How Big Can We Conceivably Breed Domestic Cats Or Their Hybrids?

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Alcubierre

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So,

There's really no such thing as a truly happy indoor cat. Even with an infinity of enrichment, it's still confining a deadly obligate carnivore whose true nature is to roam freely.

I specifically wrote that I was fully aware a very large cat can seriously injure something. I also said I think that is a good thing. I am putting emphasis on this point. A cat like that demands respect. I would like other species we live with to understand fully that cats must not be trifled with.

So far the only discouraging things are that cat size is not very changeable with breeding.

And that Mr.'s Bobcat is no match for an equal sized dog. This is entirely surprising, as felidae is almost always pound for pound more effective than any dog. The risk that my housecat wouldn't win 99% the fights a dog picked with it is unacceptable. Particularly if it risked being injured while not just terrorizing and panicking any uppity neighborhood dogs. Or possibly predating them. I want a Cat tyrant, not a fight a dog could possibly win.

Because I want a happy cat. I believe there are no truly happy indoor cats. Thus, my cat must be indoor outdoor for its own enrichment. And I don't want my poor cat to get injured or killed by all the awful dogs people own. Which requires it to be far more dangerous than a dog. That's half of the point of owning a giant cat. It can protect itself when it is out and about. I certainly can't keep it from roaming the neighborhood, it will easily find a way to escape any enclosure that isn't an absolute eyesore.

Sometimes I wonder if people truly care about their cats. Cats will let you know with everything they do that you can't confine them to decades of prison life inside your home. And who am I to force my cat to stay caged its whole life? That's just wrong. I won't and can't do it. Just like you can't lock your children inside to keep them safe. Eventually they need to live free. Always. It's terrifying for parents to get their teenager their first car, or let them move away for college. We know they might kill themselves with it. But we also know that without that freedom, they can't live their own lives.

So we teach them. We give them wisdom, rules, boundaries, and explain ourselves. We can't really give all that to our beloved cats, but we can give them better tools to defend themselves as they live the life they choose to live.

The really sad thing is that might be harder than it sounds.
 

Norachan

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I specifically wrote that I was fully aware a very large cat can seriously injure something. I also said I think that is a good thing
uppity neighborhood dogs. Or possibly predating them. I want a Cat tyrant, not a fight a dog could possibly win.
I don't want my poor cat to get injured or killed by all the awful dogs people own. Which requires it to be far more dangerous than a dog.
So you don't want your cat to be hurt by a dog, but you're quite happy for your cat to go around killing or maiming other people's pet dogs?

There are some unpleasant people in the world who don't like all the awful dogs cats people own and allow their dogs to hurt them. I don't really see much difference in your opinion and theirs.
 

amethyst

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So,

There's really no such thing as a truly happy indoor cat. Even with an infinity of enrichment, it's still confining a deadly obligate carnivore whose true nature is to roam freely.

I specifically wrote that I was fully aware a very large cat can seriously injure something. I also said I think that is a good thing. I am putting emphasis on this point. A cat like that demands respect. I would like other species we live with to understand fully that cats must not be trifled with.

So far the only discouraging things are that cat size is not very changeable with breeding.

And that Mr.'s Bobcat is no match for an equal sized dog. This is entirely surprising, as felidae is almost always pound for pound more effective than any dog. The risk that my housecat wouldn't win 99% the fights a dog picked with it is unacceptable. Particularly if it risked being injured while not just terrorizing and panicking any uppity neighborhood dogs. Or possibly predating them. I want a Cat tyrant, not a fight a dog could possibly win.
I can pretty much guarantee if you had a cat that was able to successfully seriously injure or kill dogs and people it would not be legally allowed to roam free. Just like people that have pet wild cats are not allowed to just let, say their tiger, roam the neighborhood. At the very least you would be required to keep it on a leash at all times when outdoors if you live anywhere even near a city or town, like you do dogs, which I'm pretty sure defeats your purpose. Also the first time the cat seriously hurts someone's dog or a human there would be lawsuits galore and the cat would likely be put down. Unless you live hundreds of miles away from any other human it would not be legally allowed to have freedom or live however it pleased. You'd be creating a cat that isn't fit for normal human society as a pet anymore.

I read somewhere that the only reason domestic cats don't eat us is that we are too big. So basically if you got a domestic cat big enough, it would likely eat you (like commonly happens with people who own large wild cats).
 

Azazel

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So,

There's really no such thing as a truly happy indoor cat. Even with an infinity of enrichment, it's still confining a deadly obligate carnivore whose true nature is to roam freely.

I specifically wrote that I was fully aware a very large cat can seriously injure something. I also said I think that is a good thing. I am putting emphasis on this point. A cat like that demands respect. I would like other species we live with to understand fully that cats must not be trifled with.

So far the only discouraging things are that cat size is not very changeable with breeding.

And that Mr.'s Bobcat is no match for an equal sized dog. This is entirely surprising, as felidae is almost always pound for pound more effective than any dog. The risk that my housecat wouldn't win 99% the fights a dog picked with it is unacceptable. Particularly if it risked being injured while not just terrorizing and panicking any uppity neighborhood dogs. Or possibly predating them. I want a Cat tyrant, not a fight a dog could possibly win.

Because I want a happy cat. I believe there are no truly happy indoor cats. Thus, my cat must be indoor outdoor for its own enrichment. And I don't want my poor cat to get injured or killed by all the awful dogs people own. Which requires it to be far more dangerous than a dog. That's half of the point of owning a giant cat. It can protect itself when it is out and about. I certainly can't keep it from roaming the neighborhood, it will easily find a way to escape any enclosure that isn't an absolute eyesore.

Sometimes I wonder if people truly care about their cats. Cats will let you know with everything they do that you can't confine them to decades of prison life inside your home. And who am I to force my cat to stay caged its whole life? That's just wrong. I won't and can't do it. Just like you can't lock your children inside to keep them safe. Eventually they need to live free. Always. It's terrifying for parents to get their teenager their first car, or let them move away for college. We know they might kill themselves with it. But we also know that without that freedom, they can't live their own lives.

So we teach them. We give them wisdom, rules, boundaries, and explain ourselves. We can't really give all that to our beloved cats, but we can give them better tools to defend themselves as they live the life they choose to live.

The really sad thing is that might be harder than it sounds.
So you think it’s cruel to control a cat by keeping it inside but it’s not cruel to control an entire species by playing God and trying to change its genetic makeup? :rolleyes:
 

Willowy

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You want a cat who will kill people's dogs, but you don't want dogs to kill your cat. Mmkay.

A cat's strengths are running, hiding, and climbing. Not fighting. That's how the species has survived this long. If being larger were evolutionarily advantageous, they'd be larger.
 

Azazel

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I honestly can't understand the thought behind anyone saying that. There are a great many Cats living outside as strays or ferals who were brought into a home, and now actively refuse to ever go back outside.
One of my cats doesn't want anything to do with going outside. Any time a door opens to the outside she runs the other way. She had a rough first couple years of her life and is just happy to be in a place of her own where she feels safe.
 
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