{"id":492,"date":"2016-01-21T16:54:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T16:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/?p=492"},"modified":"2016-01-27T16:45:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T16:45:05","slug":"elusive-bobcat-makes-an-appearance-at-osu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/2016\/01\/21\/elusive-bobcat-makes-an-appearance-at-osu\/","title":{"rendered":"Elusive Bobcat Makes An Appearance At OSU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \"The<\/a>\n
The OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital repaired a fractured femur on a bobcat brought in by Chintimini Wildlife Center.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

One of the most beautiful cats in Oregon is rarely seen by humans.<\/p>\n

Although bobcats have stable populations throughout the state, their nocturnal lifestyle, excellent camouflage, and wariness of humans keeps them hidden from view by all but the most avid back-country hikers.<\/p>\n

This week, doctors and staff in the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a bobcat up close and personal.<\/p>\n

A few days earlier, a good citizen found an injured juvenile bobcat in the ditch off highway 20 near Blodgett, and risked their skin to wrap the ferocious, snarling cat in a blanket and take her to Chintimini Wildlife Center<\/a>. The center immediately provided water and food for the starving cat then sedated her enough to give her an examination. They found a broken leg and called OSU for help.<\/p>\n

Several veterinarians in the Corvallis area provide pro-bono assistance to Chintimini, but the most challenging medical cases often go to OSU. (See previous story<\/a>). \u201cThe leg was fractured with a number of pieces and fissures,\u201d says orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Warnock.<\/p>\n

\"bobcat-femur\"<\/a>Dr. Warnock was able to rebuild the leg with plates and screws donated by DePuy Synthes<\/a>. She designed the placement of the hardware specifically to avoid the formation of soft tissue calluses in the upper leg muscle. \u201cCalluses can cause quadriceps adhesions which would slow the cat down,\u201d she says. That was a critical issue for an animal whose survival depends on speed in hunting.<\/p>\n

There are other concerns when operating on wildlife. For one, the anesthesia is different than it would be for a dog or house cat. \u201cOur anesthesia team is amazing,\u201d says Dr. Warnock. \u201cThey are so skilled with all species, and great at pain control.\u201d In fact, many hands worked together to save the bobcat, from the skilled technicians who assisted in surgery, to the experts in radiology, to the fourth-year veterinary students who provide post-surgery, tender, loving care.<\/p>\n

It was a stroke of luck that student Margot Mercer was on rotation in the hospital when the bobcat came in. She had been a Chintimini volunteer for three years prior to starting vet school, so had lots of wildlife experience. \u201cI was really excited to be the surgery student on the bobcat case,\u201d she said. \u201cI was one of the few people comfortable handling her without sedation.\u201d It was also a great opportunity for Mercer to observe a feline fracture repair. \u201cI learned lots of new things that are translational into small animal practice,\u201d she says. \u201cThe basics are the same as they would be for domestic cats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surgery bill was funded, in part, from Dr. Warnock\u2019s teaching fund, and, in part, by the college\u2019s Olive Britt Hope Fund<\/a>. \u201cThis is a great example of the quality of OSU care and compassion; how we can come together to make it right for this beautiful cat,\u201d says Dr. Warnock.<\/p>\n

The surgery went well and the bobcat is now recovering in its kennel at Chintimini. \u201cHer IV is out and she is eating like a champ,\u201d says a spokesperson for the refuge.<\/p>\n

The bobcat will return to OSU in six weeks for a checkup. If the bone has healed, then Chintimini can begin the long process of rehabilitation. Because one of her four canine teeth was broken and pulled, they want to be sure she can still hunt before they release her back to her territory. \u201cIt will be late spring before she is released,\u201d says Dr. Warnock. \u201cShe needs to be able to reliably kill live prey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"Dr.<\/a>\n
Dr. Tiffany Kimbrell, student Margot Mercer, and Dr. Jennifer Warnock were part of the surgery team that repaired a fractured femur in a bobcat from Chintimini Wildlife Center.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most beautiful cats in Oregon is rarely seen by humans. Although bobcats have stable populations throughout the state, their nocturnal lifestyle, excellent camouflage, and wariness of humans keeps them hidden from view by all but the most avid back-country hikers. This week, doctors and staff in the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH)… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1802,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[172826,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-osu-veterinary-teaching-hospital","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3FFxI-7W","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":507,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}