Cats Gonna Cat at Florida's Catty Shack Ranch

The Catty Shack Ranch in Jacksonville, Florida, provides a haven for big cats and other exotic animals rescued from bad situations

Curt LoGuidice walks across a patch of grass toward a large, fenced-in tiger habitat. It’s one of several at his wild animal sanctuary, the Catty Shack Ranch in Jacksonville, Florida. Hard to believe this towering figure with shoulders as broad as an NFL lineman has a soft spot for animals. Big guys can have big hearts.

Cat habitats include a log cabin and a swimming pool. Photo by Carrie Dow.

“Ach baht! Acht baht!” he shouts in staccato cadence to a tiger lounging in the shade of a wooden structure. “Acht! Acht!” An incredibly large tiger with a round face looks over at him but doesn’t move. “What? Don’t see a treat anywhere, do you Dozer?” he asks the tiger laughing. “Sleepy tiger,” he says turning back to me. “He’s one of our big guys.”

“A lot of people don’t realize what a sanctuary does,” he says as we watch Dozer do nothing. “I tell folks the animals aren’t doing tricks other than being comfortable and healthy.” Tiger King he is not.

LoGuidice is the founder, owner, caretaker, and Executive Director of the Catty Shack Ranch. He developed it over 35 years ago as a haven for Florida’s abused and neglected big cats. Over the decades his reputation for caring for these magnificent creatures has grown such that organizations from around North America contact him.

“We started with five acres in 1986,” he says as we walk through the tree-filled property. “Now we’re close to 250 acres. Our little part of nature.”

Inside Dozer’s enclosure are leafy shrubs, flowering plants, and a giant bare tree branch for scratching. Dozer rests on the porch of a raised log cabin while nearby is a small built-in swimming pool with a rock waterfall. A giant red rubber ball floats in the pool. LoGuidice claps his hands a few times to see if Dozer will move. Probably due to Florida’s hot and sticky afternoon heat, he does not. The fact that Dozer is allowed to do or not do what he wants is what makes the Catty Shack Ranch unique. Catty Shack Ranch is a “no breeding, no selling, no trading, and no buying” large cat sanctuary. The animals they take in are given a peaceful home for the rest of their lives and allowed to do as they see fit – they can interact in their public-viewing areas as much or as little as they want and have places to hide when they don’t want to interact. Neither the public nor volunteers can touch or feed them. Even staff members are ‘hands off’ unless it’s for medical care. In other words, these cats are allowed to be cats, not entertainment.

He’s hard to see, but Dozer is on the porch of the cabin in his habitat. Photo by Carrie Dow.

LoGuidice was in his 20s when he began training police dogs in the late 1970s. Then he interned for a veterinarian who worked with all kinds of exotic animals, which led to a gig with the Florida Panther Project, an organization dedicated to saving the endangered Florida panther. Seeing the toll human captivity and encroachment had on panthers and other large cats, he developed the ranch for big cats escaping injury, abusive situations, and/or confinement as house pets – animals that would otherwise have been put down because they can’t be returned to the wild.

“We don’t seek anybody out,” LoGuidice says when asked how the ranch gets animals. “People – state and federal agencies – contact us. I feel blessed that they look at us as a facility that they don’t have to come back to and take animals from.”

All the ranch’s big cat habitats are similar. They feature a log cabin raised up off the ground. The cabin provides a sturdy indoor space for them to rest and seek refuge from the sun or from visitors. The cabins are raised to not only give the cats a reason to climb platforms, but to avoid flooding during hurricanes. The structures themselves are hurricane safe although LoGuidice says an 800-pound tiger with claws and teeth can do a lot of damage. And they all have built-in pools because despite what you’ve been told, cats love to swim.

“The water they swim in year around,” LoGuidice notes. “In the wintertime there’ll be a layer of ice on the top, but they’ll break it and swim. Activity is so important. They’re not chasing their food to hunt so you have to create opportunities for exercise. That’s why you see the different levels in the platform, the swimming, the toys.” He points to the large red ball floating in Dozer’s pool. “Those big boomer balls are fifteen, sixteen hundred dollars a piece and in some of the habitats, they only last 90 days.”

The only difference in habitats is total area because some cats need more space than others. Twelve-year-old Dozer and another male tiger Spiderman – the ranch’s oldest at 17 years – are the two largest in the facility so they have the largest enclosures. Tigers are solitary animals so most habitats only have one, but there are exceptions. Tigers brought in as kittens and raised together can stay together. He, the staff, and a small army of volunteers built most of what can be seen at the facility.

“The cabins we built. Underneath they have areas to hang out. On top there’s porches on the front and back. The only thing they’re missing are the Cracker Barrel rockers!” he says laughing.

The walking path through tiger habitats at the Catty Shack Ranch. Photo by Carrie Dow.

“The pools we do ourselves,” he continues. “The water features are helped put together by a company in town called Earthworks of Jacksonville. They provide the know-how, and we pay for the supplies. Just listen how the waterfall is hitting.” He stops talking for several seconds as we listen to the bubbling water along with a few chirping birds. “Very relaxing.”

“We pay and build everything as we go,” he continues as we walk along a path. “This way the organization’s not in any kind of debt. We have 250 acres, no mortgage, no plastic card debt. Everything you see, the heavy equipment, everything is ours. It’s a slow process. Instead of taking a loan, we wanted to make sure the organization is secure … We’re not-for-profit. We don’t get grants from the city, the state, or the federal government even though we take in state and federal animals. Our commitment is to the animals.”

Although the ranch was created for big cats, LoGuidice says they care for a variety of wildlife. Often these animals were kept in the same location as the cats, so LoGuidice brought them along. Sometimes the government asks them to accept other animals. We walk up to one example, a huge black bear named Leo. LoGuidice approaches Leo’s fence making more noises.

“Unk, unk, unk, unk, unk!” he barks as Leo ambles over. “You can see those big claws,” he points out as Leo stands up on his hind legs to greet him. “He has that whole other area (LoGuidice waves his hand toward the back on the enclosure), but he prefers here. He has a pool, he has a cabin, but he prefers here.”

LoGuidice approaches Leo the bear. Photo by Carrie Dow.

LoGuidice says that Leo was brought to the ranch as part of a federal confiscation. “He’s not really on our social media,” he remarks. “I just started posting a little bit about him. He’s been here four years now. They asked us not to promote him or anything. I guess he was in the witness protection program!” he says laughing again.

Besides Leo, they have foxes, horses, and coatimundis, a small Mexican/Central American animal related to raccoons. Most of the animals come to the ranch from two different scenarios. Sometimes they are voluntarily given up when a facility like a roadside zoo shuts down or the animal becomes too big for a private owner. More likely, they are rescued from harmful situations by state or federal authorities.

Walking past a few more of the 15 tigers the facility currently has, LoGuidice shows off a new enclosure. “We just finished that habitat on the left and you can see the plants we’ve been gathering. We’ve got the cabin done and we’re getting ready to do a pool. My goal in what we’re trying to do is an above ground pool with glass so folks can watch the cats swim. I haven’t won the lottery of course, but this is what I’m trying to do.”

We pass a couple showing a toddler in a stroller one of the facility’s Arctic foxes, an all-white animal who stands out easily in all the greenery. “Hope you’re all enjoying the animals,” he tells them as they wave and smile. “We appreciate you coming.”

He walks past another enclosure with an 18-year-old female lion Rosa. “We just lost our male lion. Organ failure,” he says with a sigh. “Every day is not a guarantee. We had specialists, doctors, surgeons, from around the state all trying to help us,” he said shaking his head. “Every day is not a guarantee.”

As we round the corner, LoGuidice shows me the smaller cats in their care – bobcats, lynx, and African servals. He says the servals came from a facility that attempted to breed them into Savannah cats, which is legal in some states because servals are not part of the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act. He says the facility fed them the wrong diet, which caused their bones to become brittle. “They had a calcium deficiency and every time they jumped, they broke a bone.” He adds the male has all kinds of metal pins in his skeleton. “But he’s as mobile as if nothing ever happened to him. Good nutrition. Great surgeons that put things back together and made it so the animals weren’t in any default. Nutrition is so important at a young age. Folks don’t realize that because it’s costly.”

Approaching the next enclosure, we hear loud, quick meows coming from Dolly the cougar.

“Cougar, panther, mountain lion, puma, painter, ghost cat – all the same cat,” he explains, “just different regions of the country they come from. Last year (in Florida) over 30 were hit by cars. Subdivisions, highways, what they call progress, it affects everything. The animals that are mostly getting hit are from 2 to 5 years old. It’s unfortunate.”

Servals are known for their spotted coats and large ears. They are legally allowed as pets in several US states. Photo by Carrie Dow.

We walk to the next enclosure, but I don’t see a cat … at first.

“This is our ninja, Khala Hala,” he says. Khala Hala has velvety jet-black fur and looks at us with two piercing golden eyes. She’s hard to see lounging in the shade on a platform at the top of the enclosure cooling herself in front of a giant fan. “She’s 20 years old,” he continues. “Her father lived to 22. We got her father and mother from a zoo where they had lived most of their lives. They never had any babies. We moved them into this environment, different nutrition, love, affection, which is not hands-on mind you, but we showed an interest. Change of attitude, change of atmosphere and lo and behold you have children!” He laughs a hearty laugh. “Happiness brings that on.”

“About four years ago, caretakers come by one day,” he continues about Khala Nala. “They noticed her behavior and her body language was different. It told them something was wrong. Because we have a medical facility, we did an x-ray and ultrasound and found a huge mass. It was terrible. She needed immediate surgery. They pulled out a tumor. They call it spidering. It was wrapping around a vital organ, and it would have suffocated her in days. Caretakers, doctors, all these participants gave us an opportunity to care for her. She’s a survivor.” Watching her lounge on the platform occasionally lifting and lowering her thick tail tip, she looked much like my Siamese cat at home. LoGuidice says that like all big cats, Khala Nala can’t purr, but instead makes a raspy sound he calls her “happy cat” noise.

He then adds that they have been upgrading their medical facility in hopes of becoming a teaching organization for future wildlife veterinarians and technicians. “It’ll have an observation area for those who are learning. We’ll have vets and doctors come to participate and learn at the same time. We love to share what we learn.”

Day-to-day work at the ranch is simple, but physically demanding work. LoGuidice says he tells potential volunteers that helping at the ranch is like “joining a gym without mirrors.” The most important daily task is feeding the animals. One tiger can eat between 10-15 pounds of food a week. Since cats in the wild hunt and feed at night, the ranch does the same, feeding them at dusk. The cats are given frozen meat blocks from a local supplier with vitamins and other supplements added to keep them healthy. Most cats are fed five or six nights a week, while elderly cats eat every night, if they have daily medication to take.

Just like domestic cats, Khala Nala likes to look down at ranch visitors from a high perch. Photo by Carrie Dow.

The other major task is upkeep of the habitats. Big cats make a big mess. Things get scratched, broken, or bent or Florida’s hurricane season dumps huge amounts of rain and wind, blowing down branches and muddying the walking paths and parking lot. The ranch only has six full-time employees, so LoGuidice relies on volunteers. Having volunteers taking tickets, selling T-shirts, organizing supplies, and preparing food frees up staff to check the animals’ health or make repairs. They also rely on corporate volunteer groups and Boy Scouts for large building and landscape projects.

The Catty Shack Ranch is open to the public, which benefits both the ranch and the visitors. Selling tickets provides a steady revenue stream to pay for regular items like food and medicine. However, LoGiudice knows that people don’t always understand these wild creatures. Visiting the ranch educates the public to appreciate their circumstances and explain why they are endangered. Visiting gets the public to care about them and care is what these once suffering animals need the most.

If you visit the ranch, you’re on the cats’ schedule. Afternoon visitors (like me) will see a lot of sleeping cats, especially on hot days. All cats, large and small, are most active at dusk so if you want to see the cats moving around, nights when they feed the cats are the best time to visit.

Before finishing my tour LoGuidice shows me a project he recently started – creating an RV park on ranch property to house overnight guests.

“Right now, we’re doing RV pads,” he says pointing out the cement rectangles. “The city approved it so that it can be a short stay. It’ll be a great opportunity for folks that are traveling because we’re in an area that’s easy to get to other places. Hopping onto the expressway and going downtown or to the beaches. We hope it will be beneficial for the animals.”

A newly built enclosure already has a finished cat cabin. When the ranch has enough funds, LoGuidice will build a swimming pool. Photo by Carrie Dow.

He has also an area dug out for a man-made pool for RV guests. “The RV park, that’s not going to be a big expense, but to do a lazy river from the park to the animals … that’s going to be tougher,” he said with a shrug.

As we approach the entrance, a group of people gather, all wearing matching red t-shirts and chatting lively. It’s a corporate volunteer group.

“Thanks everybody!” LoGuidice shouts above the din of their voices. “I know you guys had lunch already, but if you turn to the left on your way out, there’s a Dairy Queen and you can all get yourselves a Blizzard. You earned it.” People in the group smile and say thanks. I ask LoGuidice what he wants people to know about his work at the ranch.

“I try to tell everybody that 99.9 percent of my time is wonderful, happy times,” he says, “but there’s sad times too. The world revolves. You can’t stop aging.” He points to a colorful life-like mural of a tiger’s face painted on the side of the medical building. He says the mural is of a former resident named Sara who passed away a while back. “Every day is not a guarantee.”

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The public are welcome at the sanctuary daily from 1-3PM. Daytime tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for children (3-11). Nighttime feedings are open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights from 6-7:30 PM. Cost is $35 for adults and $20 for children. Children aged 2 and under are always free. Visit the website for more information and to purchase tickets.

One of three tiger siblings living together in the same enclosure. Photo by Carrie Dow.