This veterinarian, in what appears to be a Middle Eastern country, is cool, controlled and calm in the face of a scary, hissing caracal cub. I think the vet was microchipping the cat. Holding the scruff of the neck subdues to cat for long enough.
The hissing is impressive and so is the signal that it transmits to the vet! Stay away or else. The claws came out too. I hope the cat had not been declawed but it is hard to see. I would not be surprised if he had been declawed as it is common for exotic wild cat pets to undergo this operation. The sort of people who want to possess cats like this don’t genuinely care that much about animal welfare. And these cats when adults are large and strong enough to really hurt if they catch you with their claws.
Caracal
The caracal is a medium-sized African wild cat species. The caracal is very athletic and a genuine wild cat. The cat in the video is on a leash and so has been at least partially socialised and domesticated.
They do not make good pets even when domesticated. I don’t think the veterinarian needs to be told that! I think he did an amazing job. He wasn’t even wearing gloves.
The video does dramatically inform people who think they might like to adopt an exotic small wild cat that it is neither a good idea for them nor the cat.
The caracal in the video might well have been stolen from his mother when a kitten in the wild. This happens quite a lot. There is this manic desire by some people in the Middle East to possess exotic things and exotic cats are status symbols. That’s all they are as they are certainly bloody awful pets.
P.S. The amazing tufted ears of the caracal can be clearly seen. It is thought that they are used for communication. With the cheetah, the caracal has been used by people to hunt. These two species have a history of hunting with their owners. The phrase, “to put a cat among the pigeons” comes from caracals hunting pigeons in India with potentates in the last century. It means to cause trouble.
I do believe it still has it’s claws and I hope to gawd the owner will keep it that way but I wish humans would stop having excotics as pets because to them it is ‘Look at me’ and my wild animal.
The vet did an awesome job. He respected the cat’s displeasure, but didn’t let it change his calm demeanor. He was understanding and non-confrontational. Good job.
The cat was almost unhandleable. The owner, out of camera, is very calm and doesn’t seem to understand the difficulties she is causing by owning a caracal as a pet. The poor animal. Bemused and scared. Personally, I don’t like to see wild cats on leads. It looks wrong.
Eventually owning wild animals will be illegal as well as frowned upon.