Rescued stray momma cat saves orphaned baby bobcat, adopting him as her own and raising him alongside her 5 other kittens, until he's strong enough to return to the wild: 'She just adored him and he adored her'

This bobcat kitten needed a mom, and although Sweet Pea wasn't the mother, she was the mom who stepped up.

As independent as cats would like us to think that they are, we know better. We know that our cats are spoiled to heck and love every second of it. We know that they would not survive out there in the world without us. Of course, maybe that would have been somewhat different had they grown up as outdoor stray cats, but they weren't. And since they have been with us since kittenhood, they need us. All kittens need mothers, and that is true for more than just house cats. It's true for bobcats as well.

Unfortunately, this baby bobcat has lost his momma. We don't know what happened to her. All we know is that she was with her baby, and then a storm hit, and the next morning, she could not be found again. And the bobcat was left alone. Defenseless, in need of a mother, and not knowing what to do. It was luck that a kind human rescued this bobcat kitten in time. And it was even bigger luck that on the same day that this bobcat was brought into the shelter, a stray momma cat with her five kittens had been rescued as well.

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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
We would like you all to meet Bob, the bobcat, and Sweet Pea, his adoptive momma cat. Bob was brought to the Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation by a good Samaritan who just wanted to help him. According to Love Meow, this woman had seen a mother bobcat near her house the previous stormy night, but the day after that, for some reason, the baby bobcat was abandoned and left alone. "He was found as an orphan," explained Erica Chacon of Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation.
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
The woman who rescued Bob had tried to wait for his momma to return, but when she didn't, she did the only thing she thought of, which was rescuing Bob and taking him to the shelter. As a baby bobcat, who was only a few days old, having a nursing mom was critical for survival. It was pure luck that on the same day that Bob was brought in, a stray momma cat was rescued, along with her five kittens. Suddenly, there was a solution and a whole lot of hope. The timing couldn't have been better.
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
"She had five kittens of her own at the time," Chacon told The Dodo. "So it was nothing to her to add another one. She didn't think anything of it." It took no more than 15 minutes for the itty bitty bobcat to bond with his adoptive mom and start nursing. After that, it was obvious that things would be alright. "The day I got [Bob], I contacted our local wildlife biologist and told him about the scenario," Chacon said. "He said that was the best scenario that could happen because bottle-feeding a bobcat for that long, you'd never be able to release him back into the wild."
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
"She just adored him and he adored her," Chacon recounted her experience with the two felines. "It was amazing." It took Bob a little longer than Sweet Pea's other kittens to to wean, but eventually, he did, and he thrived having a surrogate mom like her. She was incredibly affectionate and loving, raising him as if he was one of her own babies. Now, it was a matter of getting a Bob to become stronger and more confident so he could be reintroduced back to the wild.
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via Sarge's Animal Rescue Foundation
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via WLOS ABC 13
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via WLOS ABC 13
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via WLOS ABC 13
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via Nancy Bulluck
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via Nancy Bulluck
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via Nancy Bulluck
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via Nancy Bulluck
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via Nancy Bulluck
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via Nancy Bulluck
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via Nancy Bulluck