Messi is just as adorable as any other cat, but there is one ‘huge’ difference – he is a cougar! His owners – Mariya and Aleksandr Dmitriev, spotted him at the zoo in Penza when he was just an eight-month-old baby. Ever since then, they knew that they had to adopt him.
Scroll down to read Messi’s story and photos of his daily life!
Meet Messi – the Internet-famous cougar
Messi was one of three cougar cubs born in the zoo at Saransk, Russia. His other brothers, Suarez and Neymar were also named after famous players because Saransk was one of several cities that proposed to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. However, Messi was later sold to a petting zoo in Penza when he was three months old.
A photo of baby Messi! He sure has transformed successfully into a beautiful grown cougar
He suffered from various health problems at such a small age. He was significantly smaller than normal pumas, and the species is not a native animal in Russia, therefore, the chances of him rehabilitating and returning to the wild are very low, therefore, he will need to be under human’s care when he grows up.
Aleksandr and Maria Dmitriev, Messi’s owners’, are two psychologists who live in the western Russian city of Penza. Aleksandr always dreamed of having a big cat, as Maria said: “He always thought about having a lynx – never a puma. It’s hard to explain but we believe that having this puma as a house cat is part of our destiny.”
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