A 6-8 month old bobcat , who we’ll call Missy, got some much needed help after a hiker and her dogs saw the scared little feline hiding out in some brushes that are located in an area where the El Dorado fire went a blazing through.

The dogs (Spanky, Scout, Sparky, Denny, and Randy) heard and smelled Missy, ran up to her, and began barking and twirling and tapping their paws into the dirt.

The dogs’ human owner, who we’ll call Carol, had taken a comfortable position on a rock. And she was not going to let her dogs’ barking song and twirling paw tap dancing show get her up from a resting place. “I shall not be move,” said Carol.

Seeing that Carol was paying them no never mind, one of the dogs, Spanky, ran over to her. Spanky stood in front of Carol, looked at her, lean his little head over to the side and then barked, “ruff.” Spanky’s one gruff usually does the trick, but Carol was too tired to let Spanky’s command move her.

“Ru-ru, ruff,” are the barking words that came out of Spanky’s mouth. Carol wasn’t fazed. She just leaned her head back a little more and let out a snore. Spanky wasn’t having it, though. No sir. Spanky took his right paw and began nudging Carol. “I’m coming, I’m coming. I can’t get a minute of rest with you guys. Oh dear,” said Carol as she slowly opened her eyes and lifted herself off the rock.

Carol brushed the dirt off her pants, put on her backpack, grabbed her walking stick, and began following Spanky over to the other canines who were still doing their bark song and twirl paw tapping dance. “Why are you all so fussy?!” is what Carol said. As her eyes begin moving upward, Carol caught the sight of this cute, teddy bear, cuddly looking cat. All of that cuteness just melted her heart. “Oh, I just have to do something to help this little kitten,” said Carol.

Carol turned towards Scout, Sparky, Denny, and Randy and told them to keep a watchful eye on the little girl. She then turn towards Spanky and ordered him to follow her down the hill to her Lincoln Navigator SUV where she had a crate sitting in the backseat. “You think they’ll behave?” Carol asked Spanky. Spanky just gave her one of those “I dunno” looks.

At that point, Spanky was rather tired of all of the barking and twirling paw tap dancing. He was ready to go home, eat some brats with fries, and snuggle up in his doggy bed while he watched reruns of It’s Me or the Dog. Spanky really liked that show. He knew that the dogs were just tricking the human lady into believing that she had tamed the wild in them. When in fact….oh, I better not tell that.

Well, back to the story. Carol and Spanky got the crate, walked back up the hill, and coaxed Missy into it with some baby talk:

    “Oh, I’m gonna take real good care of you. Yes, I am. Yes, I am.
     I’m going to give you a bath, spray some parfume on you, and put
     little red ribbons on your ears. Speaking of your ears, oh, they
     look at little burned. Don’t worry, we’ll fix that too. Yes, we will.
     Yes, we will. Spanky, Scout, Sparky, Denny, and Randy…Move!”

Carol picked up the crate with Missy in it, walked back to the Lincoln Navigator SUV, placed Missy in the front seat and Spanky and his buddies in the backseat, and then drove over to the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center where the veterinarian staff agreed to check her out.

For some reason or another, the little gal didn’t like the veterinarian staff there at the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center. Missy took one look at them and just started up with her grrrs! “ I don’t think she likes us.” Due to all of the grrrs the little bundle of cuteness was doing, the veterinarians called the folks over at California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CADFW) in order to get help in caring for Missy. They were like, “We have this cute little kitten, here, but she doesn’t like us.” “Ok, we’ll be right over.”

The folks from CADFW rushed right over, took a look at Missy, a look at a picture of a little big cute cat, and then a look at Missy again. After about five minutes of looking at Missy and the picture of the cute little big cat, the CADFW folks decided that Missy is really a bobcat. “That’s why she was so growly,” one of the veterinarians said. They got lil’ Missy out of the crate, checked her out, and then went to work on her.

Lil’ Missy had several burns, some of which were on her lil’ ears and whiskers. No worries, though. Her whiskers will grow back. The veterinarians and their staff, which included a team from Project Wildlife, did around the clock treatment on Missy. They removed the severely burned tissue, cleaned her infected wounds, gave the little lady some antibiotics, and dressed her wounds. As you can see from the photo, there, lil’ Missy is looking spanking brand new.



The folks over at the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center say that once the docs give lil’ Missy a good bill health, they’ll take her back to the wild; which they hope to do in a month or so.

Personally, I think they should keep lil’ Missy. She’ll make a good ambassador for the humane society.