Rescuing an Asian Masked civet cat

Bindi the night we got her at 3 days old.

We were given a 3-day old musang (common masked Asian civet cat) by a local villager here in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. He said that its mother was chased off by dogs in its village and they didn't know how to feed it, so they gave it to me. We have so many animals on our property that I suppose they felt I could do it justice.  We called her Bindi, which means Little girl in the Australian aboriginal language. And she's really our little girl.

After doing extensive research on the internet I found out that giving it infants formula would work for a Palawan bearcat since there wasn't anything specific for Musangs. It seems to have worked since she is almost 2 months old now and very healthy and strong.

When we got her, she wasn't much
bigger than my cell phone.

When we got her, she couldn't really see well or hear anything at all. It was easy to carry her around in a basket as she wouldn't leave.  I had to wake up every 2 hours or so to her wailing for milk. I didn't get a lot of sleep for the first month.

She is now just under 2 months old. Still adorable and loves to play and explore everything.  Sunlight to Bindi is like Kryptonite is to Superman. When she tussles and plays during the day, her little bites don't hurt (well they do a little as she still has little "puppy teeth" as it were).  Once night falls, the power of darkness turns her into a raging terror. She bounces off the wall, climbs anything insight and her nips are stronger and really hurt with those needle-like teeth and claws.  Although still playing, it's like the darkness brings out her wild side...she is, after all, a wild creature and naturally nocturnal.

Bindi the musang at 13 days old.

Bindi in a little bag at 1 month old

Musang at just under 2 months old

She is so pretty, feisty, playful and adorable. But at night, watch out, those little teeth clamp down harder!

Just under 2 months old in her habitat. Lots of limbs to climb.

She enjoys her habitat during the day but at night with the mynas loose, she will climb up and try to grab them. We are not sure she is trying to eat them or play with them, as I didn't see birds on their diet. We can't take a chance and will have to build a separate enclosure for the birds and rabbit

We found out that releasing her into the wild here won't be doing her any favors as the locals actually eat them, and she won't know how to fend for herself. At just under 2 months old she's already attacking the myna birds in the animal enclosure we built for her and them. Obviously, we will have to build a partition for the birds and even the rabbit who she is already trying to wrestle with!

Will Bindi make a good pet? So far she is, but she is just under 2 months old.  I have joined a FaceBook group all about musang lovers and it shows photos of people walking them on leashes during the day, but it's all in Indonesian so I don't understand a word. One friend of mine got a musang when it was already grown and she took it everywhere on a leash, but at night it also becomes fierce and they couldn't deal with it and wound up giving it away.

Bindis' shelter. We only put her there during the day when
we don't have the time to hang out with her. At night she stays
in our room and we put her in the bathroom at night to keep
her safe from destroying everything in the room while we
sleep! Click to enlarge photo

It turns out, this particular civet is the one which loves to eat coffee berries, and inside its intestines, the pulp is removed leaving the coffee bean exposed. The scat is then collected, washed and roasted! It's the most expensive coffee in the world at the moment going at up to 100.00 USD per CUP! I have never tried this type of coffee, nor am I inclined to at that rate, but there are those that swear it is really different and not bitter, and some (most) can't tell the difference. We aren't raising her for this purpose and only found out all this information after rescuing her. It's just an interesting side note. You can watch a video on YouTube about civet coffee here.

The nice thing about building Bindis' habitat is that the bamboo came from our own grove and the rocks from our own creek. So it's a bit sustainable! We like to be earth friendly around here.

Bindi cannot be returned to the wild, as civets need the mother to show it what to eat.

Bindi on our first walk around the property. She climbed a small coconut tree limb.

That's Dave, my hubby, just to show you how small she still is at just under 2 months old.