Thunder came to Wildworks in spring of 2004, at seven weeks of age, from an animal facility in the eastern United States. For such a little animal, the first thing we noticed was the size of his feet. We thought of naming him Big Foot, but he was soon “thundering” all around the house and was such a tough little guy that we named him Thunder. Although small in size, bobcats growl and snarl so deeply and fiercely that their vocalizations might be mistaken for those of a much larger cat, such as a mountain lion. Thunder has always had a fierce playfulness about him, and as a kitten he wasn’t afraid to take on our coyote pups, feather dusters, bare feet, or anything else that might look like prey to a little wild hunter.

​

Thunder is a bit of a miracle cat. One day Mollie came in and noticed Thunder's pale white gums. She rushed him to the vet and was miraculously able to get him a blood transfusion (not an easy thing with bobcats as they have specific blood types like humans). It was found out that he had a burst, bleeding ulcer in his stomach. He was near death. With the blood transfusion, plus the correct treatment and medications, Thunder made a miraculous full recovery. To this day, he still takes daily medication to make sure no ulcers come back.

As an adult, his fierce personality has only grown, and he has certainly lived up to his name with the thunderous growls that are heard anytime someone walks past his enclosure, but his playful kitten side still comes out every time he gets to go into our