Bobcat hybrids

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tinytmg

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Mitts will be DNA confirmed or ruled out.
The testing will begin next week. We are dropping off the samples on Saturday. We're using both hair and cheek swabs.
I don't know how long the tests are going to take, but the people from the University are almost as excited as we are, so I expect it won't take too long.

I'm still looking to find out if there has ever been another DNA PROVEN bobcat hybrid.
 
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tinytmg

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Ok. Hair samples and cheek swabs from both of our cats hAve been delivered to the university. The PhD student says that it will likely take 2-4 weeks,assuming that the sample quality is strong enough.
This university, and the student, are already in a long-term study of bobcat genetics. Mostly involving cross-breeding of bobcats with the Lynx.
We could not have found a better group of people to handle this work!
We are very excited!
If my cats are true, DNA proven bobcat hybrids they are most like the FIRST and the ONLY.
Fingers crossed! It's going to be a long couple of weeks!
 

kitty kisser

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I'm with you cant wait to see the results ! There are bobcats in my area as well as an occasional feral cat! How exciting!:D
 

basscat

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Wouldn't there be some resemblance?
 
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tinytmg

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They have MANY common traits.
Including their coats, their feet, their black-tipped tufted ears, their primordial pouches, and something about their wiskers...but I cannot remember what it's called. Oh and their back legs are longer than their front, so they have a "raised rump" appearance.
Their behavior is nothing short of bafflin.
 

basscat

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I showed the photo to Bob.  He says pretty tabby.
 
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tinytmg

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We found a graduate student from a major university. He is doing the genetic testing. They already involved in a long-term study of bobcats, including possible hybrid bobcat/lynx.

A BIG part of the reason that bobcat hybrids have not yet been proven by science is that there is no testing available.

We have found that testing.

Results will come in the next 2-3 weeks.

I admit that it concerns me about how big of a deal this might be...

So I am anonymous for the time being(well, hopefully).
 
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kkoerner

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Why do you think they are half bobcat?
Did you breed them...and know their history...and just want DAS confirmed? Or, do you just see similar traits and think they might be hybrids, so you want them tested?
 
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tinytmg

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We live in the forest. Our nearest neighbor is 1 mile away. There simply are no other cats out here.
Two summers ago we saw a young bobcat at about 1/10 mile from the house.
My husband said that at first he thought it was Mitts(our female).
That was when it clicked.

The resemblances far outweigh the differences.
 

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Very interesting! I guess because there are bobbed breeds already the chances are slimmer. But you never know!
 

Mamanyt1953

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After about 50 years and two house fires, I no longer have photographs, but I have heard of this happening.  I had a registered Russian Blue tomcat when I was growing up who had a pituitary abnormality.  He grew, and grew and grew.  When he finally stopped. he was between 19 and 20 inches tall and weighed between 27-32 pounds of pure fighting tom.  This was back in the days when you didn't just automatically neuter a tom cat.  It was almost unheard of.  Now, Gray would take off for days at a time, only coming home when he was so torn up from fighting that he needed the R&R.  We'd take him off to the vet (who often wondered who was beating on this bruiser so much) to get stitched up. 

It was a few years into this when one of our hunter friends came by and told Dad, "I know what's been beating up on your big ol' tom, come look."  In the back of his truck was the carcass of a smoke-blue bobcat.  Gray was fighting with the bobcat toms for breeding rights, AND WINNING SOME.  A friend who still lives in that area of the Florida Panhandle tells me that there are still descendants of his in the woods of Bay County.  Hunters call them Blue Bobs.
 

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I have no clue why people state that UC Davis has yet to prove the existence of a bobcat hybridization. They breed to all kinds of exotic breeds - and I own a known offspring, DNA proven parentage through UC Davis clear back in 2000, of her grand-parents, and great grandmother (who was a bobcat). You can see her lines at f1bobcat.com and I'd share photos and DNA papers if anyone is interested. This falacy that bobcats do not breed with domestics has been going around the internet long enough. I have gone through un-surmountable abuse by people in cat sites and groups (not here yet...I'm new as of today, but let's see how this goes over) and I have always told them the truth. And I recently got given proof by the breeder. Munki, my kitty who is 16 months old, is indeed one quarter Bobcat, and I have DNA proof of her relatives. Parentage testing is available through UC Davis, but DNA breed proof of bobcat heritage is not. So what they did was to send in her great great grandmother's DNA and the father and the child, Cholla and Katie (2 daughters from the first litter who are my cat's grandmother), and had the parentage proven. Once bobcat parentage is proven by DNA, it's indisputable proof. Here is my cat's heritage. But to do this test, you must have the parent available to test. We were lucky that the originating breeders did own the mother. Clearly, the parentage markers are visible in the test. This is my girl. She was due for babies 2 days ago. She's at day 67 gestation right now. She is also dual F3 Jungle Bob as well as being the F4 Bobcat.
Whale.jpg
2017-06-14_23.43.08.jpg
 

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abyeb

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I have no clue why people state that UC Davis has yet to prove the existence of a bobcat hybridization. They breed to all kinds of exotic breeds - and I own a known offspring, DNA proven parentage through UC Davis clear back in 2000, of her grand-parents, and great grandmother (who was a bobcat). You can see her lines at f1bobcat.com and I'd share photos and DNA papers if anyone is interested. This falacy that bobcats do not breed with domestics has been going around the internet long enough. I have gone through un-surmountable abuse by people in cat sites and groups (not here yet...I'm new as of today, but let's see how this goes over) and I have always told them the truth. And I recently got given proof by the breeder. Munki, my kitty who is 16 months old, is indeed one quarter Bobcat, and I have DNA proof of her relatives. Parentage testing is available through UC Davis, but DNA breed proof of bobcat heritage is not. So what they did was to send in her great great grandmother's DNA and the father and the child, Cholla and Katie (2 daughters from the first litter who are my cat's grandmother), and had the parentage proven. Once bobcat parentage is proven by DNA, it's indisputable proof. Here is my cat's heritage. But to do this test, you must have the parent available to test. We were lucky that the originating breeders did own the mother. Clearly, the parentage markers are visible in the test. This is my girl. She was due for babies 2 days ago. She's at day 67 gestation right now. She is also dual F3 Jungle Bob as well as being the F4 Bobcat.View attachment 188393 View attachment 188394
Hi Munki, and welcome to TCS!

I ask the following question simply out of scientific curiosity, I don't mean to sound aggravated with you in any way, and I do want you to enjoy our online community here on TCS. I like to keep up-to-date with scholarly articles written on cat health and genetics. I have been searching around for a while trying to find an article relating to Bobcat x Domestic Cat hybrids, but have been unsuccessful. Plenty of articles about Bobcat x Lynx hybrids and Wildcat x Domestic Cat hybrids, nothing on Bobcat x Domestic Cat. If you have a citation on this, I'd certainly be very interested. Thank you, and see you around!
 

1CatOverTheLine

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She is also dual F3 Jungle Bob as well as being the F4 Bobcat.
I don't know much about genetics, but I'm trying to comprehend this and I'm having a hard time understanding the statement. Junglebobs are Felis catus (domestic cats) bred with Felis chaus (African Jungle Cats); they are, by necessity of identification, F² hybrids (solely). As regards the Bobcat (Lynx rufus) - while they share family and subfamily (Felinæ in both cases) - the cross would be interspecific (Felis x Lynx or Lynx x Felis). Both species have nineteen chromosomal pairs, but the Bobcat's distribution is thirty-four metacentrics and four acrocentrics, while the domestic cat has only two acrocentric chromosomes. Absent Lattice Engineering, or nanotechnological intervention using artificial nucleic acid structures, how is the disparity of genomic identity overcome? This is about more than simple chromosomal shape - it's about rather broadly varying loci and unshared alleles between the genii of Felis and Lynx.

Caveat: I did put a call in to Leslie Lyons before asking this question, but she's not answering her cell currently.
.
 

Alejandra Rico

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I don't know much about genetics, but I'm trying to comprehend this and I'm having a hard time understanding the statement. Junglebobs are Felis catus (domestic cats) bred with Felis chaus (African Jungle Cats); they are, by necessity of identification, F² hybrids (solely).
.
Isn't It possible to cross junglebobs among them as It is done with bengal cats so that you have F3 and so on?
 
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