Gardener rescues half-dead kitten from the bushes – but this critter's no house cat!
San Clemente, California - A California gardener rescued a half-dead kitten, but this animal was no house cat – it was a bobcat on death's door!
A gardener in San Clemente came across the super sick critter under a bush. The animal was barely moving and almost hairless.
Concerned, the gardener took the critter to a local animal shelter, from where she was immediately transferred to a veterinary clinic.
"They said when she arrived, she was pretty much dead," Autumn Welch, director of wildlife services at the San Diego Humane Society, told The Dodo.
"They gave her CPR and brought her back to life," she added.
The kitten survived, thanks to a blood transfusion from a vet assistant's cat, but she wasn't completely out of the woods.
"She was in really bad shape, very thin, and missing a bunch of her hair because of the mange," Welch said.
After four months of healing the baby bobcat was released
The San Diego Humane Society did everything it could to nurse the animal back to health.
After two months of infusions, iron supplements, and antiparasitics, the bobcat kitten was finally healthy enough to move into the shelter's outdoor enclosure.
The care team determined that the kitten needed more time to recover than an adult animal.
After four months, the bobcat was healthy and ready to return to her natural habitat.
The San Diego Humane Society shared an amazing picture from her release on Facebook.
"She took off and flew into the bushes," Welch said. "She looked so healthy and just ready to go. We were really proud of how far she came in those four months."
Cover photo: Screenshot/Facebook/San Diego Humane Society