Feb 5 2017

Cat Updates

This morning Cameron is on the observation sheet because he and Zabu were playing rough and he got a scrape above his right eye. He was called over to the side of the enclosure and given 3 pounds of chicken as a treat so keepers could get a good look at the scrape.

Priya is on the observation list for making odd sounds. Keepers are watching her closely to see if she makes that sound again. Other than that she seems fine, eating well, having normal poops, chuffing, etc. But she will remain on the observation list anyway.

Nirvana ate a good breakfast and took her meds without complaining. In the evening she enjoyed a snack and took her evening meds like a good girl.

Reise is really enjoying her time in the FunCation enclosure.

Gabrielle is enjoying her vacation. At first she was somewhat timid and uneasy. But, now she is comfortable and enjoying it. She is not comfortable in eating in the lockout because she can see her neighbors. So part of her food is given to her from the feeding stick further down the enclosure. You can watch that on the main Vacation Rotation web cam at Explore.org/bigcatrescue

Keisha is on the observation sheet because she was in her den hissing so the keeper called Gale. When Gale rushed over there Keisha came pouncing out and chuffing. She will remain on the observation sheet to be watched, just to make sure nothing is wrong.

The Picky Boys

The picky boys are doing well.

Joseph: Yesterday Joseph ate three of his meals. For breakfast he refused to eat his mush but he ate the pork and red meat. Then later in the morning the keepers tried again to get him to eat more so they took him chicken livers, pork and red meat of which he did eat most of. Then later in the day they tried again to get him to eat more and he did eat some pork. He is still not eating as much as we’d like to see him eat but when he says he’s full you can’t change his mind. Now today, the silly boy decided he wanted mush for breakfast and ate 4 pounds of it plus quite a bit of his chicken. Keepers went back out later and he agreed to eat some more chicken. Keepers will go back out again later in the day and offer him more food. He is eating well, just not as much as we want him to eat.

Cameron: For breakfast yesterday Cameron didn’t want to eat much but keepers coaxed him into eating half a turkey then later in the day they got him to eat some more. He, too, is eating well just not as much as we want him to. Keepers got out multiple times a day to coax the five picky boys to eat.

TJ: Yesterday, TJ ate over 10 pounds. Good Boy, that is much better, TJ! He ate over 4 lbs of pork and red meat for breakfast before he decided he was done. Then later in the day keepers coaxed him into eating another 2 lbs of pork before he said he was done. Then, later in the day the keepers coaxed him into eating another 4.5 lbs of red meat and pork. Still not as much as we think he should eat, but it is closer.

Hoover: Hoover was taken food six times yesterday, he sure had the keepers running yesterday. They took him food at 8:30 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 4 pm and again at 6:30 pm. I think these five picky boys like room service.

Zeus: Keepers took him multiple meals yesterday and it seems yesterday his favorites were red meat and chicken thighs. You just never know which is going to be his favorite foods of the day.

PLEASE NOTE: Weights recorded here daily are taken from individual observations that are generated by our internal website. Keepers try to feed these cats throughout the day, so any amount you see here at any given time will NOT reflect the cats’ complete consumption throughout the day. Those tallies are monitored closely by the vet team.

Projects 2/4/2017

With 76 cats, each having 2 to 6 cages, plus the vacation enclosures you can imagine it is a daily ongoing effort making sure everything is always clean and in a well-maintained order. Each enclosure section has a den, each cat has multiple sections to their enclosure, meaning each cat has multiple dens. That means on days that we change out sand or hay n dens it is a huge undertaking. It takes dozens of volunteers and interns to keep everything done every day. We think these amazing dedicated men and women are the BEST!! There are projects going on constantly. There is cleaning going on constantly, too. Here are just a few project examples.

Nirvana has three dens in her enclosure. Each section of a cat’s enclosure has to have a den, in case we need to close off one section the cat won’t be left without a den. Nirvana’s favorite dens has a heating pad and the keeper put fresh clean beds in all three of Nirvana’s dens. Currently Nirvana has three sections. Each section is about 1200 sq ft. LOL, that means Nirvana’s enclosure is about three times as big as Carole’s house. It doesn’t get very cold in Florida but the old cats sometimes need heating pads and Nirvana is one that likes having a heating pad.

Volunteers were working on Reise’s enclosure getting it ready for her to come home from FunCation next week. They raked all the leaves out of the enclosure, took all the sticks off the roof, freshened up her dens. That way when she comes home she will have a freshly landscaped home and new things to investigate.

Rich was putting in some posts with rings so that keepers could hook the cables on posts instead of on the cage walls. The cables are what the keepers use to raise and lower the doors between sections of a cat’s enclosure and on the feeding lockouts. See the Facebook Live Video Replay below to see the pole and cable project. Rich is also the tour guide who leads the night tour. We do not do very many of those, there is only one each quarter. http://bigcatrescue.org/night-tour/ Rich has been here for over 13 years giving of his heart, time and effort for the cats.

Nova, Rehab Bobcat Kitten

YOU CAN watch her live streaming web cam.

If you would like to share her stream web cam feed you can do it by sharing the link to the cam: https://video.nest.com/live/B7C7VpSW4b This is the link you would use to share it on your Facebook wall, etc.

If you have a blog or website here is the Embed code so her cam will play live from your blog or website: <iframe allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen src=”https://video.nest.com/embedded/live/B7C7VpSW4b” frameborder=”0″ width=”720″ height=”576″></iframe>

NOTE: If you share her streaming web cam, PLEASE, ask your viewers to go to VoteCats.com to vote for Big Cat Rescue. If we win that contest, it can provide up to $65,000 for our wild bobcat rehab and release program to help get kittens like this ready to return to the wild so they can live wild and free.

Facebook Live Video Replays

VIDEO: Afternoon Walkabout With Carole 2/4/2017

Nirvana gets new beds, Anasazie, Nabisco purring, Mrs. Claws, Priya, Keisha, Kali, Arthur, Andre,

VIDEO: Breakfast Was Just Served

Breakfast was just served at Big Cat Rescue. Walkabout includes a visit with Zabu, Keisha, Kali, Priya, Andy and Hoover Tiger before going over to sit with Nakitia Lioness. For fun we ask everyone to tell us: If you were an action figure doll, what three accessories would come in your kit?

Facebook Live Contest

Each day that Carole does a Facebook Live video she asks a question and someone who answers it correctly wins a prize. So, go to Facebook and Like our Facebook Page and choose to get notifications of our live videos. Then participate in the contests, join in conversations in the comments area, too. Be sure to book mark BigCatRescue.org/win which is where you will post your answer to qualify for a future prize if you are the first one to get the correct answer.

Question: If you were going to look for a list of all the accredited sanctuaries in the world, where would you find that list?

Answer: Here is the website http://www.sanctuaryfederation.org/ and here is the link on that site to the list http://www.sanctuaryfederation.org/gfas/about-gfas/gfas-sanctuaries/

Winner: Melissa H was the first to answer correctly but since she had already won a prize so it goes to the next person which is Carol Lido

Prize chosen: Braclet – Tiger Photos

Gun metal charcoal finished bracelet features 7 15mm tiger photos mounted beneath a crystal clear glass dome. Photos include; Keisha, Charaka, Andre, Hoover, TJ, Zabu, and Seth. Bracelet is 8.5″ long and has an extra chain at clasp that can extend size 1.5″ more.

Note To Viewers: WOW, I am impressed, TRULY IMPRESSED!!! Out of 30 who answered this, 29 of you have the exact right answer, and really, too!! WOW!! You guys are truly PAWSOME!!!!

Big Cat Challenge – Where’s Waldo

Seth, the expert hider, is at it again!

THANK YOU, Shawna, for sending me Robin’s photo. We sincerely appreciate each of you who take the time to send in things from the Explore.org/bigcatrescue cams for this page.

Can YOU find Seth in this photo? When you find Seth email lawanna.mitchell@bigcatrescue.org and tell me approximately where Seth is and I will email you back a hi-resolution 8×10 photo of Seth. (not the same photo as before)

Did You Know: YOU can go to Explore.org/bigcatrescue and watch several excellent quality live streaming cams of the cats. Those cams also have a feature that YOU CAN snap photos and capture video clips yourself.

Big Cat Challenge from Feb 3rd

The 8×10 of Gabrielle with her ball is ready to email out, except I only have email addresses for those of you who gave the answer by email. MY GOOF, and I sincerely apologize. I said you could answer in the comments or by email, however, the problem with that, which I didn’t think about, is I can’t send you the photo without your email address. So, those who participated in the comments, please accept me apology, but I need you to email and just tell you you answered in the comments so I can reply email with your hi-res photo.

Keeper Fun Photos

My goal in life is to be as fierce, unashamed and hilarious as this lioness right here ?? ~Keeper Rebecca W

Valspar Tournament Contest Update

PLEASE continue to ask your friends and family to go to VoteCats.com to vote for Big Cat Rescue. The cats have 12,700 votes which is GREAT!! However, if the cats are to stand a chance to win a good portion of the $65,000 they will need several thousand more votes.

Big Cat Memorials

It took 4 days but all of the cats’ tribute pages have been moved back onto our main website. They are in reverse chronological order here:

http://bigcatrescue.org/category/memorials/

It was hard to re-live every cat’s life and death, both domestic and exotic, but it’s done now so we can focus on the future where all cats live free.

We have ALWAYS maintained a complete public list of every single cat that has lived here and passed away. We feel it is important that these cats, their lives, and the lessons they teach us be remembered. Until now that list was maintained on a separate Memorial Website and linked to from our cat bio page. However, some of you were having trouble finding it so having it moved back onto our main site should make it easier for you to find and remember your favorite cats who have passed. I don’t know of any other facility that has maintained a public list of every cat that has ever passed.

25+ years is a long time and each of those cats took a piece of our hearts with them when they crossed the rainbow bridge and we will never forget them.

By the way, if there is a favorite cat of yours on that list and you would like a wallpaper photo of that cat to help you honor and remember them, please email lawanna.mitchell@bigcatrescue.org to see if there is a wallpaper of that cat to email to you. I don’t have one of all the cats but do have some of several of the cats.