Christmas critter

Ever since he got her as a kitten in 1994, Kevin Moore has featured his pet Canadian lynx, Misha, on Christmas cards sent out to friends and family every year.

A short time after last Christmas, Moore thought it might be her last as she acquired a severe viral infection in an upper nasal activity that caused swelling so bad she lost her vision. Complicating matters, Misha was diagnosed with a tumor in her sinus cavity.

Moore, an art trader and businessman who lives south of Many Lakes, desperately sought the assistance of Dr. Greg Markellis at the All Creatures veterinary clinic in Kalispell.

“I was thinking this isn’t going to be a good New Year,” Moore said, recalling his heartache in knowing she might not survive, or worse yet, that he would have to make the decision to have her put down.

“I begged the doctor to not put her down,” he said.

At first, Moore recalled, Markellis was a bit overwhelmed about what to do for Misha. She needed to have surgery, but the swelling on her face first needed to subside.

He ended up getting help from Lynn Manning, who specializes in therapy for horses. Manning applied a magnet to Misha’s face, and the swelling went down within a day. Moore is convinced that with antibiotics alone, the swelling would have remained for days.

That set the stage for a successful surgery. But over the last year, Misha has required three additional surgeries, the latest occurring about a month ago. She has only partially recovered her vision, but Misha has survived to appear once again on Moore’s Christmas cards this year.

“Everybody looks forward to my Christmas cards ... They kind of explain how things are going for me and Misha,” Moore said. “Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without her.”

Moore picked up Misha as a kitten nearly 20 years ago from a man who raised lynx and bobcats off Farm-to-Market Road. Moore previously had owned a 185-pound mountain lion named Shasta that died after 15 years. And prior to that, he helped raise an African lion as a caretaker on a game farm in Spain for nearly two years.

But Moore said he considers snow leopards and lynx to be the most beautiful big cats, because of their unusual characteristics.

Misha roams freely around his home. In her old age, she plods slowly on her oversized paws and long legs, but her distinctive ears, with paintbrush-like tips, are on alert. She has a variety of low-pitched growls, and Moore said she has a total of about 40 vocalizations that all mean something different to him.

“I know Misha the way I would know a child,” he says. “I’ve had her a third of my life.”

Moore adores Misha, who is the subject of paintings and drawings that adorn the walls of nearly every room in his house. Outdoors, she has a comfortably large enclosure she prefers, but for years she and Moore slept together inside, sometimes resulting in conflicts with his other pets. Misha always prevailed, though.

She has been every bit the predator one might expect from a lynx — cunning, extremely fast, capable of leaping from a standstill to the height of a basketball rim to pop red balloons that she didn’t like for some reason.

An avid traditional bow hunter, Moore said his relationship with Misha developed with a special regard. 

“It’s like I respected her as a fellow hunter,” he said.

In her prime, Misha was fierce and not very approachable by strangers. But she has mellowed with age, loss of sight and more importantly, a necessary reliance on other people.

“She’s much more trusting now after these surgeries, because she’s had to be around a lot more people,” Moore says. “It’s like she knows what’s going on. She knows everybody is trying to help her.”

It is a kind of care that has been well-rounded and more holistic than Markellis or Moore can provide by themselves.

Moore has for years fed Misha venison, game birds and other poultry, but he has more recently relied on vitamins and supplements from Withey’s Health Foods.

“Joe Withey has been a big help with the preventative side of this,” Moore says.

He credits Bob Woodhouse, the owner of Dogfood Express, with providing a special, holistic pet food that has made a difference for Misha.

“They’ve all contributed,” Moore says, extending his appreciation to the people who have helped Misha.

But it is Misha who also deserves credit. “To me, it’s inspirational to see how she’s hung in there,” he said. “She has way exceeded her nine lives.”

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.