Bob cat

Bob cats (felis rufus) indigenous to the USA, this cat when bottled raised makes a good pet, males and females need to be altered both will spray. The Bob Cat will range in weight 20 lb. to 30 lb. will eat canned or dry food (use only high quality cat food) always need some chicken in diet. If put in a cage the Bob Cat will revert back to the wild.

Zoological name: Felis rufus

Species: The Bobcat is a close relative of Eurasian Lynx. Some authorities regard both as conspecific. However, in some characterstics the Bobcat is more similar to the Canadian Lynx than to Eurasian Lynx.

- Similar species
The Bobcat is the only wild cat with a short tail and a spotted or striped pattern. The Mountain Lion is much larger and has a uniform tawny color and a long tail.

Physical appearance: A medium-sized, short-tailed, reddish brown or grayish cat about the size of a chow dog; upperparts reddish brown, streaked with black; underparts whitish, spotted with black; back of ears black-rimmed, with white in center; ears usually slightly tufted; hair on sides of head long, producing a ruff; pelage elsewhere rather short; tail usually shorter than hind foot; the tip black above and white below, with three or four blackish bars above just in front of tip; legs relatively long; feet large, with five toes in front, four behind.

Presence on the planet: The bobcat is confined almost exclusively to the contiguous 48 states of the USA. It is historically present in all of them. The range extends south into Mexico to the river Mescale at 18° North Latitude and north to 50° North Latitude in Canada. In the Rockies they extend slightly further north.

Habitat: Bobcats are found in pine forests, mountainous regions, semi-deserts and scrublands, and subtropical swamps. They are unable to survive on the treeless Canadian prairies, or at altitudes higher than 3,600 metres. They climb trees and rocky areas as refuges.

Diet: Their food consists mainly of small mammals and birds. The stomachs of 118 bobcats contained the following (expressed in percentages): mammals, 65.8 (44.5 of which were harmful species, 20.5 beneficial, 1.1 neutral); birds (bait), 3.1; fish (bait), 0.6; unidentified foods, 3.1; miscellaneous material (not food), 27.1. Among the mammals, wood rats, ground squirrels, mice, and rabbits supply the bulk of the diet. Although deer occasionally are killed and eaten, most of the deer meat found in bobcat stomachs has been carrion. They also prey upon domestic sheep, goats, and poultry but the damage done is rarely great.

Reproduction & Offspring: : The breeding season begins usually in February, and after a gestation period of about 60 days the two to seven young are born. Average litter size is three. The young are well-furred and spotted at birth; their eyes open in about 9 days. The kittens are weaned when about 2 months old. They remain with their mother until early fall, at which time they begin to fend for themselves. Females do not breed during their first year, but they may mate between their first and second years and breed annually afterwards until 8-9 years of age

Bob Cats
Conservation status:Bobcats are listed in CITES Appendix II. There are probably almost one million bobcats living in the United States. In some areas they are quite rare, while in others they have stable and sometimes dense populations. Hence some states allow regulated hunting, while in others they are protected.

Life span: 15 to 20 years.