HI All

It has been an eventful time. We were recently contacted by a couple in the central Highlands who had rescued a weak, dehydrated and almost hypothermic kitten, during the recent storms. Our team has considerable veterinary and wildlife rehabilitation experience, so we advised them what to do and also of course to get the kitten to the nearest vet immediately, which they duly did. The vet sexed the cat as male and estimated it to be only 4 weeks old. The couple who rescued the kitten felt that this was definitely not a domestic kitten and so once out of immediate danger we received pictures. We were astonished, first at the beauty but then as we got more pictures, by the clear and striking wildcat markings. The body striping is amazing, the dorsal stripe stops at the base of the tail, the tail is ringed and there are clear head stripes. Its important to say that a cat can only be fully pelage (coat marking) scored at about 6 months of age but even at this age it is showing extremely strong wildcat signature markings.

We went to assess the cat in person and we were very honoured that the couple who found the kitten wanted to place it in our care, as they felt Wildcat Haven would give the cat the best chance of returning to the wild. They were clear that they did not want to condemn the cat to a lifetime in a cage. Therefore, we of course accepted the kitten into our care.

It is clear to us that this is no ordinary kitten both in appearance and behaviour and it seems highly probable that this cat will pass the threshold for what constitutes a wildcat. You will be able to see this for yourself as we provide videos and pictures in the coming days.

The couple who found him had called him ‘Finlay’ and we think that is a wonderful name and very appropriate as it means ‘fair warrior’ in Gaelic.

Finlay is such a remarkable find and whilst we are deeply concerned at what happened to his mother and siblings (we can only fear the worst as a mother wildcat would never leave her 4 week old kittens), we are now working towards returning Finlay back to the wild where he belongs. He has the potential to be so important to the future survival of the Scottish wildcat and we owe a massive thanks to the compassion and care of the couple who found him and undoubtedly saved his life.

Once we catch our breath we will start providing regular updates. He is mesmerising to watch, like a miniature tiger and we guarantee he will make you smile. Look at the size of his paws and claws already.

We can’t do this work without you so if you want to adopt a Scottish wildcat for yourself or as a gift for someone else this Christmas, then please visit:

https://www.wildcathaven.com/wildcat-adoption/adopt-a-scottish-wildcat

Many thanks from a very excited Wildcat Haven team.