Gilligan

Male Canada lynx
Appx. 1/1/07
Rescued 5/5/13

Gilligan’s age is unknown. We were told he was purchased along with Skipper at an auction.

Gilligan had the tiniest cage measuring 5′ x 7′. It was also the dirtiest of all of the cages. The mud floor was not mud, but feces covered with a sprinkling of straw. It appeared as though Gilligan had tried to keep much of his waste confined to one area on top of his plastic dog house. He had perched atop the house day after day to defecate. The large pile of feces cascaded out of the side of his cage. It was clear that his cage had not been cleaned in several months.

Strewn about the cage were bits of meat, bones, and fur. The dog house was too small for Gilligan to fit in and other than a small child’s play picnic table he had nowhere to escape the weather. He was forced to sleep in the open and surrounded by filth.

Because Gilligan’s cage was so small there was not enough room for Big Cat Rescuers to enter it with nets and a crate. So using a wire that they had brought, they constructed a secondary enclosure to the door of his and inside placed the crate filled with soft dry hay. Gilligan was unsure about this new crate and despite its appeal of warmth and dryness, he refused to enter it. He was left to contemplate entering the crate on his own while Big Cat Rescuers moved on to try and catch Skipper.

After Skipper was captured and carried to the Big Cat Rescue trailer, Gilligan had still refused to enter the crate. With no other options, he was sedated with a blow dart. He quickly fell asleep and Dr. Justin did a full exam. After the exam, he was gently placed in the crate and given the reversal agent for the tranquilizer.

When he awoke he was in a soft bed of hay being loaded into the trailer for his long trip back to Tampa.

Gilligan seems absolutely blissful in his new enclosure. In his first days, he constantly sniffed all around soaking in the fresh air. He was also quite amazed by the wildlife that abounds at the sanctuary from cardinals to lizards, to squirrels, he is very observant and intently watches as they flit and scurry about.

Sponsor Gilligan the Canada Lynx:  http://big-cat-rescue.myshopify.com/collections/sponsor-a-cat

Read more about the rescue and see photos and videos http://bigcatrescue.org/most-daring-rescue-ever/

 See More About Gilligan:

Gilligan watches Skipper the Canada Lynx get caught and taken to the vet in this Wildcat Walkabout Video on May 1, 2014 – http://bigcatrescue.org/now-big-cat-rescue-may-2-2014/

 Gilligan Moves to an A/C Den

 2015 Gilligan Goes to the Vet

Medical Update March 3, 2020

Gilligan the Canada Lynx was reported as lethargic and being uninterested in food for a couple of days. Dr. Wynn is here to examine him in the Windsong Memorial Hospital.  Gilligan weighed in at 35.2 pounds.

Gilligan’s Exam Part 1

Nothing showed up on x-rays, his teeth look good.  Kidney values look pretty good, liver values look okay, calcium a little high which could be a lot of things.  Some additional tests are being sent out to the lab. They are going back thru all his vet records and observations double-checking everything.

He is being given 400 CC of fluids and Dr. Wynn will do more checks. Dr. Wynn said that after flea prevention treatment before he was a little picky about eating and he received his flea prevention last week.

While sedated he had his nails trimmed.  He will remain in the recovery hospital for observation.

Gilligan’s Exam Part 2

Medical Update:

June 11, 2021 Gilligan has been over grooming his tail and medication was not having an effect. We sedated him today for an exam and once we shaved away the fur on his fluffy tail we found a mass. Sadly his tail was amputated and we will be sending the mass to the lab for analysis.

UPDATE:

June 18, 2021 The mass on Gilligan’s tail was a benign sebaceous tumor. We got complete margins and amputation of the tail should be curative. It is very rare to spread.