Welcome to Raijen'

Welcome to Raijen's HomePage

Exotic Pets...........Bobcats

Meet Raijen, he was born on April 5, 1999 in Arkansas.

Raijen is Japanese for Thunder God.

Raijen arrived home on May 9, 1999 at 4 weeks of age.

The above picture shows Raijen on a feeding break on the ride home from Arkansas.

Raijen had to be feed every two hours during his long ride home, we made lots of stops to accomidate such a young feline. Bringing home a young exotic animal carries many responsiblities, at 4 weeks old he was just beginning to use the restroom on his own and most time he needed stimulation from his new surrogate momma.

Shortly after arriving home Raijen became quite ill and needed the special attention of a local exotic pet Vet. When he was rushed to the Vet it was unclear at the time whether he would live through the first night. He was put on antibiotics and bacterial replacers. His recovery was a bit slow and had his new family worried but the he proved to have a zest for life, he is quite the lil fighter. The good news is Raijen has made a full recovery and is growing well. A special thanks to Dr. Miller for all his hard work and kindness shown to Raijen and his new family.

Raijen is 8 weeks old now and full of himself. He loves to play with our other cats and a couple of our dogs. He really enjoys chasing his human sister around and giving her a hard time, by nipping her ankles and pulling her hair. Raijen seems to do nothing at a slow pace, he races and runs every where. For such a young lil guy he seems to fear nothing and takes on new experiences bright eyes wide open and frisky lil short tail a twitching.

Raijen's breeder gave me a whole host of instructions to follow, but I have to honestly say that nothing takes the place of real life experience. Raijen is unlike any cat I have ever had, he extermely active and curious, wants to know about every thing and everyone. At this time Raijen is learning about collars and leashes, things are going quite well too. One could say that he is housebroken, if one considered that he doesn't use the cat boxes, that I have so graciously plastered my house with but instead perfers to go outside in the grass, this is good except during the wee early morning hours.

My friend Wolfie, who babysat Raijen his first week home, I had to work, has taught me alot about wild animals. She is a walking encyclopia of information. Wolfie noticed that Raijen was not acting correctly and we rushed him to the vet. Without Wolfies incite into wild animals Raijen may not be her today. Wolfie has been a godsend to Raijen and my family.

THANK YOU WOLFIE!!

Raijen's day starts at about 6:00am. He is kenneled at night, and will knock against his cage door in the morning when he is hungry. Raijen is fed and then taken outside for his morning duties. Raijen then will play with his new buddies in the house. Raijen's best friend is Yo-Yo, my hybrid bobcat. Those two will play until Raijen decides it is time for a nap. Raijen gets fed about every 4 hours now, unless he decides he is hungry earlier. If he is, he will follow me to the kitchen or try to suck on my hand. Raijen gives pretty good clues as to what he wants, and does not want. Raijen also likes to play and cuddle with my Labrador Retriever, Noche. Noche is 80 lbs, and is a gentle giant to Raijen. Raijen will pounce on his head, crawl on his back, and Noche just lays there and takes it. I wonder if that will change when Raijen is 25 to 30 lbs. Raijen will go to the front door and either yowl or jump at the front door when he needs to go outside. This is really unique for me. He much rather go to the restroom outside than use his personal litter box. I have learned to plan any errands around his feedings. He is kenneled if I have to go out, for his safety. When he is tired he will walk into his kennel and sleep.

I have learned to try and read his wants and diswants. This is a little harder for my daughter Brittany. She likes to play with Raijen, and had allowed him to grab her ankles, now just 3 weeks along with us, she wishes she had not allowed that. Raijen will go and tackle her ankles at every possible moment. Brittany can not sit on the couch with her feet down, or Raijen is right there playing with her feet. Now she has to try and break him of that habit. Raijen does not do this with his momma.

Please enjoy all the pictures of Raijen growing up

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