Bobby the Bobcat

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Bobby the bobcat was born on June 13, 1999.  Since writing Bobby’s story, Bobby passed away on November 10, 2016.

Yes this is my BIG baby Bobcat!

It’s 2016 and that makes Bobby 17 years old.  He weighs a little over 50 lbs, but he thinks he’s just a little kitten.

They say that Bobcats can live into their 20’s, but there are really no records for a healthy bobcat in captivity.  Heck, he may out live both David and me.

It’s been a big commitment to raise him, but I wouldn’t trade this lifetime experience for anything in the world.  Bobby is my Bobcat child!

 

You ask, how did it come about that I am a momma to a live Bobcat?

It’s a 16 year story…it’s interesting…it’s been a challenge, but who else do you know who has a live Bobcat.  And Bobby did live in the house for over 6 years.

It all started after I lost my 16 year old Siamese, Sue Sing and my 16 year old black and white cat, Brushes.  (All of my babies live to be over 15 years old.  I guess they’re just well fed and happy.)  Coach George in our little town in Big Lake, Texas, had a female and male Bobcat.  (They were not tame, but in cages in Coach George’s backyard.) She had a litter of 4 Bobcats.  My birthday was coming up.  David decided to get me a Bobcat for my birthday.  He took me to see the live Bobcats and held up the some of the baby Bobcats, asking me which one I wanted.  I was so excited and they were so cute.  Two of them were screaming, but the smaller one wasn’t as loud.  So I said “That one!”  Little did I know what I had just done.

 

 

Oh, I didn’t mention that the week before, I had gone to our vet in San Angelo and brought home a sandy-colored striped cat, named Sandy.

They were about the same age and Sandy already used the sand box and ate cat food.  The reason I say he used the sand box and ate cat food, is because Bobcats are slower and need to be bottle fed.

 

Bobby had to be bottle fed.  In fact, I thought I’d never get him off the bottle.  He was just like a baby, wanting to be fed every 2 hours, even through the night.  This was a challenge.  As he grew, he didn’t want a bigger bottle.  He liked his little baby bottle, which was a trick all in itself.  As any momma, I was the one that had to get up and feed Bobby by myself.  With the little bottle, he would gulp it down and I would have to hold him in one hand and let him suck on my finger, while with the other hand unscrew the cap on his bottle and fill it and put the cap back on before he noticed that he was sucking on my finger!  Also, before he was declawed I would have to wear oven mitts so he wouldn’t scratch my hands all up.  He didn’t know he was so scratchy, but after all, I was the momma.  Sandy would wake up and follow us to the kitchen and just watch Bobby sucking on the bottle, the big baby!

He was 4 months old and still being bottle fed.  Boy was this getting old.  He was growing and would drink 4 of the little bottles of formula still every 2 – 3 hours.  Thank goodness I didn’t work!  And we didn’t go anywhere with David’s working schedule.  I kept trying to ween him off the bottle, by bribing him with milk, canned cat food, hamburger, you name it, I tried it.  Nope, he said, “bring me my bottle”!

Sandy would just stare at Bobby.  He couldn’t believe what a big baby he was.  I was panicking, thinking he’d be an adult cat and still have to be bottle fed! I finally I decided to open a can of tuna, just to give it a try.  Sandy liked tuna, so here goes.  Bobby looked at it, smelled it, stuck his paw in it, and then decided to give it a try.  Do you think he ate it?  No, he sucked it.  He made a slurping noise and sucked all the juice out of it, but didn’t eat or chew any of the tuna meat.  Was he full?  No, he wanted his bottle too.  After a few weeks of bribing him with tuna, after he sucked all the juice, he did finally eat it.  Whew, finally off the bottle.  He never has stopped sucking on my finger.  To this day, if I hold my hand near his mouth, he likes to suck on my finger.

I wasn’t the only momma, Stars my Blue Chow Chow, adopted both Bobby and Sandy.  She really had her hands full because these two were into everything and didn’t sleep much.

She didn’t need to pay as much attention to Sandy as she did to guess who?  The big baby!

Chow Chows aren’t known to be motherly like.  We have seen Stars munch an Armadillo in half within a split second.

Stars was more of an sister to Sue Sing and Brushes, they were older when I rescued Stars.

Stars was a good momma, she would bathe Bobby, play with him, but when Stars was tired and wanted to sleep, Bobby knew to stay away from her.

Bobby is very smart.  As a kitten, he was so curious, much more than Sandy.  He would watch where I would put things away and then open the cupboard and destroy it.  We had to baby proof all the cupboards.

I think Bobby’s knick name should have been the destroyer.

He was fascinated with the roll of toilet paper.  He would unroll the entire roll, dip it in the toilet and then throw it on the wall.  We’d come home to a toilet papered bathroom wall.  I shouldn’t tell you this story, but someone visiting at our house forgot to flush the toilet.  This was so exciting for Bobby…there were floating new toys.  What a mess that poor David had to clean up! lol

Speaking of messes, boxes, popcorn, Bobby and Sandy, spell trouble.

Cats are just curious, they can’t help themselves.

Sandy would have been happy just to have gotten in the box.  But his brother got him into real trouble.  Bobby not only got into the box and destroyed the box, scattered all the popcorn, and then tried to get Sandy to stay with him.

Remember I told you that David was always at work, when he was able to come home to rest a little, the boys wanted his attention.

David wasn’t really a cat person when I met him, but I had Sue Sing and Brushes who were already 10 years old when I met him.  Need I say…he loves cats now! lol  He has to love them.

I think cats are attracted to people that don’t care for them.  Their thinking is You’re Going to Love Me! Get over it!

Bobby is curious and David always had a pen in his shirt.  Give Bobby 2 seconds and he’d have that pen out of David’s shirt and destroyed!

Once it was bedtime and the boys wanted to settle in, they would both pile up on their momma, me.  Not by my side, but right under my nose!

You would think, Bobby being a wild animal and Sandy a domesticated cat, that Bobby would be the alpha.  Not in our house.  from the very beginning Sandy bossed Bobby around all the time.  If Bobby was curled up sleeping with me, Sandy would literally grab him by the back of the neck and pull him off the bed, hiss at him and then curl up next to me.  Bobby would just go off somewhere, it didn’t bother him at all.

They love their momma.  I’m just glad I didn’t have a full litter! lol

Here are a few pictures of Bobby and Sandy.  You rarely saw them separated.  Bobby was so smothering.  He always had to cover up by laying on top of everyone he loves.

Too much cuteness!

They don’t stay kittens for long.  Bobby went through his terrible 2’s.  He was into everything.  He had stash piles hidden.  Some items he hid so well, that we didn’t find them until we moved near San Antonio.

It was an ongoing battle of the dish sponge.  This was one of his favorite toys.  I went through more sponges, because once he decided it was his, that’s what it was.

Have you ever tried to take a sponge away from a Bobcat?

He was the fastest sponge thief, I’d be washing the dishes, leave the sponge in the water to dry a plate, turn around and there it went!

I’d yell at Bobby, and chase him.  He’d high tail it under the table.  This is where I’d stop.  I learned my lesson.  If you got down on the floor and moved close to him under the table, his eyes would get real big and almost glow, he’d get a tight grip on the sponge and start with a low growl.  Continue to get closer, his paw would come up and the growl would get louder.  Closer, and he’d smack you hard with his paw, and his growl was terrifying!  But I’m his momma and I wanted that sponge!  Not today, I would just have to get out another sponge.  I always bought the large multi pack.

 

Bobby loved the UPS man.

He knew that the UPS man brought packages, mom would open them and then it was playtime.  Popcorn, it’s so much fun.

One day the UPS man showed up with a package.  It was a pretty heavy box, and he offered to bring it in the house for me.  I always thought of Bobby as just a kitty cat, but forgot that most people think of him as a wild Bobcat.

Bobcats like high places.  I suppose ledges and tree limbs make good lookout spots.

We had a decorative wall with a ledge on top of the wall and then the ceiling.  Bobby slept there often.

The UPS man stepped in the house carrying the heavy box and just as he passed the ledge, Bobby leaped down and landed on the UPS man’s shoulders!  He thought it was funny, but the poor UPS man almost pee’d his pants.  Thank goodness Bobby didn’t have claws.  He wasn’t angry, just wanted to give him a hug.  After I peeled Bobby from his face, we laughed so hard and then Bobby made a new friend.

I explained to the UPS man that our friend Marla taught Bobby as a kitten, to jump up into your arms and wrap his paws around your neck.  You needed to catch him and hold him to give Bobby a hug.  She didn’t realize that he would do this when he got really big and how intimidating it could be.  Bobby also jumped on Dr. Sudolcan from behind.  Sometimes Bobby was so embarrassing.  Yes, Dr. Sudolcan was very surprised.

Bobby and his momma Stars hung out together all the time.  They played and Bobby was always trying to cuddle up to Stars until she had enough.  Bobby knew when she was grouchy and would just move on.

Bobby was so smart.  Remember I shared with you he would just sit back and watch every move we’d make and where we put things.

We made the mistake of having door handles instead of door knobs.  This was only on our sunroom door to the inside house.

Bobby would watch us let Stars in and out.  When we wanted to go into the sunroom, we’d open and close the door.  Then we’d open the door to let Stars out, but the outside door had a door knob.

We kept the sunroom door closed because I had live plants in the sunroom and Bobby loved to destroy plants.  We never let Bobby outside on his own, but we would take him out and put him on his tether to enjoy the sunshine.

Well you guessed it, Bobby learned to open and close the door to let Stars out and to get himself into the sunroom to destroy my plants.

Bobby loved to go outside.  We didn’t want him to run off and end up getting killed.  If you saw Bobby you saw a Bobcat, you didn’t take the time to look at his collar and know that he was our baby.

While we lived in Big Lake, we would put a harness on him and tether him.  It was a long tether so he could move around most of the backyard.  He was really good about not wiggling out of it too.  But I wouldn’t leave him alone for too long or he might have.

Bobby loved to garden.  The only problem was, he would destroy the garden.  He would unpot my plants in containers.

I even had to move his tether so he couldn’t reach the garden.  He thought this was a big sand box, but with stuff in his way.  He could dig up the whole garden in no time.

During the hot summer days, I wanted to make sure Bobby stayed cool.  I bought him a kiddie swimming pool, not knowing if he would like water or not.

At first he wasn’t too sure about it, and then he started digging.

For some reason, the first thing he does when he gets in the water is go potty, and then he tries to cover it up!  I couldn’t have him stand in dirty water, so we have to empty the swimming pool and fill it back up.  Then he digs around in it.  When it’s really hot, he’ll lay down in the water.

We tried to give him a bath and he wanted nothing to do with it.  He likes water when it’s his idea, but don’t try to get him wet.

Bobby loves to play try to get the ball.  We weren’t sure if he’d play fetch, or even want anything to do with a ball.

David and I would toss the ball to each other and Bobby would jump as high as we’d throw it and bat it away.

He is really athletic. He jumps really high, and can turn in the air.  In his outdoor pen he doesn’t play catch with a ball, but plays catch the bird that tries to fly across his pen, for keeps!

He loves this game.

 

 

 

When we first got baby chicks, their pen was right next to Bobby’s.  We thought this would entertain him.  He loved watching the chicks and chickens.  His pen was made with chainlink, and we didn’t think that the baby chicks would fit though the holes.

I was in Bobby’s pen and a baby chick got through the chainlink.  Bobby grabbed it and I started screaming at Bobby.  David came running and I was screaming and chasing Bobby all over his pen, up into the ramp that went up to the second floor into the house.  I crawled up the ramp and Bobby was growling.  I was so mad at him, I didn’t care and I grabbed the baby chick out of his mouth.  It wasn’t hurt.  David spent the rest of the afternoon adding chicken wire around Bobby’s pen.  I named the chick, Angel.  She is still alive and is 6 years old.

Bobby’s favorite game is Tug o War.  Have you ever played Tug o War with a Bobcat?  Bobby takes this game very seriously.  I can’t play with him because he is too strong for me, but David can.

After you watch the video, you will think that Bobby is ferrous wild animal.  The sounds he makes are so loud and wild.  His eyes get big and they glow bright green and he means business.  He will end up with the sock. He can hit your hand several times before you can even react and he doesn’t hit lightly.

Eventually, you give in and he wins.  He will always WIN!

Some other events that Bobby likes is to dress up for the holidays. NOT!  Have you ever tried to put costumes on a bobcat?

Now that you have gotten to know Bobby the Bobcat, I bet you are wanting to know, “What does a bobcat eat?”

When Bobby was a baby, he started off with formula.  I researched what bobcats eat and other than what they caught in the wild, I really couldn’t find much.

I found a zoo on the west coast and they feed their bobcats, Zupreem.  It was pretty expensive and the freight too. I ordered a case of it.

It sounded like just the food we needed.  It contained Chicken, Liver, Meat by-products, Chicken meal (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Chicken fat and all kinds of nutrients.  Yuck!  That’s what Bobby said too.  He covered his bowl with dirt.  I really didn’t blame him.  It was disgusting.

I researched some more to see what bobcats needed because I knew that plain cat food was not enough.  So I came up with a bobcat diet.  My recipe makes enough for a whole month.

But Bobby is very picky. So I had to come up with a way that would keep him interested in eating his diet.

I chop the fresh liver into little bites, David mixes everything together, we divide into small portions, put into ziplock bags and freeze the packages.

Here’s the tricky part, Bobby likes his food just a little bit frozen or very cold.  If the portion is too big and totally thaws out in the refrigerator, he will cover his bowl up with dirt and not eat.  How many bobcats do you know in the wild have their meals just a little frozen!

He loves whole mushrooms, fresh squash and eggs too.  And he enjoys the occasional bird, squirrel or snake that is stupid enough to get into his pen.

When we moved, we were throwing out his sleeping bag, (he was getting a new one) and stuck to the bottom of the sleeping bag were eight black squirrel tails.  He’s a serial killer and keeps the tails as his trophies!

In Bobby’s pen he has an Igloo with a sleeping bag inside up on pallets, to keep it higher.  And he even has his own Jungle Gym, well a piece of a tower that he likes to jump on the roof for a better view. He has a cat scratching piece of furniture, from when he was a baby.  Even though he doesn’t fit in the bottom box, he loves to jump on the top and get his pets from David.

They have a funny ritual every evening when David feeds him.  First they rub heads, then Bobby has to lick David’s hair and then David has to scratch all over Bobby’s head.  Then Bobby wants his food and for everyone to leave him alone.

Bobby used to be in the house for the first 6 years of his life.  We moved to Mertzon and the previous owners had a Ferret.  Bobcats are very territorial and protective with a very keen sense of smell.  He started to mark his territory and that was the end of living in the house.

We had built a very large pen under our house with a ramp to the second floor and a door to come in and out.  We had to lock the door and it didn’t seem to phase Bobby what so ever.  He had his kingdom and he loved being outdoors.

He had a full Jungle Gym complete with a slide, a tunnel connecting the command center to the tower and even a rock climbing wall at the end.  He didn’t care for the slide or the rock climbing wall, so they were just for looks.  His kingdom was almost the full length of the house.  Our house was up on pilings because we were so close to the creek and it flooded all the way up to the house.  His favorite part of his kingdom was his lookout box, from here he could see the entire backyard, the creek and he was hidden and could watch all the critters.

Sandy would go and visit outside until we locked the doggy door.  Sandy stayed in the main house except when I took him outside in the greenhouse with me.

Bobby is very protective of his pen.  I felt so sorry for the opossums, birds, squirrels, insects and snakes that tried to see if they could get from one end of his pen to the other without him noticing. They didn’t make it.  He is way too fast.

We had some friends visiting and they were walking by Bobby’s pen.  They stopped and looked and asked David what that was in the pen.  David went inside to take a closer look and it was a four foot long DEAD Water Moccasin!  Snakes are no big challenge to a bobcat and even without claws, Bobby’s powerful hits with his paws were enough to stun the snake until he could finish him off by biting the back of the head off.

This isn’t our Bobby, but I found this video on YouTube of a bobcat battling a snake on a road.

As you can tell Bobby is definitely a big part of our family.  He’s getting older, his hair is graying, and he’s lost some teeth, but for his age, he’s still a happy, healthy bobcat.

I keep asking David to let him come and sleep with us again, but David not only says ‘No’, but ‘Heck no!”  David said it is too strange to wake up and stare into the face of a bobcat early in the morning.

I will always love him like any momma loves her babies. I spoil him with mushrooms, cooked chicken from making my chicken broth, meat scraps, and lots of stuffed animals.  He’s had his heart pillow for over 16 years.  He cuddles with his stuffed animals in his igloo.

Bobby is happy in his outside pen, he has the chickens to entertain him; Bowie and Starbucks go for a visit (really just to lick his bowl that he has finished eating every little bite of food); he gets fed his special diet just a little bit frozen every day on time (Starbucks lets David know every day at 4:30pm it’s time); and he gets as much loving as he will allow (he says, ‘rub on me, feed me and get out of my pen!’)

I hope will be able to keep adding to the story of Bobby for many more years.

I’m Bobby the Bobcat, living my life in Texas!