May 31 2017

Three NEW Cats!

Big Cat Rescue is Rescuing 2 Caracals and a Serval!

Can We Count on Your Help For Their Transport Costs, Surgeries and Lifetime Care?

We can’t share all of the details with you quite yet, but we will soon be rescuing 3 cats from Ohio and bringing them to their forever home at our sanctuary!

The cats were owned by a hybrid breeder in Ohio who willingly surrendered 2 caracals and 1 serval to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) when the agency discovered she owned the cats in violation of Ohio law.

We will be rescuing a pair of 6-year-old caracals named Cyrus (male) and Chaos (female) – oh boy, wonder if her name reflects her feisty purrsonality? Our keepers can’t wait to find out!

When ODA approached Carole about taking the cats and mentioned that two of them were caracals, she caught her breath and her thoughts immediately turned to our beautiful Sassy caracal, who recently passed in March 2017, and her lifelong companion Rusty caracal, who passed last September. It almost seems like Sassy and Rusty are up in heaven orchestrating our rescue of this new pair of caracals and helping them find their way to Big Cat Rescue so that these beautiful caracals can live out their lives in peace here too.

And the young serval who is coming is 2-year-old Zucari. He’s practically still a kitten and will be the youngest serval at the sanctuary. We can’t wait to meet this boy!

All 3 cats will need to be spayed/neutered once they arrive. And we won’t know until our vets examine them if they have any other health issues that will need to be addressed. Our keepers are busy spiffing up spacious enclosures for these precious new cats and we will share more news and photographs as soon as they are on their way to Tampa!

If you want to be an integral, important part of rescuing Cyrus, Chaos and Zucari, we would be very grateful to receive your donations toward the cost of their transport, surgeries and lifetime care at our sanctuary. It is your donations that allow us to continue to be able to immediately say YES when we are asked to save exotic cats in need! THANK YOU!

DONATE HERE: https://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51389/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=10097

Big Cat Updates

Jamie and Gale are going to try and get a good look at Andy Tiger’s behind, to see if he’s cleared to swim today.

Apollo is happy to be back outside.

YouTube.com/DailyBigCat

BigCatTV.com

In most of our videos featuring Nikita lioness, she comes off scary and aggressive. Find out why that is and if she acts like that all of the time with our staff and volunteers.

Facebook Live Video Replays

Evening Meds and Big Cat Walkabout – See Seth and several more cats, hear about the three new cats coming soon, and more.

Foster Kitten Program

Watching kittens while waiting for Afton to get evening meds prepped.

Big Cat Rescue fosters domestic cats / kittens who were dumped at the county shelter. They partner with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay who takes them back at 2 lbs to fix them and adopt them out. Big Cat Rescuers don’t believe it’s right to touch lions, tigers and other big cats because it sends the wrong message. Socializing kittens is how they satisfy their need for contact while making the kittens and cats far more adoptable. Watch more at http://explore.org/live-cams/player/big-cat-rescue-kitten-cabana

Viewer Videos From Explore.org/bigcatrescue

Here is a list of YouTube channels that feature videos of the cats here:

Jamie Veronica: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsY6X3rUv8UlIUbrxNeu-Aw
Susann https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFOZiTvzKRvj-oVbzdByvg
Ruxandra https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvCsjKptd1gM9BhfDkGQGNg
Donna P: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcFbhMc8Sqr-8MreWuYr4Bg
Shawna https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfl9S-vDPJIgjl8QpM6Aypw
Cathy S https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ynHBFLKj0BVnK5jo2gTnw
Janie M https://www.youtube.com/user/donutgirl100
Jaime T: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsY_oF0NhXc5OS8CcTaUi2A/videos

People Often Ask

People Often Ask: Why don’t you wear gloves? Every time we have a medical procedure we get this question a dozen times.

Answer: The question is asked so often that Carole made a made to fully reply to this great question. Here is an excerpt from that page. If you have time, go to the link and check out the whole page. There is a funny story about Carole a child there, too.

When a cat is sedated for medical purposes we do everything we can to assess the cat’s health because it could be years before they are sedated again. Sedation is always risky in exotic cats so we don’t do it unless it is absolutely necessary. We try to deal with most medical issues via operant conditioning and preventative care. If the cat does have to be sedated it is the perfect time to comb our fingers over every part of their body, feeling for the slightest bump, scratch or irregularity. Even our elderly cats carry such magnificent coats that it can be very hard to see if there is trouble brewing beneath the surface.

Thanks to sensitive fingers on well trained hands we have found cancers and been able to remove them when they were the size of a pea rather than after they spread into the vital organs.

Before we start doing dental extractions, root canals, or any surgery, everyone involved, even the camera person, will be wearing masks, hair covers and gloves.

Read the rest of the page (and see a cute photo of Carole as a wee child) at: BigCatRescue.org/gloves/

PURRsonal Note: I just love the way Carole makes these web page names so easy to remember. BCR website pages are often the website BigCatRescue.org plus the subject matter, which in this case is /gloves/.

Keeper Corner

Keeper MaryLou got some great snapshots of cougar siblings, Ares, Artemis, and Orion.

Everyone look this way.

No, this way.

PLEASE, look this way.

Facebook Live Contest

When you purr-ticipate in Carole’s Facebook Live contest you need to put your answers in the special form at BigCatRescue.org/win

5/30/2017

Question: How much does Siberian Lynx, Apollo, weigh?

Answer: 55.2 lbs.

Winner: Caryn Nash

Viewer Pix

Viewer Robin Frye: Funniest Seth Moment!!

Viewer Rob Rager: Seth, and his reflection.. sticking their tongues out, at each other! explore.org Big Cat Rescue
Tiger Lake Cam http://explore.org/live-cams/player/big-cat-rescue-tiger-lake

Viewer Scotti Cohn’s Collage: Photo taken using web cams at http://explore.org/live-cams/player/big-cat-rescue-tiger-lake

Viewer Silver: Another photo of Seth and his reflection

Viewer Scotti Cohn also got a great shot of Seth and his reflection in Tiger Lake

Viewer Kathryn Caswell: Pssst Hey You! Keeper of the goodies! Bring me a treat! I asked mommy Carole she said it was okay honest! ‘Gives cute face’

WANTED – Graphic Artists

Carole is looking for a graphic artist who really gets what we are all about and would would like to help us with some graphics for shirts. If that is you or if you know someone like that, please have them email Carole at cat@bigcatrescue.org