avsdT:roberts@avsdS.UUCP (05/30/84)
Does anyone have any information on "Bob Cats" as pets? Rhode
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (06/04/84)
[] Bobcats take great delight in munching fingers and other extremities. The also find it amusing to see if they can remove noses with one swipe of the paw. Seriously, though they are wonderful looking creatures, they are NOT pet material. Just as any other of the larger cats can make life interesting with their antics, Bobcats can do the same thing. They have a bad habit of jumping on unsuspecting dogs from high places and reduceing said dog to hamburger (I've seen it happen). They seem to have nasty dispositions and never become the sweet thing you might hope for. They are wild animals with just a little more on the ball than your average house cat. As to laws about keeping them, I rather suspect that most states do not allow them to be kept as pets. At least in those states where they are found in the wild, this is true. Don't try to keep a Bobcat as a pet, you will regret such a decision from day one. T. C. Wheeler
dxp@pyuxhh.UUCP (D Peak) (06/04/84)
Rhode ,
A little info might be useful in enlightening you on bobcats
--> 20 years ago it was thought that the bobcat had pretty much been
--> chased out of the Eastern US by the more aggressive Eastern coyote
--> however the bobcat has somewhat surprisingly made a determined
--> comeback.To the extent that a once "protected animal" is now
--> legal for hunting purposes in Maine & Massachusetts.I understand
--> that NJ & NY are in the process of de-classifying the animal as
--> no longer in imminent danger of extinction and in fact are
--> approaching the status of being a pest that needs to be "controlled".
The above is a summary of an article I read about a year ago in a
wildlife magazine , I'll follow up if anyone wants any more hard data.
Whatever your views for/against hunting the state wildlife authorities
do not take actions such as the above lightly. In fact the generally act
2-3 years after the action is neccesary in the hopes that nature will
balance things out itself.
The point I'm trying to make is that the bobcat is one determined
animal that is very capable of looking after itself and its territory.
Its not an overgrown house cat , it is approx 35-40lbs (male) of
out and out wild animal that is probably second only to the wolverine
(now there's another beatuful looking animal) in ferocity on the
north american continent (with the grizzly bear rated 3rd).
I wholeheartedly agree that the bobcat is fantastic looking
animal but unless you get some SERIOUS animal husbandry training
keep your admiration at a distance.
--
Dave Peak (pyuxhh!dxp)
" I'd rather have two girls at 21 each than one girl at 42 ! "
- W.C. Fieldsrxt@lanl-a.UUCP (06/05/84)
<This line is for the bobcat> I was interested once in having a Cougar as a pet. They are really pretty cats! I had also heard people say that wild animals will revert and harm the owners. My wife checked a book out of the local library (sorry, but I do not know the name or author) on wild animals as pets. The author apparently had heard the same stories, and wrote an article in a paper about it, requesting information from people who had wild animals. He got plenty of replies, and then went and visited many of these people. The book was about his experiences, but I only read about the cats. Three families had cougars, and two (I believe) had bobcats. One of the families with the cougar had 6 kids. When the author visited, the cat was lying on the floor with 6 kids beating on it, pulling its ears and tail, etc. The author asked if the parents were worried, and they said that the cat would push them away if they got too rough. They even left the cat to babysit the kids when they went out! They said the oldest kid was ten and could call the neighbors on the phone if there was any problem, and the cat would let the neighbors in but noone else. Another couple owned a cougar, and the wife taught kindergarden. When the husband was out, she would take the cat to class and let the kids babysit the cat. They loved it! The only family that I remember that owned a bobcat had a mobil home. The cat would sit out on the fence and wait, and the school bus would come by early and let all the kids out to play with it. It was always waiting for them. It would love to play with the other cats and dogs in the neighborhood, but they would all run away from it. It would cry because they would all run from it (not that I blame them). The cat snuck up behind the author while he was sitting on the couch and hit him with his paw. No claws, but he said it felt like a baseball bat. Then the cat bounced around the room and looked at him. His conclusion was that, if a wild animal had been raised from a cub as a member of the houshold, it was safe. If it is confined in a cage, it gets a zoo mentality, and is afraid - and thus dangerous. Raising it as a member of the family means never leaving it alone, etc. I decided that this is quite a burden -- you must find someone willing to take care of it (*GOOD* care of it) while you are away, and you must be in a neighborhood where the animal will not cause too much trouble. There was another book called "Ocelots and Margays" that talked about the trouble and expense of owning one of these animals. The author said that having a Margay around is like having a perpetual 5-year old child. She said that those cats are STRONG, and that they will try to dominate you if given the chance. She said that Margays are about 15 pounds, but no comparison to a normal house cat (they are solid muscle). They also like to climb up on things and jump on your shoulders as you pass underneath. Ocelots are about 50 to 60 pounds, and are also solid muscle. She says that they like to hide behind things and tackle you as you pass (and they make excellent fullbacks). But it is still interesting -- maybe if I live out in the woods with no neighbors...... Richard Thomsen
donch@teklabs.UUCP (Don Chitwood) (06/06/84)
I knew an old miner in N. California who had experience with bobcats. It seems his wife's white persian female mated with a local tom bobcat. I only saw one of the kittens, by then an old and venerable cat, very much a loner except to his people. The miner said the cat/bob cleaned up the neighborhood of dogs. Killed them all. The animal had very large paws, large white and gray/black areas on its body, and had a tail that was all curled up and perched on its rump. I didn't have the nerve to check out the tail in more detail. Don Chitwood tektronix!donch Advanced Research Labs Tektronix, OR