nikko

Nikko was owned by a private citizen in Iowa. After her and her boyfriend broke-up, he threatened to turn her in for illegally owning a bobcat. She was worried Nikko may be seized and put down.

Nikko has never gotten along with the other bobcats at the Sanctuary but we soon realized he liked African Servals. Therefore, Nikko now lives with four Servals and thinks it is just grand. His favorite toy is anything covered in cat nip.

Early in 2006, we almost lost Nikko. We noticed that he was chasing his tail frantically and had body tremors. Dr. Baillie did an entire physical, blood work and x-rays and still could not determine what was causing the neurological symptoms.

An appointment was made at the University of Minnesota where a cat scan and spinal tap were done. All tests came back normal. All we could do was watch Nikko day-to-day and insure he had a quality of life. Just when we almost gave up hope, his symptoms subsided and he began to heal himself. He is back to his normal self with the exception of a small tail twitch. The vets now assume it was a lesion somewhere on the spinal cord from a fall, etc. that must have healed itself, but we’ll never know for sure. We are just thankful each day he is with us.