Orphaned bobcat found near Bothell is recovering at PAWS

LYNNWOOD, Wash. — An orphaned bobcat found near Bothell in July is recovering at the Progressive Animal Welfare Society in Lynnwood.

Neighbors who found it said they thought at first it was a kitten and took it to a local veterinarian.

"It was actually pretty docile so it ended up sitting along the fence line and (my neighbor) walked over and looked at it and his cat looked at it and he reached out and picked the cat up and that was it," Reuben Jones told KIRO 7's Joanna Small.

Rueben, his neighbor Ron Baker and Ron's domestic cat found the one and half pound , nine-week-old bob-kitten July 13.

Jones thinks the bobcat likely came out of the greenbelt behind his house. At first he wasn't entirely sure it was a bobcat, so he and Baker took the animal to the nearest vet to get a second opinion and have it scanned for microchip.

There was no chip and no "meow."

"it was more of rawr," Jones said, laughing as he imitated the sound.

Usually PAWS naturalist Jeff Brown says it's best not to intervene, but in this case Rueben made the right call.

"Probably something happened to her mom, that's just the case in an urban environment," Jeff explained. "She probably got hit by a vehicle or something like that."

The kitten is far too young to survive on her own; she was dehydrated and thin, and she needed surgery to extract a tooth.

"One of her upper fangs or canine was broken at the tip," PAWS wildlife veterinarian Bethany Groves said.

She's now 12 weeks old, double the size at 1.5 pounds, and quite popular at PAWS. She'll rehab at the wildlife center until she's ready for release in the spring.

Rueben is relieved she's getting the right care—although it was it was tempting to invoke the "finders keepers" clause.

If you find a wild animal, PAWS experts say call them first to make sure intervention is necessary: 425-787-2500

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