Bobcat and Domestic Cat Breeding Question

[commonoddity042]

Originally Posted by Arlyn

I have had quite a few huge boys.
My biggest though was nearly 30 pounds at 4 years old.
No clue where he came from, he ran into the house one evening, well fed and cared for.
He was about 3 months old, never could locate an owner.

I'd always figured he was Maine coon, until his vet actually said he could possibly have some large cat blood in him, he never said bobcat, just big cat.

May I see a photo of him, if you have one?

 

[arlyn]

I wish I had pics, that was at least 20 years ago, I've lost everything I've owned since then.
Husband was a cat hater, refused to let me get him neutered and he ran off one day.

He looked just like a classic brown tabby Maine coon, just huge.

 

[moriah]

Originally Posted by CommonOddity042

Bobcats breeding with domestics does happen occasionally, from what I understand, and the kits are always sterile.

this link might have more info on your questions.

http://www.messybeast.com/hybrids.htm

I've always loved Sarah's site, she gives excellent information. I submitted this story to her site -- about one of my father's cats when I was young.

Dad had a friend with a Persian queen who went into heat while he was camping with her in the woods. He wasn't worried since he didn't think she could breed with anything out there. She turned up pregnant.

She had two *huge* male kittens. They were so large that she died very shortly after kittening. My father's friend gave my dad one kitten and kept the other. The one the friend kept died at around four months old -- presumably due to some genetic flaw. Dad bottle-fed the kitten he named Pedro, who survived for a very long time before succumbing to feline leukemia.

He was the length of some dogs, and he had seasonal coat-shedding leading to what appeared to be color change. He had a lot of quirks and was very aggressive and territorial, to the point of biting through my mother's toe (yes, all the way through it) when she had the audacity to wear a black nightgown to bed with my father and kick Pedro out of his rightful spot. He would attempt to kill dogs in the neighborhood, and did kill several cats. He scared the postman so badly that he mentioned the situation to the city, who told Dad he would have to find some way to restrain the cat. Pedro would jump through screen doors and windows, and occasionally broke a glass window trying to get outdoors. Eventually they got a harness for him and tied the harness to a cinderblock -- to slow him down enough to give animals and people a chance to get away from him.

He was very good with children, though -- especially if Dad essentially told Pedro to mind a baby that was on a blanket in the floor. He'd pace around it and not let anyone else near it except Dad and sometimes the baby's mother.

Since he attempted to mate female domestic cats, my dad decided to breed him to his mother's Persian. The matings were actually successful -- but the kittens were still very large (much bigger than Maine Coons), requiring delivery by c-section. They were also very intelligent, and much more friendly than Pedro. There were never more than three kittens in a litter, and most often two or one.

I have no idea what the original Persian bred with, and also no idea why Pedro was fertile. My thought is that since he was half-Persian and bred with another Persian that there was enough genetic similiarity to allow perhaps half of the kittens to survive -- could account for the small litter size.

I have a picture of my dad and Pedro, with Pedro wrapped around his shoulders and so big that his body was nowhere close to being entirely supported by Dad's shoulders and neck. It's not very good as far as resolution (it's over 20 years old and was kept in my dad's wallet for many years) but the size of the cat is visible. As soon as I get a scanner I'm sending it to Sarah for her site. He had a full tail, so we've assumed that he was a Lynx-hybrid as they are common in the area where the kittens were conceived.

I hope this helps a bit..

 

[moriah]

Originally Posted by Arlyn

I have had quite a few huge boys.
My biggest though was nearly 30 pounds at 4 years old.
No clue where he came from, he ran into the house one evening, well fed and cared for.
He was about 3 months old, never could locate an owner.

I'd always figured he was Maine coon, until his vet actually said he could possibly have some large cat blood in him, he never said bobcat, just big cat.

I see you're in Utah -- were you possibly in North Carolina at the time? That's where my father's suspected hybrid was from, and he sired several kittens that were given away (possibly getting abandoned later). This was over 20 years ago as well, so the timing struck me as interesting. It's probably a huge coincidence (no pun intended).

Moriah

 

[arlyn]

I was in Mississippi actually.
Before Warehauser moved in and deforested most of the state.

 

[fancypaws]

Wow, That is an amazing story. Enjoyed it very much  

  Thank you for sharing

. I'm getting a kitten that could be part wild bobcat......hum????? Who knows for sure? But she is a beautiful kitty and I really wanted another cat..... it's been a long time and I'm ready......

 

 

[momto2kitties]

FancyPaws - beautiful poodle!  I have 2 black spoos (and 2 kitties)

 

[jen]

Wow where did we dig up this 7 year old thread!! I think this is a record....

 

[dana mulder]

i think that u might have a pixie bob. look it up and see if it fits...if so someone is looking for her and she may have a chip in her that a vet or aspca would check for free and return to the owner....

 

[betty m]

Some places have banned breeders claiming to have bobcat cross cats because they say they don't exist.  They say the genes are too different for them to interbreed.

 

[betty m]

Some places have banned breeders claiming to have bobcat cross cats because they say they don't exist.  They say the genes are too different for them to interbreed.