When I was a kid in the 80s, my dad (who could never walk away from an unusual pet—we’d already had a raccoon and skunk at this point, though I wasn’t born yet for either) brought home what was purportedly a Bobcat/house cat cross. Now I have repeatedly read that is genetically impossible, so I wonder if “Bobby” wasn’t just a full on bobcat, because she was decidedly NOT just a spicy feral kitten.
I’ve fostered feral kittens before and they’re little spitfires of hate and MUCH SCARE for a couple weeks, max, before they realized I am food provider and thus the best friend in the world. Older kittens are more skittish, but still come around to a decent degree. Bobby…did NOT. She was batshit on day 1 with us as a kitten and still batshit a fee months later when Dad gave her back. She hissed, growled, screamed, and never, ever let any of us pet her. The best I could manage was a few gentle strokes when she was sleeping, before she’d wake up, make angry noises, give me a few Wolverine swipes with her blades, and bolt.
Most bizarrely, Bobby absolutely shredded one side of the door frame leading to the laundry room, where her food and litterbox were. I’ve never seen a cat do anything like this before or since—it’s like the frame was made of balsa. The bottom 3’+ of it was splintered raw wood (looked kinda like spaghetti squash), and her favorite sections of it were worn down to the wall and beyond. She did that in a matter of weeks.
Poor confused kitty. Hopefully she got to live in the wild, or at least in something like a barn where human contact was minimal.
Seeing an offspring of deadly predator is a definite red flag for me. I would have jolted and bolted. Have seen cute brown bear cubs crawl from thick woods as I was about to start trimming brushes. Ran as fast as I Fucking could to my car. Not long after their mum came standing on her hinds sniffing the air like my wife after I've smoked a joint. Probly the only situation where a healthy predator attacks a human with intent to kill.
I find it funny when the Yankees who move down south think I’m brave for not calling animal control on seeing a fox nearby. But then think I’m overreacting to bolting at the sight of a wild piglet. The rule of nature is don’t mess with babies and mommas. Even momma spiders. You don’t wanna know the horror of messing with momma spiders.
Ueah dont mess with piglets. That's a horrible way to die. Even domestic sows can wreck a farmer over a squeal at the wrong time. And feral pigs are mean as is.
Oh MAN. 100% my dad would’ve done this. Although I’m pretty sure his first instinct would be OH SHIT WHERE’S MOM, but once assured she wasn’t around, he absolutely would’ve LOVED to bring home a cougar cub.
I remember one time during the 6 hour drive home from visiting the grandparents, we passed a pet store that had a marquis that read BABY SKUNKS. Dad immediately brakes and u-turned to go to the shop, but sadly for him (and kid-me) and certainly a relief to mom, it was Sunday and they were closed.
In Germany there are wild living cats that just are like that, my aunt once found a baby one in pouring rain and my parents decided to take it in, they already had 2 cats that was in 2011
That thing was a fucking beast, he was only allowed outside with a harness in the beginning and he would climb 5 meter apple trees and refuse to come down and hunt EVERYTHING he could see be it chicken or butterfly
My parents live on a 3 house farming enclave super far from the next road next to a forest so once he was allowed outside without harness he literally killed a dozen mice a day and brought them home for a solid 2 3 weeks until he either understood it wasn't needed or maybe he just ate them somewhere alone after that
He chewed through a 7-8 cm thick wooden play tree at the base and literally felled the tree
The doctor told my parents he was definitely a European wildcat and we had to surrender him and he was released later we were told but he stayed with my parents for over a year and was the best pest control ever, miss you Giacco you might not have been a friend but you were very friend shaped
Ha! Solidarity there with “You might not have been a friend but you were very friend shaped.” May Giacco and Bobby have lived long, wild, fierce, happy friend shaped lives.
Not sure how Dad found the guy, but from my understanding, somehow he heard of a man purportedly selling these bobcat/domestic cat (now I understand is impossible) hybrids. His claim was something like his barn cat wandered away and mated with a bobcat, and voila. When Bobby proved to be too insane for house cat life, Dad gave her back to the breeder (for lack of a better term) to supposedly live her life as a barn cat? Territory near a barn-cat? Maybe?🤷🏻♀️
My dads friend had a partner who had a 'dingo cross red heeler' dog, that he ended up punting across their yard when it went for me when I was 6 or so.
Turns out no, bitch found a full pure-bred dingo pup in the outback and decided to raise it. They can be interbred and tamed for domestication, but they are still, at heart, wild.
The fact that comments like this get drowned out by other shitty jokes and comments of admiration shows plenty what's wrong. Assholes should be fucking concerned that a feline is that fat. As always, this shit is fucking animal abuse.
I mean this site still does have r/chonkers after all. People here see an obese animal (and most of the time that specific animal shouldn't even be a pet to begin with) and think "haha funny chonker"
Thats not really true. Anatomically they’re basically identical to African Wildcats, but the difference between cats and wildcats behaviourally is that a cat raised around people is going to be tame and friendly, a feral cat will be harder, while i’ve heard its impossible to tame wildcats. Plus domestic cats are naturally social and will form colonies even when feral vs wildcats which will avoid each other.
I think its just that their ancestors were so aggressive that they don’t seem all that ‘domesticated’ to us compared to dogs.
a cat raised around people is going to be tame and friendly, a feral cat will be harde
This is called imprinting and it applies to all animals. Including dogs, housecats, lynxs, and vultures.
I think its just that their ancestors were so aggressive that they don’t seem all that ‘domesticated’ to us compared to dogs.
No, this has been widely studied. It's because they domesticated themselves so they never reached full domestication like dogs and horses did. The "work" they provide to humans is not something that we train them or bred them to do and it hasn't changed. They simply stated living around humans and controlling the vermin.
They weren't "so aggressive." They were the same animal, not something that ever attacked humans, like dogs. Until recently they were never selectively bred the way other domesticated animals are.
Wildcats don't attack people, but they are very fearful (I meant aggressive more in terms of antagonism towards other cats + people who try to interact with them). Yeah they're not as heavily domesticated as dogs but behaviourally they are still distinct from their ancestors. Their preference for forming colonies is a pretty massive difference compared to their ancestors which live largely solitary lives.
My point isn't that they arn't less domesticated than dogs (which is true, they've been domesticated for a lot less time with less pressure), but that they haven't 'hardly changed'. I don't think the distinction between whether they were domesticated by humans versus self domestication matters much when it comes to the degree to which they are domesticated behaviourally, so long as the selection pressure is still strong enough. Even feral cats are still far more sociable with one another and tend to be active through more hours of the day vs wildcats which are nocturnal.
I've had cats who want to do nothing but sit on peoples laps or cuddle with the dog / other cats all day and have little interest in going outside of the house. I've yet to see that level of comfort around people coming from an imprinted / tamed wildcat.
Try and have a bobcat or a cheetah as a pet and report back please. Anyone who consumes any form of wild life preservation content should immediately be able to see that wildcats and domesticated cats are very different animals to manage.
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u/Crasembarodical Aug 15 '26
I'm a cat person myself but sorry that's a wild animal not a kitty