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Love at first sight for fox, cat
15/06/2007 12:19 - (SA)
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| Tigger, an African wild cat, and Batty, a bat-eared fox, were inseparable. (Vernon Gibbs-Halls, Die Burger)
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Tisha Steyn, Die Burger
George - They were inseparable since they were a few days old: the African wild cat and the bat-eared fox.
Both were brought to the Garden Route Game Centre as babies: first the bat-eared fox and her brother, whose mother was killed in a baling machine on a farm near Albertinia. The farmer took the babies to the centre.
The male survived for three days, but Batty, the female, survived on Milko Pup, which Vernon Gibbs-Halls and his marriage partner, Tony Halls-Gibbs, fed her two-hourly with a bottle.
Tigger, as the African wild cat was named, was brought to the centre soon after Batty's brother had died. The kitten's mother had abandoned her and she was found near a remote farmhouse in the Blombos Conservancy. She was about the same age as Batty and tiny. She was also bottle-fed.
'It was love at first sight'
Although their hospital cages stood next to each other, they pined for company.
"I realised they could benefit from being together, and it was love at first sight," said Vernon.
They soon played, ate and slept together. Tigger was sickly from the start and was eventually diagnosed with Feline Infectious Perinotis (FIP). The disease is contagious to other cats, but not to another animals or humans.
The virus is transmitted via the bloodstream if the cat is bitten. Seriously ill cats can transmit the disease from mouth to mouth or from nose to mouth when they greet or lick each other.
"The disease causes a slow, but painless death," said Vernon. According to him cats with the "dry" FIP virus can survive for a long time. Usually small kittens with a weak immune system or very old cats are infected.
Tigger had the "wet" FIP virus, which caused her stomach and chest to fill with fluid, which also hampered breathing. The fluid had to be drained at one stage. There is no cure for the disease.
Sickly
"On New Year's eve she nearly died in my arms. I gently massaged her heart and she came to, and we continued to care for her as best as possible."
The two animals were never caged. "They had the freedom of the house and garden. They were always together and groomed each other for hours. At night they curled up and slept on the end of the bed.
That was, until Wednesday, when Tigger died.
"Batty is running around looking for her friend. I breaks my heart to see her searching like that.
"It is such a pity that such a beautiful, rare animal like that had to die," Vernon said.
- Die Burger
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