MELISSA: They have very, very strong jaws, and sometimes they’ll bite you just a little bit harder than
what our tender arms are used to.
MELISSA: Hello, we are Mick and Melissa and we are the owners of two bobcats.
MELISSA: Owning bobcats, you know that you are going to have bruises and you know you are gonna have
scratches and you are gonna have little bites. They have never..
MICK: Not once. MELISSA: Hurt us in a way out of anger.
It’s just when they really start playing.
MELISSA: Have a couple of little broken bones in the hands and lots of scabs.
MICK: Lots of scabs. When I was a kid, I found a bobcat rustling around in some hay in a barn and I didn’t know
any better. I just thought it was a kitten so I scooped it up, I took it inside and we were really close.
So I remember that as a kid and thought if there was ever a point in time as an adult where we could try again
with one, I really want to give it a shot.
MELISSA: It was supposed to be just one home, but we ended up having two.
MELISSA: So we got Gypsy about a year ago in January of 2018. Monaco, about two months later, and we have
had them now for almost about six months together.
And they are learning to get along really well and each month it’s a little bit better.
MICK: I am the food prepper.
MICK: What bobcats eat is a fresh mix of chicken, steak, we tried hamburger and everyone suggests hamburger
but neither of them like it. Shrimp, salmon... MELISSA: Expensive taste.
MICK: Pork and it’s all good stuff and I always go for the heavier fats. Cuts of meat and we feed them once a day
in the morning. I also put a supplement on top and it includes bone marrow, feathers, fur, teeth, just anything
and everything that they would ingest in the wild. So hopefully they are not missing anything.
MELISSA: Yeah, they also get organs, you know, we'll put some animal organs in the food.
MELISSA: As far as damage to the house goes, as you can see our couch is in great condition.
They pee in the toilet. MICK: Sometimes in the sink.
MELISSA: Sometimes in the sink, yes.
MELISSA: Come to find out that it’s actually innate in them because they are wild animals and they don't want
their scent to be left because they like to stay elusive and they like to pee in streams and ponds and all that
stuff, and so in the house as soon as they find the toilet, that's their preferred place to go to the bathroom
because it hides their scent, which is so cool.
MICK: They love hard and they play hard. We have always been the type of people that had never really
taken the normal path. So it was just a natural interest to us. First and foremost, will this work?
MELISSA: We have to really work for their respect, but once you get it there’s this really tight bond that you just
can’t get with any other kind of animal. I mean we have owned dogs, we have owned cats, we have owned
lizards, we have owned every kind of animal and I have, we have never owned one that, when we walk in the door,
from even being gone for two hours, they are so excited to see you. Gypsy is all up in me and jumping on me and
Monaco is wanting us to play with her. They are just, we are their life absolutely, and in captivity they live between
20 and 30 years. So this is a very long term commitment, we are very prepared for that.
MICK: We are going to be cruising around on our walkers and our canes telling everybody,
“Come to see our bobcats.”