Simba Savannah Cat

4/1/05 – 12/4/21

12/4/2021:  Simba Savannah Cat Has Been Euthanized.  A few days ago Simba Savannah cat began acting weird, including tearing up his blankets. Thinking he might be bored inside, where he’d been brought in to keep him from the mosquitos that caused his allergies, and with the cooler weather, we moved him back outdoors. He began to decline in eating, was vomiting, and seemed to want to do nothing but sleep. We brought him into the West Boensch Recovery Hospital for observation and Dr. Justin Boorstein left a birthday party to come check on him today.

None of the diagnostics were explaining his illness which we had feared would be a blockage so Dr. Justin opened him up. What he found was internal bleeding, causing anemia, a mottled spleen and liver and a mass that could be cancer or maybe an aneurism. Simba was euthanized while he slept because at 16 years of age, there was nothing we could do to turn all of this around.

During the necropsy samples were taken of all of these organs but it may be a couple weeks before we know what caused his sudden ailment. You can post your tributes at https://bigcatrescue.org/simba-savannah-cat/

12/12/2021 Update

Simba’s biopsy results came back indicating he has Lymphosarcoma a type of lymphoma. Lymphosarcoma (lymphoma) is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in cats. It is a cancer of the lymphocytes (a type of blood cell) and lymphoid tissues. Lymphoid tissue is normally present in many places in the body including lymph nodes, spleen, liver, gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow.

/Previous News About Simba Savannah

We get these calls all the time:  “I have a _____ hybrid cat and he’s not happy.  He needs to live outside.”  Usually, the caller has purchased a very expensive designer cat, and now that the cat has reached sexual maturity (regardless of which sex or how soon they were fixed) and the cat is spraying urine all over the house and being aggressive to the people and pets in the family.

Simba’s case was pretty unique, in that his owner tried for 13 years before making that call.  She called in May and we’ve tried, for weeks to talk her out of sending Simba to us because exotic cats and hybrids really only ever bond to that person who raised them.  Even though they may bite and scratch that person, it’s the only person they really ever let themselves get to know, so they are usually not happy going somewhere to “live outside.”

We always advise on ways to make the situation tenable, such as building on an indoor/outdoor room, or even a cage like ours in their backyard, but Simba lived in a New York apartment, so that wasn’t an option.

Like Beacher, Simba is another hybrid that was pumped out by the Drinkwater Cats mill.  He surely cost a lot of money and probably was pitched as a perfect cheetah for the couch for fancy apartment living.  No exotic hybrid cat could ever live up to the hype.

Simba’s mom told rescuers there were a lot of factors in her life that were changing.  Her son had graduated so the nest was empty now.  She was moving somewhere Simba couldn’t go and there was a boyfriend in the picture.  She really loved Simba and was pretty upset about sending him away.  She says she will come to visit.  However, most owners say this, but never do.