D cat man

by Darren
(South Padre Island)

Peanut at 4 months and 9 pounds

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Peanut at 4 months and 9 pounds

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FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
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This cat whose name is Peanut, was found on the bridge between South Padre Island and Port Isabel Texas (see map below added by Michael (Admin)). This "little" fellow is only 6 months old and according to the vet weighs 12 pounds, and is a foot tall already. The vet seems to think that he will reach 20-25 pounds. Peanut has a slightly elongated face, and the vet seems to think that somehow he might be the product of a domestic-wildcat morph or breed.

He is very unique, and also was found just 20-25 miles from an Ocelot refuse at Laguna Atascosa wildlife park. Hmmmmm.... well slight chance. Here is my friend holding him at 4 months, and laying next to him at 6 months. Big boy!!

Maybe someone out there might be able to shed some light on what he could be. Check out the pic.

Darren


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Update August 2011..new picture of Peanut. Darren says, "Well he's 2 now and I wanted to update you with some photos. He's now tipping the scales at 21 pounds. 17 and a half inches tall!" (Comment by Michael: is that 17.5 inches to the shoulder? If so it makes him taller than MAGIC which I don't think is the case).

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D cat man

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Jul 23, 2011 Spam
by: Michael

Sorry for letting this spam get out of control. All the spam has been deleted and the authors banned.

Note: Anyone who makes spam comments. The website being promoted will be reported to Google.com


May 24, 2010 One more pic
by: Michael

Here is one more pic showing his current size at 24th May 2010:


May 24, 2010 More pics
by: Michael

Darren sent some more pics at 24th May 2010. "He just turned a year old and is eclipsing 20 pounds. Still growing.."



Jan 05, 2010 Update 5th Jan 2010 - New Pics
by: Michael

Darren sent me some new pics of the big man:

big feral Savannah cat mix

big feral Savannah cat mix

Thanks Darren. He's getting bigger! Happy New Year to the family.


Jan 04, 2010 Confirmation
by: Darren

Well it is confirmed by a cat expert in Houston. Peanut is definately part Savannah. He looked him over an saw so many characteristics that Savannahs possess. Including the fact that he'll catch with his paws, whatever you throw him. He says wild cats do that. Also he is now 8 months and 16 pounds.


Dec 16, 2009 Beautiful
by: Jan Plant

This cat, Peanut, sure is a cutie. If he's that size now, you may need a bigger house!LOL! He's a beauty. Sorry, sure couldn't even begin to guess breed.


Nov 17, 2009 More Pics
by: Darren

Here are some more pics of Peanut:

large mackerel tabby cat that could be a Savannah hybrid

large mackerel tabby cat that could be a Savannah hybrid

Comment: He does look like a Savannah cat. Particularly his face and nose. Although, of course, he is a tabby cat too (as are Savannahs incidentally)...Michael


Nov 15, 2009 update
by: Darren

Peanut is now 6 months and 14 pounds. He gained 2 pounds in two weeks according to the vet. The Savannah is definately a possible parent. I thought he was one just because of what I read from this site, and what I saw on Animal Planet. He is for sure is a special kitty! If anyone else has an insight, please post a comment! Thanks!

Darren


Nov 14, 2009 SV
by: Anonymous

Hi Darren,

This looks very much like a Savannah kitten to me. His wide long nose bridge ~also looks like he has a good bit of 'nose leather', what looks like cheetah tears and maybe the marks on the back of the ear... is there a white or whitish bar in the middle of the back of the ear, by chance? This is usually present on a Savannah cat (Serval hybrid)but not always.


Oct 31, 2009 Unique pattern, but hardly ocelot
by: Finn Frode, Denmark

What a fine cat he is - and a most unusual pattern. It seems as if the tabby spots on his back merges into regular stripes towards his belly? I've never seen that before.
As to his roots, you mention an ocelot refuse, but as the ocelot belongs to a different genus of cats, I doubt it would be able to breed with domestic cats.
It is far more likely that a bengal or an occicat is part of his mix - or that he is the unique result of non-spotted genes acting together. As you may know, the spotted Occicat is a result of mixing Abyssinian with Siamese - and the outcome doesn't look like either of them at all. 😉
All that can be said for sure is that he is a tabby shorthair mixed breed - and that's not a bad thing at all (see the article 'What breed is my cat'). And with that unique pattern and big size he is sure to be noticed anyway. 😉


Oct 28, 2009 Pictures
by: Michael (PoC Admin)

Hi Darren, thanks for sharing. If you would like to email me some pictures I'll put them into the page. My email address is:

mjbmeister [at] gmail.com

substitute the [at] for @

Naturally occurring wild cat hybrids happen quite a lot particularly in places like Africa (African wild cat) and in Scotland (the Scottish Wild Cat) so it is not far fetched to think it can happen on South Padre Island.

I'll do some more work on it to see if I can find something to support the possibility.



Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.

Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

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19 Responses

  1. Kristin says:

    Thank you for your replies! My biggest reason for wanting to know what he is mixed with is because after doing research I found that it is illegal in Texas to have a hybrid cat. I just don’t want to have any issues when it comes to taking him to the vet. Is that not something I will have to worry about? I see you are also in Texas. Thanks again!

  2. Kristin says:

    Here is one more picture to give you a better look at his body and tail. He is a sweet boy and we love him. He likes to spend a lot of time outside.

  3. Kristin says:

    Peanut seems to look a lot like my cat, Tiger. He is 2 years old and a new member of our family. After taking him into our home, the person we got him from told us his father was a bobcat. I do believe he has some kind of wild cat in him by the way he looks, but his tail is not short? Anyone care to give some input?

    • Michael Broad says:

      I’ll write a fuller reply in a while. Thanks for sharing Kristin.

    • Michael Broad says:

      Hi Kristin. Well he does have some wild cat in him! But all domestic cats do. They are barely domesticated compared to dogs. Peanut is a super looking mackerel tabby cat. He is a random bred cat. His father is not a bobcat. I guess you knew that.

      Thanks for sharing. He’s a lovely cat.

    • Eman says:

      I think your right . I’ve been trying to figure out the breed of my cat and he looks almost exactly like peanut . I came to the conclusion that he might be a mix breed of Pixie Bob and Bengal. my cat has a sagging stomach and when I searched why it came up that these to breeds have this trait. I hope that helps

  4. Jesi says:

    Nvm he has the roundness 0.o I just never noticed it until now. The vets all say they think mine is part bob cat cuz it’s so big but looking at ur images and comparing to my cat they look like they could be siblings lol! A Savannah… just wow that never crossed my mind. However it does explain his personality. He jumps over stuff instead of walking around like a tipical cat and likes to lick random mild dogs on the face and is super picky when its food time. He will walk away if it’s not the flavor he wanted then get grumpy from being hungry and start clawing the sofa. xp fun times!

  5. Jesi says:

    That’s so odd my cat looks a lot like yours, even has the coat patterns and size! But not the face roundness. Honestly I found my cat on the street that had been wondering the neighborhood since he was a kitten. Some friends/neighbors would feed him but no one claimed him so I took him in. If their the same type of cat I would love to know what breed it is as well 😀

    • Michael Broad says:

      Jessi, thanks for sharing your photos and writing about your boy. The most likely answer about his pedigree is that he is a random bred tabby cat. That’s the truth of it. However, he is damned handsome. And many thanks again.

      • Jesi says:

        Yeah I’m sorry but I don’t believe he’s a tipical tabby. He’s too tall (I’m 5’2 and he can stretch out to more than half my height) and he does weird things. Like running like a panther with his paws curled inwards.

        Some people claim he’s part Egyptian mau because his spots change to tan underneath and he does a weird meow. But honestly I will probably never figure it out.

        • Michael Broad says:

          Well, he may have some wild cat hybrid blood in him or some purebred cat in him. But as you say you won’t know. The thing is this: even random bred tabbies can be very large and have characters that are similar to wild cat hybrids. As to vocalisations domestic cats do vary a lot on this. My tabby feral rescue does not meow and he barks occasionally and squeeks. Anyway I love your cat.

  6. Terri says:

    Thanks Michael. Just to be clear, I was thinking your beautiful cat Peanut might possibly be a distant generation (maybe 3rd or 4th?) Caracal hybrid (not my cat),though of course there is no way of knowing, I was just looking at the shape of Peanut’s ears. There actually are Caracal hybrids, are usually combined with Abyssinian breed cats, and sometimes also combined with Servals and African Jungle cats as well(from what I can see online). Some do have stripes. My cat Bob is also most likely a distant hybrid of some kind – the tell-tale feature is that thick bone structure on his brow (forehead)(aka hooded brow or hooded eye) that hybrids and wild cats have but not normal domestic cat breeds (seen prominently in first photo with red arrow). Bob is actually the first cat I had seen with this, and so started my research into cat breeds to try to find cats that looked like him. It was when I found the hybrid breeds that I started to see cats that looked like him. None of the domestic cats have that feature. A vet who has worked with big cats pointed it out to me as well on his first kitten visit, but at that time I didn’t even know hybrids existed. He has also always been heavy and muscular for his size (16 pounds), but not fat. On food, he gets diarrhea from canned cat food since he was a kitten. My domestic kitten did too, but outgrew it. When I started giving Bob a choice of dry food, he chose only that, and never went back. Bob will watch my other 2 cats run hungrily to their canned food bowl when I feed them (and stalk them as they go by), but will not touch it himself, no interest at all. I am thinking maybe it has too much fat in it for his system. In play, he jumps and catches his toy in the air with both paws together, and then stuffs it into his mouth. I use a leather thong which I tie to a toy, and he uses such force he usually pulls it out of my hand. His shape also looks unusual(long feet about 1.5 times longer than other cats), long body, big ears, prominent nose about twice as wide as my other domestic cats, big teeth, long neck, back hips higher than shoulders (from big back feet), rounded back side with long tail. If he is, I am thinking maybe a 5th or 6th generation hybrid. Other than those features, yes. he does look like any other tabby. Thanks.

  7. Terri says:

    Here is another picture of my cat Bob.

  8. Terri says:

    I just wanted to say that looking at the close up picture of Peanut he struck me immediately that he is a Caracal hybrid because of the shape of the ears (two sections), and the hint of a little tuft on top the ears like Caracals, both of which Savannahs don’t normally seem to have. Also the white markings on the muzzle are just like Caracals. I have a big boy as well, Bob, which I also suspect is hybrid as he has a hooded brow / eye, and several hybrid features. And he also catches toys with his paws. (He also throws his toys in the air so he can catch them.) I think he’s possibly Savannah or maybe an African Wildcat hybrid. I don’t know because he was given to me as a kitten, no questions asked. He refuses to eat any canned cat food or treats, will only eat dry food, and will play in water when given the chance. I have been trying to figure him out. He is a very sweet cat that sleeps at my feet every night, more bonded than my other domestic cats.

    • Michael Broad says:

      Hi Terri. He is a very handsome cat. To be honest I don’t know if there are caracal hybrids and the chances of him being one are very remote. Remember that the tabby cat is descended from the African wildcat so there will be wild cat elements to the anatomy. The fact that he only eats dry cat food indicates he has been raised as a domestic cat on dry cat food and he’s probably a really lovely domestic mackerel tabby cat. Thanks for sharing. I’d try and wean him off the dry cat food very slowly.

  9. ian says:

    he’s about 4 to 6 months oldhe’s definitely has some wild characteristics verses other cats I have owned and it’s actually quite funny and amusing sometimessometimes you ruined valuable things but I like those things go at the part of owning a cat you know

  10. ian says:

    my wife had a kitty come up to her about 4 months old looks exactly like your kitty wild / domestic looking I should send you pics this kitty is so long when he lays down you canT tell when he’s walking aroundI think these cats are domestic cats going out and meeting with Bobcats savannahs Linksys

    • He does have that slightly wild look. He also has a beautiful tabby coat. It is a spotted/mackerel tabby grey coat or grey brown and a fantastic classic “M” on the forehead indicating the tabby coat. Thank you for uploading your photograph of your cat.

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