Wow, I got to treat an oncilla!! The oncilla or little tiger cat is one of the smallest cat species in South America. And this little guy is rare and classified cites 1. The species continued existence is considered threatened.
I encountered the oncilla when I visited the Irena centre with the guys from ‘Zoo Peru’. This place is where the Iquitos wildlife enforcement officers re-home wild animals that have been confiscated from animal traffickers. Sadly the conditions at Inrena are appalling, and this tiny 2 month old cat was lying in a pool of bloody diarrhoea and was without any food or water. Antony Taggart from ‘Zoo Peru’ was able to pull some strings and we rescued the oncilla and took her on a 40 minute motocarro ride back to the Amazon Cares vet clinic in town.
The poor creature was severely dehydrated and weak. She didn’t even resist when I shaved the fur from her left leg and placed an IV catheter so we could quickly give her intravenous fluids. I have to admit my hands were shaking when I put that catheter in, and her skin was as tough as an old tom cat so I’m surprised it went in first pop…a good vein day!
We all said our prayers that night - this little girl was one sick kitten. In fact, almost certainly she would have died if she had stayed at Inrena for another night.
Poor Priscilla…(what a brilliant name for an oncilla)…had a rough night. She had more diarrhoea and vomited up the small amount of raw chicken that she had eaten. But by the next morning her hydration had improved a little and she felt stronger, and she was able to bite and scratch and try to escape from her cage.
Priscilla is living temporarily in the clinic and is getting cheekier by the day. When I feed her she races up and gives me a friendly swipe with her paw, and then she wraps herself around my foot and gives my ankle a nip. Glad she isn’t going to get much bigger than 2.5kg!
