This little cat came from nowhere.

[lab]

While feeding the horses last night my step dad noticed this little girl standing at his feet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/lab-lover/IMG_4012.jpg

He could not believe what he was seeing. She didn't run, but stayed right at his feet until we got to the barn. He called the local CO who told him to leave it be for the night and check on it in the morning. He felt as if the mother might be in search of her baby and find her during the night. Well, she was till there this morning. My step-dad took her to the house and put her in a cage. The CO was going to come to the house to pick her up and take ther to a woman in Bowling Green who takes wild animals such as this and raises them until they are old enough to make it in the wild on their own.

She never once tried to claw, hiss, or bite any of us. This was an incredibly rare encounter that I will not soon forget.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/lab-lover/IMG_4019.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/lab-lover/IMG_4021.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/lab-lover/IMG_4027.jpg

[buckfever]

That's really neat, Lab. Absolutely beautiful little animal.

Several years ago, I came across a den of coyote pups while turkey hunting down in Clermont. They still had the milky blue-eyed look to 'em, and showed no signs of fear. Momma must've still been out hunting. After taking a bunch of pictures and returning from my hunt, I told the farm owner about my find. He asked me why I didn't kill 'em, and I said "they were too darned cute". After some prompting, I took him out there so that he'd know where they were. After seeing them though, he also just left 'em alone.

If that kitten was out all night, it had to be hungry and thirsty. Did you attempt to feed it? If so, what do you give a bobcat kitten that young?

[12 pointer]

wow!!!! as comfortable a she was there at the barn, is there anywhere there that she may have been raised there? Lab, I have had my hands on so many young wild animals as a child. (we all know how kids wer in those days)that has to be one that I would put at the top of the list. awesome. did the CO ever come get her?

[Kentuck]

Wonder if momma may have been killed. That is really cool though. Hope the little fellar makes it. Looks a little uncomfortable in a couple of the pics. Maybe because it's wet.

[killinmammals]

thats pretty cool. as for those yotes...my story would have had a different ending on that one

[Valley Station]

Do cats get distemper?? Looks like it's acting incoherent and sick, like a coon with distemper.

[PhilpotHunter]

Do cats get distemper?? Looks like it's acting incoherent and sick, like a coon with distemper.

Just looks like a wet, tired, hungry, scared kitten to me:rolleyes:

[lab]

My mom called me around 7:00 this morning and told me that she had just gotten back in the house from feeding her. She tore up some lunch meat from the fridge into small pieces and warmed some milk. The kitten scarfed down the meat and spilled most of the milk after drinking a small amount. Mom said that you could tell that it made it feel better. She started walking around in the cage crying.

As far as being raised close to the barn, there are a couple of spots where that would be possible. There is a place under the crib in the barn where something has dug under. It could be a possibility, but I doubt it. Those places were made by skunks and have not seen any fresh tracks in that area for some time now.

[buckfever]

Lab - Keep us posted on the cat's progress. Have y'all decided to give it a name?

[lab]

She is going to the woman in BG to raise until she is capable of making it in the wild on her own.

[treerat]

now that little feller is cute as a button

[AteUp]

As far as being raised close to the barn, there are a couple of spots where that would be possible.

Yeah, like all of Quality.:cool:

She is going to the woman in BG to raise until she is capable of making it in the wild on her own.

Translation: She's gonna fatten her up to shootin' size and then let her go under my tree stand this fall.:eek:;)

[kentucky_redneck]

http://www.kentuckyhunting.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4122&d=1183935208

I think she would look real good mounted beside this one.

[kycowboy]

http://www.kentuckyhunting.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4122&d=1183935208

I think she would look real good mounted beside this one.
that is just not right:D

[Snareman2]

Five or six years ago, a friend found one also. It looked fine, and played like a little kitten does. However, something wasn't right with it, maybe the mother abandoned it. It died afew days later, started acting weird, maybe distemper, who knows. Can Bobcats get Feline Leukemia? My wife befriended a stray one time, it died also. Just didn't happen quick enough, she had already taken it to the vet. So I ended up with a vet. bill and a dead cat.

[raktrakr]

I'm no expert, but that looks like a barn/house cat to me

[buckfever]

I'm no expert, but that looks like a barn/house cat to me

Rak - In that first picture, you can see the bobbed tail.

[Art]

I'd love to have one of those as a pet.:D If I lived on a farm I'd have me all kinds of exotic pets.

[MsgMills]

Looks like it would make a nice friend to just keep on the farm around the barn, any thoughts of just doing that and keeping the thing as a pet. If it wants to go off after it gets older then fine...But I bet it would be a happy face to keep around and be company when you went to the barn......:)

[raktrakr]

Rak - In that first picture, you can see the bobbed tail.You've never seen domestic cats with a bobbed tail?

[AteUp]

I'm gonna have to side with guy that took the pictures of the bobcat kitten. I'm sure he knows the difference between the two of them.

Here's a pic of another bobcat kitten. They can look similar to a housecat.

http://www.shastarootsnshoots.com/Bobcat%20kitten.jpg

[lab]

I'm no expert, but that looks like a barn/house cat to me

On this particular subject, your opinion doesn't count. This little girl's incisors looked like daggers. I have yet to see a housecat with teeth like that, bobbed tail, and spotted belly. Believe you me, I know the difference. You on the other hand, that jury is still out.

[Snareman2]

Looks like it would make a nice friend to just keep on the farm around the barn, any thoughts of just doing that and keeping the thing as a pet. If it wants to go off after it gets older then fine...But I bet it would be a happy face to keep around and be company when you went to the barn......:)

Those little happy faces get big. It might look cute and cuddley now. Have you ever seen one in a trap. Let me tell you, they are pissed and just want you to get close enough. Believe me, they are 100% business and 100% muscles, claws, and teeth. Their eyes stare right through you. A big male usually weights over twenty pounds, the biggest I've seen being twenty-eight pounds. The females are about half the males size, around thirteen or fourteen pounds. To put all that into perspective, a big domestic cat is around ten or eleven pounds.

[MsgMills]

I understand that they ( Bobcats ) could be mean and very dangerous out in the wild, they have to be to survive. My thoughts were that if left around the barn as a free roaming pet, used to humans it could be quite tame and not as mean as it might be in the wild.... Might be one heck of a mouser you know......

[Art]

I say you keep it in your barn, Lab. You'll have the coolest pet in Quality and you won't have to worry about rats, mice, dogs, snakes, or basically any other animal messing with your stuff. I don't know how much I agree with the theory that a wild animal can be raised by humans and then turned back into the wild and still survive, especially an animal with crosshairs on it's head already by most every human.

It might just be a sign, because you could have found a baby cardinal.

[TheToons]

well that's alot cuter than the opossums we found last week, lol! we found 3 babies still clinging to their dead momma in the middle of the road. we took them to a rehaber in murray...she already had 10 about the same age. had fur and eyes were open. she said she should be able to release them all back into the wild! i'm sure your little guy will do great, too!

[trust me]

I wouldn't want to take a chance on having a half-tame bobcat around the house. It might decide you parted your hair on the wrong side one morning and want to change it for you.

As my uncle once said of bobcats: "Them thangs ain't nuthin' but teeth and toenails."

[quackrstackr]

well that's alot cuter than the opossums we found last week, lol! we found 3 babies still clinging to their dead momma in the middle of the road. we took them to a rehaber in murray...she already had 10 about the same age. had fur and eyes were open. she said she should be able to release them all back into the wild! i'm sure your little guy will do great, too!

Hope she doesn't release them around my house. My Chessie is not particularly fond of opossums and tends to be fairly hard on them. :D

Cool find lab. I don't know what kind of pet one would make but the full grown one that they have at the LBL nature station seems to be pretty tame when the workers get in there with it. Anybody ever been up close and personal with a feral house cat that has never had human interaction? They're like a miniature version of a wild bobcat themselves.

[wademup]

It might just be a sign, because you could have found a baby cardinal.[/quote]

Good point Art,throw it a baby Cardinal and lets see who comes out a winner!!!!

Wademup

[SmokeyBear]

I'm not preaching here or anything but the "keeping it in the barn as a free roaming pet" thing is just asking for trouble. A wild animal raised in the wild is far less dangerous to people than a wild animal raised around humans. The only difference between a wild animal raised in the wild and a wild animal raised around humans is the fact the the ones raised around humans have pretty much no fear of humans. NEVER forget that they are still in fact wild animals!!! The best thing we have going for us as humans is the natural fear of humans that dangerous wild animals have from nature, when we curb that fear or remove it completely we are just playing with a time bomb. It may never attack a human, but when that fear of humans has been removed we are just asking for major problems that could occur at any time.

[keith meador]

any update on the mascot?

[lab]

Nope. I was thinking about calling the CO today and get an update. I will try and do that tomorrow.

[F250Stroke]

Must have been late getting here.http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.carolina.com/redwolf/images/bobcat10.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.carolina.com/redwolf/animals/bobcat.asp&h=234&w=168&sz=15&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=W_6uCZwDAnJohM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=78&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbobcat%2Bkittens%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D 10%26hl%3DenBobcat kittens, which are born in the spring, have a thick coat of spotted fur. The kittens begin exploring at one month and are typically weaned at 2 months. They are able to hunt on their own in the fall but remain with their mother until they are almost a year old.That one wasnt born in the spring was it?

[F250Stroke]

Its mating behavior is similar to a housecat's. Young are usually born in April and May, although litters may be born during almost any month except December and January. This is from another site,I guess they can be born about anytime according to this. Hope the little guy makes it.

[Snareman2]

Nope. I was thinking about calling the CO today and get an update. I will try and do that tomorrow.

I doubt the CO would know. He doesn't raise them does he? There is probably alot of care and time put into it.