Raja

Raja

As I’m writing this, I’m still in disbelief. I don’t know how much my heart can take.

We lost cougar Raja to renal failure just a few days ago. We were so concerned about Liberty, his best friend and habitat mate.

Sadly, we had to say good-bye to her yesterday. It just doesn’t seem real.

The only time we had two bonded animals leave us at the same time was our rescued huskies Sophie and Sierra.

Sometimes the universe has plans that we can’t understand. As our hearts are breaking, we find peace in knowing they’re still together.

I was crying harder for cougar Liberty’s loss of Raja, even more so than mine. Cougar Raja’s sudden passing due to renal failure left more than us grieving. His mate and confident Liberty was also grieving.

At 14, Raja was considered young in terms of TWS cats. Most of our cats live well into their late teens and early 20’s.

So, we were devastated by his quick decline. We’re left with our loving memories of this beautiful boy.

Raja came to TWS with another cougar, Tasha I. They were privately-owned and surrendered after a horrible incident happened there.

Even though both cougars came from the same farm, Raja only had eyes for cougar Liberty.

Raja was the most stunningly handsome cougar I’ve ever seen. And his sweet, soft, and even somewhat insecure demeanor only added to his charm.

He only trusted people he really knew and often retreated when volunteers were onsite.

But as soon as it was quiet, he would come back out to greet us all with his sweet face and purr.

Raja loved cardboard boxes and became quite famous as a social media meme. But that wasn’t Raja’s style at all – he never gleamed for the limelight.

Even when he’d perch up on his cave in the sun, creating the most beautiful backdrop I’ve ever seen, it wasn’t for the photo opportunity.

It was to take in the warmth of the sun and the energy of the world around him.

But what Raja loved most of all was his friend Liberty.

They were introduced years ago at the Sanctuary after attempts to introduce Raja to other cougars failed.

Upon their first meeting, it didn’t take long before Liberty was curled up in Raja’s lap on a hammock. They were best friends ever since.

Raja never noticed Liberty’s disabilities. Coming to TWS with metabolic bone disease, she’s much smaller than other cougars and about 1/3 of Raja’s size.

As years passed, Liberty became blind. But that never stopped her from leading Raja. She was the confident one and he followed.

It wasn’t until Raja began to get sick that Liberty let him take the lead. She followed him everywhere and never left his side.

As he grew weaker, he could no longer perch up on the cave in the sun, but found a great spot on the ground.

Liberty would drape herself over him – even if she was napping on her back, her front and back legs would be lying on his head and backside.

He more than tolerated this; he loved her companionship and support.

When it was time to let Raja go, all our hearts were broken. Not just for our loss, but for Liberty’s as well.
We knew she needed time to grieve, too. The night of his passing, Liberty curled up in their favorite spot under the pine tree. She stayed there for quite some time.

Caretakers also saved some of Raja’s fur and put that in some of their favorite spots.

Though he was gone physically, I knew he hadn’t left Liberty’s side spiritually. I think she felt that, too.