Wildcat Sanctuary seeking donations to help care for rescued bobcat kitten with health concerns

The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone is seeking donations to help care for Jax, a 4-month-old bobcat kitten with serious health concerns.

According to the sanctuary, staff members noted that Jax was suffering from visual impairment, open-mouth breathing, front leg tremors and had a mild seizure. They brought him to a cardiologist, who took an ultrasound of his heart, gave him an ECG, took his blood pressure and performed chest radiographs. The tests came back normal and cost $1,256.

When Jax first got to the sanctuary, he had low blood sugar and was anemic. Recent blood tests still showed significantly low blood sugar levels, the sanctuary said.

“Now, we have shifted our focus to a working diagnosis of persistent hypoglycemia even with a good diet,” Dr. Campbell, the Sanctuary’s staff vet, said.

The sanctuary said the next steps include an abdominal ultrasound on Thursday to check Jax’s liver, pancreas, adrenal glands and GI tract. Staff, in the meantime, will be feeding him five times a day to try to stabilize his blood sugar.

Because Jax was hand-reared by people before coming to the sanctuary, he has been pretty tolerant of the medical procedures — especially because he knows he gets chicken liver afterward, according to Wildcat Sanctuary Director Tammy Thies.

“Jax is a happy bobcat kitten that has been dealt a bad hand,” Thies added. “He does not let his medical issues slow him down. Even though his vision is impaired, he can see light and loves to stalk and play just like any other bobcat kitten.”

If you’d like to donate to Jax’s medical fund, click here.

You can stay up-to-date on his progress via the Wildcat Sanctuary’s Facebook page.