasn’t a lot of drama involved.

Once Anasazi was sedated, Dr. Justin could feel a huge swelling along her right, lower jawbone.  X-rays and dental X-rays just couldn’t determine the origin or extent of the mass.  He tried to biopsy the area, but it would be days before we would get information back on that and meanwhile she was in pain that wasn’t going to get better.  Afterwards, Dr. Justin confided that he probably wouldn’t have even tried surgery because the location was so impossible, but he knew this cat was special to Jamie and he had to try.  And try he did, for over an hour, but the deeper he got into the muscle, arteries, bone and esophagus, the more he could see what a tangled, embedded mess it was.  There was no getting it out.

Her lymph nodes were also involved and even if she were put through chemotherapy, which would be a torment to her, what would she gain?  A few more months of being netted, injected, puking her lungs out?

No.  Anasazi had never had a day of sickness, from after the first weeks of her arrival.   She’s been happy and healthy her whole life and we made the hard decision to spare her from experiencing days, or weeks or months of an illness that we can’t cure.  She was helped to pass quietly in her sleep, while Jamie held her little head and we all gathered around in tearful respect for her.