Morocco – In Memory

In Memory

Saying goodbye to a lifelong friend

With heavy hearts, we’ve helped our serval Morocco pass on. Our oldest resident at almost 22 years old, Morocco’s body began shutting down and his age had caught up with him.

Morocco, also lovingly known as Rocky, didn’t only live wild at heart, but he lived young at heart.

Surrendered at just a year old, he and his brother Mufasa were bought as a sweet 16 birthday present for a young lady.  That lady chose to surrender them after a year, wiring us a letter that she and her family had made a wrong decision trying to make pets out of wild animals.

Rocky had been sick the first year of his life and had surgery for a bowel obstruction. This caused scarring in his intestine. He was fed a boneless diet with vitamins his entire life.

But that didn’t stop Rocky from trying to catch voles and other wildlife in his free-roaming habitat.  When he was a successful hunter, we had to watch him closely to make sure he could properly digest his wild prey.

For the past 21 years, Rocky truly enjoyed his life at the Sanctuary.  He was the most social of all the servals we rescued over the years and had a very different personality than his brother.

His personality was very uncharacteristic of a serval. Servals usually only imprint on one human, they prefer company of each other, and they can often be heard hissing as humans approach.

But not Rocky. He was always at the fence talking to his humans and purring so loudly you could hear it from several feet away. He could also be heard purring the entire time he ate his meal.

He loved other cats as well and always had roommates, up until the last few months of his life.  But he had neighbors and liked greeting them along the shared wall.

Every memory I have of Rocky makes me smile. He was so happy every day, reminding me why I started a sanctuary. And I know the interns and staff feel the same way.

Over the last few months, we could see Rocky becoming weak. He walked lower in his back end, slept more, and began getting picky with food.

We tried different treatments to help, but it was clear his entire body systems were shutting down. It was time to let our dear friend go in peace.

As difficult as it is to say good-bye to Rocky, there isn’t much more a caregiver can ask for than our furry friends living to a ripe old age and giving us 21 years of joy, smiles and love.

If our work can make one rescued cat as happy as Rocky was, it makes all the hard days worth it.

Rocky, spread your happiness wherever your forever free journey takes you.  You will bring smiles wherever you go.