OMG!!! First Game Cam pic ever. Huge Funny thread

[firedove]

Well, in the interest of research I measured my big kitty Dapper (we have always joked he is part Mt Lion even though he is black and white, lol) he measures 22" from nose to tail base when standing regular and 19" when hunched in a similar position to mystery cat. Dapper weighs 20 pounds. My nephews cat Schmutz on the other hand is bigger still at 24" long standing, again tip of nose to tail base (I didn't get a hunched measurement on him). Schmutz weighs 30 pounds. Schmutz also looks tremendous because he is long haired. It took a while to get the measurements because Dapper really didn't trust the tape measure. Schmutz on the otherhand could care less as long as someone pets him.

 

[Joyryder]

Quote:
I don't think that cat in the pic has a short tail, just curled the other way - my cat never has his tail sticking out - its always curved one way or another, I think that photo just caught the tail at the right point so it looks short. I don't see ear tufts either, I see the ears from the side and all domestic cats from the side have really skinny ears at the top - going up to a skinny point, not tufts.

Maybe he does have a short tail, his mom might have bit it off!
(referencing post 252 in case you skipped a couple of pages)

 

[Mr chicken dude]

Quote:
I can tell you right now I am 99.9% sure that that is a mountain lion

 

[firedove]

having seen the yard stick photo and measured my own cats I'm going with this. If it's a mountain lion it is a tiny one. The yard stick in that spot shows the cat to be about 26" or so nose to tail base if you stretched it out of that hunched position (please, no photoshop necessary). So it's either a very young, still with momma lion, or it is a large domestic. With my Dapper and Brendan's Schmutz just a few inches shorter I think that it is definitely possible for a domestic to be that large. Just for arguments sake I will add that the "tufts" people see could just indicate that it is a domestic medium hair cat. My DMH Princess definitely looks like she has cheek tufts because that is one of the places her hair is the longest. If the cat in the photo is a DMH it would appear bigger because of the extra fluff.

Now, also, the way that game cams work, or most anyways (maybe it's not the case with this one) is that they take a pic every 30 seconds by motion detection. If mystery cat had stayed to drink at the pond there would have been more photos. If mystery cat and a momma lion had come around momma would have drunk at the pond as well getting her pic on there. On our game cam when a cat walks by the camera we generally get a blank pic or half a cat exiting because our cameras trigger speed isn't that good (what do you want for a $50 game cam). Being as how this cam only took one pic of mystery cat it shows that he/she came in and out in less than 30 seconds and was probably just traveling from one side of the pond and into the yard beyond and likely quite slowly, very possibly paused on that rock, maybe watching fish (unless this is a really good/expensive trail cam we are seeing pics from). Trail cams are designed to take pics of game in an area over many days/weeks. Trigger speed varies wildly, our camera's trigger speed is about 5 seconds. We've got plenty of lovely pics of deer and turkeys with it. Unfortunately we have erased the pics of the cats we have gotten because it's the game photos we are after but it does make them look awfully large at night if they are light colored.

I can't remember what the OP said was the distance from the camera to the cat but I know our trail cam is designed to take pics of animals at an ideal distance of 15'. When they are closer to the camera than that the flash glares on them making them appear larger as well. Too bad I don't have the pic of my hubby as Godzilla from one night, lol. He was only 8' from the cam and wearing light jeans and a light colored jacket. Because the frame on the pictures isn't very big it made him look huge, especially in comparison to the landmarks behind him, lol. But again, we only keep the game pics (though we do have one daytime shot of DH standing in the photo for scaling the deer, but he is at 20' in that pic.

So to weigh in I'm going to go with Domestic with the possible influence of cross breeding to a bob.

 

[McSpin]

After following one of the links on bobtails, I came across some interesting information on feral cats. Nature has selected for the largest surviving with many reaching 25 lbs or more. These wouldn't be like fat house cats, but lean wild cats living off their kills. I wasn't aware that feral cats got this large, but it appears to be common. The shape and bone structure is so totally different from a mountain lion, and so much like a domestic cat, that I would say that the odds of it being a domestic cat are very high indeed, since feral cats can grow to be even larger than the one in the photo.

 

[Happy Chooks]

What happened to that bad ol' putty tat?

How dare he/she disappear and not give us another photo.

 

[pedro24]

holly crap i hope nothing bad happen

 

[Mr chicken dude]

Let me show my theory of why I think Its a mountain lion and not a bobcat...http://www.papa-grande.us/images/Bobcat_04.jpg

Note-More pointy ears( though there kinda tucked back in the pic...as a Mountain lions are more rounded at the top)
The spots(I tried searching for Bobcat without spots came up with nothing)
The tail
The puffynish around his face(I believe Tufts)
And how the pic I attached is a LOT more closer than the pic that emys posted...
So that's why I think its not a bobcat..Because if it is a cross breed between a domestic cat and a Bobcat don't you think it would have at least ONE of the noticeable things I posted......And so I think the Bobcat in the pic I posted is about 2-3 feet away from the camera..The picture of the cat I think (just kinda throwing this out there) is about 10-15 feet away...and the cat in the pic looks about to be the same size (maybe a bit bigger).........

That's my theory.

Collin

 

[garp94]

Quote:
Where did you get that info[feral cats larger than pampered, well fed domestic cats]? I have to say i find it hard to believe your source. I've worked with lots of feral cats, and know many who have worked with more. They actually tend to be a little smaller than the average house cat. [healthy at 6 - 8 lbs vs the 8-12 pounds most pet cats should carry but many do not]/ And i am talking about bone structure and not just fat on their bones.

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
Here's the link. The reference is near the bottom, though the whole article is an interesting read.

http://www.exoticcatz.com/sphybridsbobcat.html

It was written by Paul Woods and appears to be very well researched. A lot may depend on where you're researching feral cats as to what you'll find. Those in an area of intense competition and low population of prey animals, and you've probably got skinny cats. This would be especially true in areas where the cats themselves fall prey to other animals and don't tend to have the opportunity to breed and thrive.