Comments on: What Is This Mystery Cat?

By: Gwyther

Gwyther — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:56:50 +0000

I have read threads on several sites regarding this cat and the fact that there is nothing to gauge the cats size by comes up again and again.
However this is not correct, i have spent a large part of my life roaming the British country side and i am familiar with pretty much all of it’s flora and fauna, the tall plants behind the cat with the fluffy seed heads are almost definitely Rose bay willow herb, this plant grows to approx. 4 feet tall. The cat is obviously stood several feet away from the plants, so using this to gauge the cats size, it would suggest that this cat is not particularly large at all, not even fox size, at most only a little larger than an average domestic cat. From it’s appearance a feral domestic would seem most likely.

By: SassyGirl

SassyGirl — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:41:48 +0000

I have two ideas about what that cat could be. Assuming the picture is real, I’m sorry but there are many fakes going around of various ‘mystery animals’.

1) Here in Nova Scotia there is a pocket of feral cats that are said to grow to the size of a smaller medium sized dog. I’ve seen some, though not ones quite that big, and let me tell you they are BIG. There could be a similar pocket of unusually large feral cats there.

2) To me the body shape of that cat pictured is very reminiscent of a mountain lion, though you say it’s smaller than that. It’s hard to tell in that picture though. I remember a while back there was this big fuss about a mystery cat out west, either Manitoba or Ontario. Some papers were questioning whether or not saber toothed tigers were real or not and posting pictures tiger type cat. Eventually animal control caught it; it was a juvanile bangle tiger that was believed to have been someones illegal exotic pet, no zoos or animal rescue parks in the area reported any missing animals. This could be someones escaped exotic pet, not reported because it’s illegal.

By: Kit_Seraphina

Kit_Seraphina — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:54:53 +0000

I’d like to give my two cents here. But has anyone thought it might be a bengal cat? They are house cats but much larger then a normal cat reacing I believ 5ft in length, Not sure though. I do agree with alot of people here it doesn’t seem to be a large cat. But the picture is blurred so who knows what it is. Either way it’s getting bolder.

By: chat-garou

chat-garou — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:53:23 +0000

Looks to have the build of a cougar and maybe the size(hard to tell), but the color is way off. The only cat to have that dark rust color and no markings is a jaguarundi, but the body is way too stocky for that.

You know, what it really looks like to me is a Bornean Bay cat, but there really aren’t enough pictures of them in existence to reference, and they are so rare even in their home territory I can’t see any plausible way for them to end up here.

I think that everyone else is probably right and it’s just a great big old house cat.

By: ctinn

ctinn — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:32:57 +0000

I have a domestic short hair that weighs 21 lbs. and looks EXACTLY like a miniture panther.His body is built very much like this and his under coat is striped,so inthe right light the stripes appear more pronounced than they actually are.I am actually suprised how much alike this cat is to mine.

By: kentbigcats

kentbigcats — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:59:03 +0000

I've monitored the specific area where this cat was photographed. I'm surprised at the amount of inconsistent theories with regards to the animal, and I think many are being confused by the face which I don't believe is a stripe, but possibly a mouse or rabbit in its mouth. It's certainly a large cat, not domestic but we must take inconclusive evidence with a pinch of salt. I know for a fact that there is a puma in the area and sightings date back to the 1800s in the area. It's certainly NOT a fox or dog.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:57:15 +0000

Amen, Cashel !

By: Shelley

Shelley — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:48:17 +0000

I cross posted the link to this picture to a cat forum elsewhere, and so far all responses have been old-style Siamese cat or Siamese mixed with something else, perhaps a larger kind of wild cat. Not sure if that is even possible, but the overwhelming response has been domestic cat, not exotic panther. Plus a few people loved this site and will be checking it out from now on.

I know that Kent is a long way from Scotland, but there is a population of Scottish wild cats still up there? Is it possible that they have bred with the abundant domestic cats and become a larger and more vigorous breed? It is interesting that there are so many reports of ABC in Britain when they have another small wild cat that apparently can breed with the domestic cat.

By: Cashel

Cashel — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:42:21 +0000

Pitbulllady, you’re absolutely right! I’ve personally seen and tracked foxes, and they’re significantly smaller than any cat I’ve owned. I’m an outdoorsman, I know what I’m talking about.

My 20lb Cymric male shares alot of features with the cat in the picture, only larger! I would say that this “mystery cat” is a 8-12lb male house cat.

The sunlight and the ruffling of the fur create the illusion of heavy muscles on the hind leg.

The idea that the ears point to any type of wild cat is preposterous. Lynx and bobcats have ears that are nothing like those.

For crying out loud, this is just a plain old cat!

By: Shelley

Shelley — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:49:06 +0000

I thought about trying to take an ambiguous picture of my giant guy, but he is not allowed outside and if I tried to pose him outside he would be off like a shot and very hard to corral. With his classic tabby tuxedo looks there would be no doubt what kind of cat he is anyway.

I recently saw a repeat of a show on cable TV which had a section on ABC. A farmer in Australian shot and killed a large black cat who had been killing his dogs and other livestock. He hung the body from a tree and it was 48 inches from nose to tail, and it weighed 44 kilos. The DNA test took a long time coming back, but the cat was found to be the same genetic code as a domestic house cat. So their question was is there something going on with the house cat in terms of evolving into a larger type given wild living and copious food. That would explain a lot with both British and American ABC, and even some of these very large pet cats that people are reporting.

Somehow I just can’t see this picture being of a fox of any kind–they have that dainty look about them in the muzzle and paw, which this girl does not have. I have seen a fox slightly larger than any house cat, but we have a lot of cross breeding between coyotes and foxes and dogs, so we never know what we are seeing.