Safe travels, Max – June 18, 2019
June, 18th, 2019 WildCat Ridge Sanctuary suffered another loss this week as we helped Max move on to his next journey. Max was an F-2 Jungle Bob, which is a hybrid cat created by breeding a Chausie Cat with a Pixiebob cat. He had been purchased by a private owner in a small New York apartment who wanted a more exotic looking cat. After living with him for four years without being able to even get close to him, we were called. Max came to us in 2014 and was completely feral. And in all the years that he lived at the sanctuary he never warmed up to people but did love his friends like Sarge and some of the other hybrid cats.
Over the past few months, we noticed that he was losing weight and took him in for tests. Nothing stood out other than his potassium was low. He was very elusive so we treated him on a large crate until his medication was done making sure he was eating. As a cat that often hid he was very hard to monitor.
Yesterday we caught a glimpse of him and noticed he was very thin. When we caught him he was also dehydrated. I rushed him into Compass Vet to see Dr. Connolly and when she knocked him out his stomach seemed distended. She pulled a sample of the fluid and it was all blood. We didn’t wake him up. The necropsy found his kidneys were hemorrhaging and his liver had some odd masses covering it.
Such a sad thing to lose an animal that wasn’t able to live a full life, but now finally he’s free as he never was before. Please, please educate yourself and your friends that hybrid cats are NOT pets and most end up living a miserable existence. They are caught between two worlds neither of which they are suited for. We tried to give him the best life we could but in the end, we couldn’t save him. Safe travels Max, we will miss your wild spirit 😢
