Dutton-Kaye-Loo-Mare-rehab-bobcats

Dutton-Kaye-Loo-Mare rehab bobcats

Approx. date of birth: April 15, 2023

Date of rescue: April 28, 2023

Date released back to the wild:

Dutton crossed Rainbow Bridge: May 13, 2023

On Friday April 28, 2023 we received a call about 4 baby bobcat kittens in need of rescue in South Florida. A large tract of land spanning thousands of acres was being cleared and in doing so an excavator disturbed a bobcat den site. After dumping a load, the machine operator noticed that there was something moving around in the rubble of vegetation. It was three baby bobcats approximately two weeks of age. The crew searched through the rest of the debris and located a fourth kitten. Unfortunately because of the active land clearing setting up a trap and hoping for the mom to return was not an option. Reuniting the mom with her kittens is always our first choice. The decision was made to admit the kittens into our rehab program. The siblings are comprised of two boys, Dutton and Loo, and two girls, Kaye and Mare. (The crew who rescued them had input into their names) Dutton is the biggest weighing nearly twice as much as the runt of the litter Kaye. Kaye is very vocal and being the runt was the most excited to have access to all the food she could want. Mare has a light brown face compared to the other three and upon arrival some of the fur had been scraped away. Loo is the quietest of the bunch so far. He is dark in color and arrived with a tiny cut on his nose. Their mom had been taking very good care of the bunch and they all seem quite healthy overall. The kittens will be raised together and released together once they are old enough to survive on their own (usually around 6-7 months of age).

April 28, 2023

Dutton bobcat-male

Kaye bobcat-female

Loo bobcat-male

Mare bobcat-female

May 1, 2023 photo update!

May 1, 2023

Baby bobcats check up with Dr. Boorstein!

May 3, 2023

Rehab baby bobcats get fed!

So much cuteness overload here!

May 3, 2023

Kaye wishes everyone a happy Wednesday morning and wonders if there will be second breakfast. ~Jamie Veronica

May 4, 2023

Mare is becoming a favorite She arrived with fur missing around her eyes and forehead. We were concerned it may be mange but it has not progressed so may have just been an injury from being scooped with the excavator. ~Jamie Veronica

May 5, 2023

Loo was our champion eater this morning! He ate 55ml in just two tries and btw just look at those murder mittens ~Jamie Veronica

May 7, 2023

Nothing cuter than a baby bobcat tush and Dutton has the best!~Jamie Veronica

May 8, 2023

Look at how much these kids have grown in just one week

Thanks to your support these four baby bobs will one day roam free

Top photo left to right; Mare, Kaye, Dutton, Loo

Bottom photo left to right; Loo, Kaye, Mare, Dutton

May 10, 2023

𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐁 𝐁𝐎𝐁𝐂𝐀𝐓 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: 𝐃𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍 Sadly Dutton became very ill yesterday afternoon. He started the day off great eating breakfast with his siblings. By the time their afternoon meal came around he had thrown up all of his breakfast and was lethargic. We contacted Dr Justin immediately and gave him subcutaneous fluids. A little while later Dr Justin came to the sanctuary to examine him. We were concerned he was blocked up as he had been struggling with constipation on and off. X-rays did not show any feces in his digestive tract. He was given medication for nausea and a vitamin injection. We continued subcutaneous fluids last night and this morning. Dutton made it through the night but was clearly not feeling well this morning.

He is uninterested in food and continues to strain as if he needs to poop. This morning we took him to an Emergency Clinic who’s doctor is a colleague of Dr Justin. He was put into isolation and will receive 24 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 at the clinic including xrays, IV fluid therapy and antibiotics, bloodwork, glucose monitoring and NG tube feedings. He tested negative on a canine parvo test at the clinic however they are sending out a sample for PCR testing to see if he has panleukopenia. That test result will not be completed for 5-7 days. In the meantime we are taking it hour by hour.

So far Loo, Mare and Kaye have exhibited no symptoms and are doing better than ever. Dutton’s emergency care will run $3,500-$4,500. We will continue to update everyone as we know more. Jamie Veronica Big Cat Rescue

May 10. 2023

𝐃𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄:

X-rays indicated Dutton has pneumonia. The doctors are unsure if it is the root cause of him not feeling well or if it was secondary due to his vomiting. He had a low white blood cell count which could be due to the pneumonia. He has been started on a broad spectrum antibiotic and has been getting some food into his system through the a feeding tube passed through his nose to his stomach. He was dehydrated despite having been given fluids yesterday and prior to being taken to the emergency clinic so they are giving IV fluids.

The vet team says he is a little brighter than when he arrived this morning. The panleukopenia test results will take several days. Hopefully he will start feeling better now that he is receiving intensive care.

May 11, 2023

𝐃𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐁 𝐁𝐎𝐁𝐂𝐀𝐓 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: Overnight he had some issues regulating his body temperature. They worked diligently to get him back to normal and he is now more stable. The staff at the emergency clinic report that Dutton is zestier this morning. They have increased his feedings and he is continuing to make improvements.

Hopefully he will continue to progress and come home soon.

The staff seems positive about his outcome. He will stay past his original 24 hours of intensive care and we do not know what the cost of that will be at the moment. But it is all worth it to get him reunited with Loo, Mare and Kaye and eventually returned to the wild.

May 12, 2023

𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐁 𝐁𝐎𝐁𝐂𝐀𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐄:

Victor and I visited Dutton this morning. The doctors are happy with how he is progressing but he has a long road ahead of him. We opted to do one more day of critical care. He is eating some but not a lot. He continues to receive IV fluids and antibiotics.

Dutton has become more feisty and apparently pulled his catheter out overnight which had to be replaced. I talked to him in “bobcat” a little and got him to eat a couple mls of food during our visit.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us provide this critical care for this special boy 💕

May 13, 2023

It is with great sadness that we want to let you know that Dutton rehab bobcat kitten has passed away. We received a call at 2:30 AM that he had gone into respiratory arrest and passed.

Yesterday afternoon when we visited him he seemed brighter and was eating some. In the early evening the staff at the emergency clinic reported he had been doing well throughout the day. Then very late evening he began to decline again. The doctors worked to stabilize him, however soon there after he was gone.

We would like to thank everyone for helping with funding for his emergency care and for sending their well wishes for this brave little one. The FWC will be collecting him for a full necropsy and FLM sample study. Then they will send his remains back to us. We will continue to update everyone if we get any more information. As of now it is believed that Dutton had pneumonia. Most likely from aspiration during vomiting. We cannot rule out viruses or disease as we are awaiting test results.

Meanwhile Loo, Kaye and Mare are all doing very well and are weaned off the bottle. They are eating ground turkey fortified with supplements and drinking water from a bowl on their own.

Thank you for your support, kind words, positive thoughts and prayers.

May 17, 2023

Bobcat kittens move to the kitten room!

MAY 17, 2023-Afternoon

BOBCAT REHAB UPDATE:

Loo has been separated from Mare and Kaye. Loo and Kaye have had some behavioral issues towards one another since Saturday. It started out as compulsive nursing on the back of one another’s necks which led to biting. In recent days this has escalated into full blown attacks. It seems like both Kaye and Loo instigate the episodes equally and they happen out of no where. Both have a series of wounds on the backs of their necks, no punctures but pretty irritated scrapes and scratches. The vet team is aware and they are both being monitored.

We have deployed a number of tactics for alleviating this behavior from a shared wall in their playpen, to heartbeat cat stuffies, and even bitter spray on the fur on the back of their necks. For the time being Kaye and Mare seem to get along fine, so they will remain together in the kitten room. Loo will be moved to the big kid room in the rehab hospital. We are going to give them both time to fully heal in case part of the cause of these attacks is that their necks are irritated to begin with.

We have never encountered this sort of aggression in young kittens before and are taking it day by day trying to understand it and making adjustments as we go.

Kaye and Mare are on the Explore cam and have a nest cam as well. Loo has a nest cam. All the links are listed at BigCatCams.com.

May 18, 2023

Rehabs always keeping us on our toes. Because of the big fight between Loo and Kaye yesterday Loo had to be separated from the group. Victor and I came up with a way for the trio to still share the same space in a safe way. We installed a plexi glass wall dividing the room, and drilled groupings of holes at the bottom of the wall periodically so they can all still sniff each other. Hopefully they will all be able to be back together soon

~Jamie Veronica

𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑~ 𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐁 𝐁𝐎𝐁𝐂𝐀𝐓 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐄

I tried to put Loo in with the girls today. They were all happy to see each other making bobcat chirps then Loo went right to attacking Mare. I held him in place and let the others walk around him but he is so focused on attacking he seems to have no other mode. I feel like if he could just be with them without being able to attack maybe he would break that cycle. In the meantime, I switched him into their side of the room so he can have a little more space and smell all their toys.

We are continuing to explore other avenues of reintroduction.

Loo has been enjoying Mare and Kaye’s side of the room today. While I would love nothing more than to put him back in with his sisters it just hasn’t worked out so far. After 4 days apart the second I put him in with them today he attacked Mare. We are still trying some other things and are hoping for the best. Loo has proven that no matter what every rehab case is different. In my 20 years of bobcat rehab I have never encountered this sort of behavioral issue with a kitten this age.~Jamie Veronica, May 22, 2023

May 23, 2023

Loo had a pretty successful supervised play session with Mare and Kaye. There was quite a bit of redirecting, but at least no big squabbles. I don’t know how sustainable this is considering Kaye likes to climb “trees”

May 24, 2023

Kittin Sittin…Supervised playtime with Loo, Mare and Kaye. They were too interested in the “tree” so I’m benched. Watching from cams just outside their room.

May 25, 2023

Loo Update –

Loo has displayed aggressive behavior with his sisters resulting in a pretty bad fight that led to him being separated from his sisters. After several days of being separated we started in room supervised play sessions then moved to being out of the room watching play sessions on the cams. There has definitely been some improvement and we are hopeful they can all go back together again. We are now trying a pheromone collar that is supposed to help calm cats and kittens.

To answer a couple of questions; Loo can hear and his vision seems normal. He does sleep quite a bit but is eating well and gaining weight daily. We are monitoring his activity level and behaviors closely.

Some of the tactics we have tried to curb Loo’s tendencies; switching sides of room so they can share scents, holes drilled in plexiglass wall so they can smell each other, feeding them next to each other, introducing new toys and beds, supervised play sessions, interactions in new environments outside of the playroom, and early on bitter apple spray on the sisters necks.

All the kittens are due for their first vaccines next week.

As of yesterday;

Loo 2lb 13.2oz

Mare 2lb 11.5oz

Kaye 2lb 9.8oz

Thank you everyone for your concern and support providing these babies with the best life possible and a chance to run free.

May 25, 2023

Update on Dutton: Dutton bobcat was found to be negative for Panleukopenia so his body has been sent to the state for further testing. There are no answers so far as to what caused his death.

He will be returned to the sanctuary after the testing is complete to be interred with the other past cats of Big Cat Rescue.

Wild bobcats come to Big Cat Rescue for two reasons.

Injuries such as having been hit by cars or disease, illness, birth defects.
Kittens that have been separated from their mothers or orphaned and are too young to survive in the wild.

Upon arrival, the cats receive a full exam and given whatever medical care is needed for their injuries or illness. Blood is drawn and tested for infectious diseases. They are vaccinated, dewormed, and flea treated.

Injured cats are given the time and supportive care they need to heal. They must prove they can hunt and survive before being released. Our six rehab pens are 230 feet long by 20 feet wide giving the cats 4600 square feet of natural space to learn their skills.

When possible kittens are given a domestic surrogate mother. When a surrogate is not available the kittens are bottle fed but weaned from the bottle as soon as possible. They are then raised with as little human contact as possible and given opportunities to learn to hunt.

Rehabbing and releasing bobcats is much more difficult than the rehabilitation of most wildlife. These magnificent little wildcats need every opportunity to fulfill their role in nature and Big Cat Rescue is here to give them that second chance.

Donate here towards the rehabilitation and care of a native Florida bobcat at Big Cat Rescue.

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