On May 9th I received a message from a friend who was worried about wild cats escaping from a home in his area. The photo he sent was one of a Savannah Cat. The owner's number was posted and I called to ask if they ever wanted to place him we would be happy to take him. He politely declined said the cat had been caught. When I asked how he had gotten out so many times he said the cat could open doors. We talked a bit more and he shared that they still have a serval on the loose.
They had moved from Utah and brought the cats with them and now they were trying to capture the serval. I wished him good luck and if there was anything we could do we would be happy to help.
A few weeks later I started getting emails with photos of the serval out in different areas as well as phone calls telling me that the cat was killing chickens, frightening an 80-year-old couple and other problems. Authorities had been called and said that exotic cats weren’t part of their job. Then a few days later I got a call from a gentleman in Wilsonville who had seen the cat in his field for the past few days.
We bought a huge live trap and got it to him and asked if he would try to catch it because the longer it was on the run the bigger the chance was it would be shot or get hit by a car.
Oregon Dept. of Agriculture called Thursday the 18th of June and asked if I knew about the cat running loose and if they were able to catch it would we make room. They knew it was illegal and had already been in touch with the owners and the owner's mom told him that they would surrender the cat. He had involved the State Police and they were going try to capture it.
The very next day I got an email around 10 pm, from someone saying that his employee had seen a big cat get hit by a car and she was sitting with it.
A wonderful man stopped when he saw them on the side of the road and after calling authorities and no one could help he called Dove Lewis, and was told they would treat it if he brought it in. That was June 19th. The local news covered the story.
This poor Serval was out in the elements trying to survive covering the areas of West Linn, Tualatin, and Wilsonville for well over a month only to be caught after being hit by a car.
I’ll skip the drama with the owners and Dove Lewis but they did surrender him after being given two choices. One was to sign the cat over to WCR and walk away as if it never happened and with no cost to them. Or decide they weren’t going to, have the cat confiscated anyway, and pay for all costs related to his capture and clinic care as well as a hefty fine and possible jail time.
They did the right thing and surrendered him.
Our gallery shows photos from Cairo on the run as well as before and after surgery. He had severe injuries, a broken back leg, a displaced hip on his good leg, a fractured pelvis, and some road rash.
We assumed all costs moving forward and Dove Lewis did a wonderful job putting this boy back together as well as they could. The broken leg couldn’t be saved, so it was amputated. FHO surgery was done on his hip making it impossible to walk immediately after surgery.
There were concerns that his rehabilitation might be impossible because he didn’t have a good leg to support walking on the repaired hip joint but it was our only chance to save him. There is still concern that his tail may have to be amputated at some point but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.
Now five days after surgery he is still very sore, we have him contained in the office crate where I can keep a close eye on him and provide 24-hour care. We are cautiously optimistic that he will recover but it won’t be easy. He has been an exceptional patient and allows me to medicate him without much fuss.
Of course, we have all fallen in love and will do ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING to get him mended and give him the chance for a full life. Keep this beautiful boy in your thoughts and we will keep everyone updated.
Cairo’s Escape, Accident and Vet Care
