Rock Star Bongo!

[Evie]

Hi Evie sorry this reply is so late! I was so busy yesterday and by the time I chkd my messgs, it was too late to respond. But yes, he is very loving and confident and he will go up to people in the stores and like rub up between their legs while making bread and everyone gets so excited, I swear!! From the day I brought him home and even now, I take him everywhere with me and my main goal was to socialize him, which is most important from the ages 0 - 6 months. And people-places & different things are so important and Bongo is living proof! And I am very happy about that and I am glad I did that from day one. It was really worth it. He's like a dog in alot of ways, if compared to a domestic cat. When I grab my keys, he goes to the door jumps right in the car. And will give me that look that he wants to go on his daily outing if he thinks I forgot which I never do because the house would be upside down if he doesn't get his daily exercise! He does have a cat wheel and uses it regularly, but still wants to go ourdoors at least twice(once in the daytime and once when its dark) bc I guess different creatures lurk at different times! And he's great for the photographer and poses when people take pictures of him, which is every day!!

Thank you for coming back to me and no need to apologize. You are so lucky. My kitten is growing ever more confident but I still haven't been able to pick her up. I keep working at touching her and she is getting better but I can't see her ever being happy to go out in the car! I do have an outdoor enclosure which I hope she will be able to use but she needs to be happy to get in and out of the carrier first or I am worried I won't get her back in the house! (next year I hope to add a walkway from the house to the enclosure which will make life so much easier!) She is just over 4 months now. Do you not have any restrictions on owning an F1 where you are? I would so love to get a photographer up to take some photo's of her. Your pictures of Bongo are really superb. I will order my magazines tonight. Thanks again

 

[Nancy&bongo]

BONGO says Thank you!

 

[Nancy&bongo]

Hey yall, so guess what happened last Thursday evening?!!!! I took Bongo & *kitten to the beach because I've been acclimating *kitten and he loves it. So I go to this certain spot near the end of the day (because of the crowd and all the dogs) and as I was coming back to the car these 2 guys stopped me and wanted to see Bongo & *kitten, which is fine, it happens everytime I take them out and its a good thing, its the only way to socialize them to people, places and things. Anyway, then here walks up another guy with his surfboard and he knew they were savannahs and was so appreciative to get to see them in person. He then squatted down to pet them and Bongo doesn't like people to squat down, he likes to come up to them on his terms then he's fine, but when the guy did that Bongo jumped on the roof of my car (he had his long lead on of course) but then he jumped off the other side and I lost the lead and he started running toward PCH!!! Those two guys were trying to catch him but, he didn't know them and of course he is going to run and I thought he is going to get hit and thats going to be it. It was traffic hour. I immediately put *kitten in the car and locked it and ran to get Bongo, well he evidently made it accross, sort of. I had to wait for all the cars going south to pass, then I ran to the median (4-5' block wall in the center) then again I had to wait for those cars going north to pass and I was thinking no way would he have made it? I was screaming for him and one of the guys had him, to my surprise, but it was because he was injured. And the other guy was talking to a lady in a car that was pulled over. She was the one who made contact with him. They said Bongo made it across the south bound 3 lanes and just cleared that wall and then made it across two of the northbound lanes and then that lady was in the slow lane and I guess Bongo just went for it and jumped over her car and clipped his back right leg and he ended up with his right hip joint coming out of the socket. Luckily my vet was 5 min. away and was still there. It was about 7:30pm. He got immediate attention, which was relevant with an injury like this. But I swear, any other cat would have been killed! Now he's got has 7 lives left! At 4 months old he jumped out of the car window while I was driving and he was airborne still on his leash and harness!! I almost had a head on collision with an on-coming car!! He ended up okay but it was very scary and I know I'll never have to worry about him doing that again! I can drive with the window open while he lays across the dash board and I know he wouldn't dare jump out again! Anyway, he is healing now and needs to be crated for the next couple of weeks w/o any walking around the house or jumping or playing with *kitten. He is fine with that, seems like he knows what he needs to do and he's following the doctor's orders.

 

[Carykd7kau]

OMG Nancy. Give him a big hug...(well maybe when he is healed) for me. And a cyber hug for you . I would be crazy with something like that. SO glad he is ok.

 

[Diane]

Yes, so glad he's going to be fine....He's such a beautiful cat!

 

[Evie]

OMG that's awful. I almost couldn't bear to read the whole story!! I am so pleased that he is going to be okay. I had a cat who suffered the same injury and he also seemed to know that he needed to rest up in his crate. He also made a complete recovery. I wish you both the best of luck and a speedy recovery to Bongo.

 

[Patti]

OMG, how scary! I think it's time to look into more secure traveling gear for Bongo so he doesn't keep getting away!!!

 

[Rafiki]

How terrifying! Glad you both are OK. Keeping Bongo contained for a couple of weeks ought to be interesting.

 

[Nancy&bongo]

tThank you for your concern. He definitely needs to be contained for two weeks for sure and after that he still needs to take it easy and not do much but rest and not do much of anything, especially jumping even on a chair! Absolutely no jumping at all. Right now is very crucial so it will heal correctly. He knows whats up and hasn't resisted being safe and secure in a crate. He knows he's "man-down" until he feels completely healed. This guy is pretty intelligent and I have confidence in him. So we'll see what happens?!!

 

[Nancy&bongo]

OMG, how scary! I think it's time to look into more secure traveling gear for Bongo so he doesn't keep getting away!!!

No worries Patti, I have it totally under control and this was the first time this has ever happened. He was just over whelmed that day with all of the attention from strangers in an out door unfamiliar area. But I blame myself and it wasn't anyones fault but mine for even taking him there. But I truly believe the more people, places and things he (& *kitten) are exposed to now at their young ages, the more well rounded they'll become. I've been socializing Bongo since he was 9 weeks old and for an F-1 he's one of the coolest. Had I not socialized him as much as I have, he would be a total sketchy, scardy cat and I don't want that. I want others to be able to feel comfortable around him and to be able to pet him. And *kitten is right behind him but is taking a little longer because he's a high % savannah cat. Having two f-1's is a job in itself and running my doggy daycare/boarding business, with 3 other domestics in my house, I'm running around 24/7 for the animals from early morning to late at night trying to keep them all happy and given the attention they need and desire. But Bongo has never got away and ran off. All of my cats have gps devices where I can track them instantly if they do run off. I depend more on that than a micro chip (they are all micro-shipped as well)