Big Cat Updates

Banshee Bobcat: Ate 6.2oz AM. Came all the way to lockout without hesitation when I walked him there with his food tub in my hand.
Reported By: Rachel S

Tonga Serval: Food Left: mush Notes: Vultures ate 2/3 his chicken thigh while he paraded around with the other 1/3; 11:30 – fed him another thigh Reported By: Jocelin/Lynda

Nikita Lion: Vet Issue: hot spot Notes: redish/pink spot under stomach near where right leg meets stomach Reported By: Devin

Moses Bobcat: Notes: something caught in roof of mouth. It was green, like a palmetto frond. Tried spoon tool but couldn’t get it. Then fed him 2 drumettes to dislodge. Couldn’t see anything afterwards. Think it’s gone. Reported By: Lynda/Lauren B

Desiree Serval: Notes: usually she runs over very fast for cicles when called, and today she stayed laying in her den staring at me for at least 30 seconds before slowly coming over. Very strange behavior for her Reported By: Jocelin

Jumanji Leopard:

Oct 15, 2016 Jumanji was noted in the evening to have left his tuna ‘cicle uneaten. That was a pretty clear sign that something was wrong. I let Jamie and Dr. Justin know but since he was laying in the bushes, with his head up, I didn’t think it was an emergency. I was hungry and exhausted and running out of daylight to get home on my bicycle. Just as I turned onto the last leg of my ride home, Jamie texted and said they were worried about Jumanji and were going in to check on him. I told her I’d go with them, and did.

By the time we returned to the sanctuary we were just about out of light and everyone was leaving for the day. Gale was doing a family outing an hour away. Lauren was house sitting for a former employee. The interns were all locked outside the gates for the night. It would be just the three of us to try and figure out what to do.

The golf cart had no lights and the windscreen, which has been broken years ago, was zip tied to the frame. Holding a flashlight outside the cart, and pointed ahead, just barely made the tour path visible, because the windscreen was so marred from years of gravel induced scratches. It was overcast and raining a bit, so there was no star or moon light. Jamie tried and tried to call Jumanji to the side of the cage so we could check his dehydration level and possible give him fluids. We knew it was bad when he couldn’t stand, despite trying.

I left her to continue calling him and went after a bucket (so he might think there would be food involved), 3 nets, a Y pole (to hold his head away from biting the vet), gloves, a cordless shaver, so we could shave a spot and draw blood, and a pile of blankets, towels and a carry tarp. Meanwhile she and Dr. Justin determined that there was no way Jumanji was going to come to the side, so they sent me back for a carrier big enough for a leopard, that would fit through the door.

Jumanji was so “down” that we feared sedating him would kill him, so we decided to go in and see if we could hold him down with the nets and Y pole well enough for Dr. Justin to draw blood and give him fluids.

Jumanji said, “NO!” He wasn’t aggressive about it, but he made it clear that his good humor could turn ugly if we kept a net on his head.

We decided to try and corral him into the dog carrier but he couldn’t stand well enough to get him moving the foot or so into the pet taxi. We worked a carry tarp under him and he was sick enough and upset enough to vomit all over one end of it three times. We couldn’t go near his face, so Dr. Justin looped the Y pole through the two loops at his head, while Jamie and I lifted the back end, and tried to push him into the transport.

He decided the whole idea of being forced into the carrier was beneath him, no matter how bad he felt, he wasn’t going. He growled his displeasure and bit at the carry tarp, but the geometry of the situation wasn’t working. We just couldn’t get a good angle on lifting him, without having a person right in his face, and we couldn’t risk that. Dr. Justin left to load up a needle to sedate him. It was a last resort, because the sedation alone could kill Jumanji, but we had to treat him.

8:09 PM While he was drifting off to sleep (25 minutes) Dr. Justin went to get the X-ray machine running. We don’t have access to 3 Phase power here, so we have a generator. When he flipped the switch, nothing happened. None of us have ever had anything to do with the generator maintenance and didn’t have any idea what we were doing, but Dr. Justin noticed a panel that said we were low on fuel. This generator is about the size of a Volkswagon, so I have no idea how much fuel it takes to run the thing, or who is in charge of keeping it filled, but I called Scott Haller and asked if we have any Diesel on property. He directed me to our stash and after a few failed attempts with the container, Dr. Justin finally emptied it into the tank. When he hit the switch, nothing happened.

We were freaking out because we really needed to do blood work AND X-rays to make sure we were treating Jumanji properly for whatever is ailing him. Dr. Justin hit another switch and the generator roared to life! There would have been high fives exchanged, except that we had to find something better to carry Jumanji in, since cramming a sedated leopard into a dog carrier wasn’t going to be ideal. Due to Nala Serval taking up our two best transports, for her recovery from breaking her leg a few weeks ago, we didn’t have anything appropriate and Jamie was calling and texting us because she didn’t want Jumanji to wake up before we got back.

Turns out that wasn’t much of a concern, because Jumanji was really out of it. We loaded him into the pet taxi and I lit the way so that Jamie and Dr. Justin could see to carry him out through his cage which is thick with bushes and trees. This time we had the dump truck golf cart, and it has headlights, but only room for 2 passengers, so Jumanji and I rode in the back. We whisked him into the Windsong Memorial Hospital and began drawing blood, doing X-rays, checking his teeth and giving him sub-q fluids. The only thing we found was a lot of gas, from his abdominal breathing, and his kidneys were three times worse that just a month ago.

Jumanji’s blood work indicates he has suspected acute kidney disease/kidney infection. His blood pressure was high, which is the opposite of how kidney disease usually manifests. Acute kidney disease is different than what are cats typically suffer from which is chronic kidney disease. He was given fluids and medications that night and we wrapped up around midnight. His white blood cell count is high, so he’s fighting something off and we will help him. They are growing a urine culture, but that takes days.

Dr. Justin and Jamie have checked in on him a couple times today to administer more. As of this writing, he just tried to sit up, but didn’t quite make it to a full upright position. Jumanji is fighting for his life and all we can do is offer supportive care and try to help him overcome.

This is the “window” to the West Boensch Recovery Hospital:

Sept 12, 2016 he was caught and taken into the hospital to look at his teeth.

Then he had some bad teeth removed:

8/23/2014 A year ago Jumanji had a mass removed from his foot.

Jumanji leopard was discovered to have a mass on his toe some months back and palm frond in his mouth more recently. In this video, he gets checked up by our wonderful vet and the growth is removed for further examination in the lab. Big Cat Rescue is thankful to our volunteer vets: Dr. Liz Wynn, DVM and Dr. Justin Boorstein, DVM.

Two years ago on 8/22/2014

When we found Jumanji Leopard “down” and unresponsive we had to make a quick decision; go in and wrangle him into a transport to go to the vet, or sedate him in this weakened state. It looked like heat stroke or maybe a bad encounter with a cane toad, but he didn’t have a temperature and wasn’t drooling as much as a toad usually causes.

Halloween Benefit

Murder House is a local haunted house put on to benefit Big Cat Rescue. They are open Oct 21, 22, 28, 29, 30, 31 from 7pm to midnight. http://murderhousetampa.com/