Woman Pays Visit To The Vet With Her Rescued Kitten Only To Discover That She Had Saved A Puma

"The vet didn’t know what it was but said it was not a normal cat"

Maryjane

• Published in Animal Stories
• September 30, 2022

Animal rescue is a vital and important social activity that assists in protecting animals from perilous circumstances that frequently involve brutality and abuse. Due to costly medical issues, evictions, or other unforeseen circumstances, many animals end up in shelters.

It is tempting to demonize people who give up their pets, but as animal advocates, we must remember that sometimes, people give up their pets because they think it is best for the animal or because they have exhausted all other options. It is better to hand over an animal to the shelter rather than abandon it on the streets.

There are people who take in strays, but there are still thousands of them roaming the streets. The story today (as you can already tell) is all about rescue, but this time, the rescued animal is not the normal pet we know of. 

Unbeknownst to a woman in Argentina, the tiny and helpless house kitten she thought she had rescued was actually a puma jaguarundi. A couple of months after rescuing the "kitten," the woman took it to the vet, and it was then that she made the perplexing discovery.

Ultimately, the tiny animal had to be taken to the nature reserve. 

A woman in Argentina found out the tiny animal she rescued was actually a puma jaguarundi

Now, this is how the story happened. While taking a stroll in the Tucuman Province in the South American country, Florencia Lobo and her brother stumbled upon two kittens who were in utter need of assistance.

Florencia Lobo and her brother were enjoying a walk when they came across two kittens

The two kittens were found on the side of the road, close to a dead cat that Florencia presumed to be their mother. So the woman decided to rescue the two kittens! 

However, despite her efforts, one of the kittens didn’t make it as it was too weak

The kind and caring woman told Reuters that they thought that it was an abandoned cat that had given birth. Despite her best efforts, one of the kittens died because it was too frail, but Florencia's care for the other one allowed it to fully recover and begin to thrive. 

It is when Florencia was surprised to learn that Tito isn’t a house kitten, but a wild feline

Two months after the rescue, the woman made the choice to take Tito—the surviving cat she had already named—to the vet for a checkup. When Florencia discovered that Tito was a wild cat rather than a domestic kitten, she was shocked.

There and then, she discovered that she had actually saved a puma. 

More about this wild story in the video below!

The woman said that the vet didn't know what it was but indicated that it was not a normal cat. At the Horco Molle Natural Reserve, where Florencia took Tito, it was determined that the "kitten" was actually a jaguarundi, a wild cat indigenous to South America.

So the cat had to be kept back at the nature reserve. If you enjoyed the story, do share this post with someone else.

Maryjane