As you can probably guess from my handle, I have a true love for big cats. I hope that a turn for the better comes. It'd be a horrible loss to have to let him go.

How long has your sister had Apache... since he was a cub? How old is he?

Apache was bought at an exotic animal auction in Missouri. They are very common throughout the midwestern U.S. and are also called "Alternative Livestock Auctions". Breeders go to these auction/flea markets to sell their surplus animals. Cats are often bought here as cubs on impulse. The man that bought him realized that he had gotten in over his head and abandoned him at a Nature Center as a cub. They, in turn, took him to a wildlife rehabilitator in Kansas that had the room for a growing, rambunctious baby cougar. They could not, however, keep him throughout adulthood. And he could not be "rehabbed" and released. This is because he was purchased at nine days old and had imprinted on people, and he was also neutered and declawed on all four paws.

He came to us after a 12-hour flight from Kansas, with a layover in Salt Lake City, as a 6-month-old. When we went to pick him up at the airport, there was also live birds on this flight. The cargo employees searched but said that they could not find him in their warehouse. Finally, they let us go in the back and we quickly realized what the problem was. Young cougars chirp like birds sounding like a whistle instead of a meow. It's a form of "aural camouflage" in the wild. They were searching all around his carrier assuming that he was a bird. We looked into the crate expecting to see a very unhappy, traumatized youngster hissing back. But much to our surprise, he was very well-balanced, purring and rubbing the crate.