Do bobcats attack dogs?

Do bobcats attack dogs? According to the best reference book on wild cats¹, the bobcat does not attack dogs although this medium-seized, iconic, wild cat species does prey on domestic stock including sheep and goats. However, bobcats are good climbers and will climb a tree if pursued by dogs i.e. they are scared of dogs.

In short bobcats don’t normally attack dogs. The domestic dog is not a prey item for the bobcat. In general the dog is too dangerous for the bobcat.

However, there are videos on the internet discussing bobcats attacking dogs. In one, a bobcat bursts into a woman’s home and attacks a small dog. In fact, the cat chased a small dog into the home through an opened patio door and promptly raced out again. In another video it was reported that a bobcat attacked a man and his dog. And in a third a ‘hero bystander saves a dog from a bobcat attack’. However in the video the bobcat appears to have attacked a man in the street clamping his jaws onto the man’s hand before running away (see image on this page). The reasons behind this are unexplained and it looks very odd.

Bobcats don’t attack people unless there is an unusual and pressing reason.

The overall conclusion is that bobcats don’t attack dogs but exceptional a peculiar set of circumstances may arise which results in a bobcat attacking a small dog. There may’ve been some unreported attacks dogs over they years but they’ll be rare I suspect.

The bobcat can attack and kill relatively large prey such as deer weighing 45-67 kilograms. However, deer are a very different type of animal to dogs. For the cat it is about the chances of success and being hurt. Dogs are unsuitable. The bobcat just isn’t that big an animal. For instance the largest female bobcat recorded is 15.9 kilograms (35 pounds). That weight is about twice the weight of a reasonable large domestic cat of normal conformation (i.e. not obese). Frankly the bobcat is incapable of attacking most dogs.

Ref: 1 Wild Cats Of The World ISBN 0-226-77999-8