Bobcat Hybrids

The Bobcat (F Rufus) will mate with domestic cats and there are several breeds that have claimed to be descended from such matings.

In a detailed study of the wild bobcat published in 1958, Stanley Young wrote of an apparently successful mating between a male Bobcat and a domestic cat at Sandy Creek, Texas during 1949. The offspring were observed by several persons in the area.

Young also mentioned a similar occurrence in 1954 in South Dakota where a black female domestic cat mated with a wild male Bobcat. In June 1954 she produced seven kittens as a result of this mating. Three kittens had bobtails, large feet, tufted ears and were light grey in colour, speckled with black dots on the belly, legs and sides. The ears were larger than usual, and hard and stiff with quarter inch ear tufts. Unfortunately on 27th June they were killed by a marauding domestic tomcat when less than a month old. The details of this 2nd case do not stand up to modern scrutiny. 4 of the alleged hybrid kittens were black and resembled domestic kittens except for having larger feet. As solid black is a recessive trait not found in bobcats, these kittens had to have been wholly domestic and not hybrids.

JS Gashwiler, WL Robinette and OW Morris (1961) described a litter of 5 kittens where 2 resembled domestic cats and 3 resembled bobcats. The bobcat-like kittens were shorthaired with tufted ears and white bellies with black spots. All 5 kittens were very wild. As adults, the alleged hybrids resembled dark coloured bobcats, but were little bigger than domestic tomcats.

In his book "A Cat Is Watching", Roger Caras documented a case of a presumed bobcat hybrid. The cat's personality quirks included a liking for licking gold (e.g. Mrs Caras's wedding ring). The cat was obtained as a stray and it was believed that someone in the region was mating bobcats to domestics to produce bobtailed cats. In a volume on cat breeds, American Bobtail breeder Rose Estes was quoted as saying that bobcats were more likely to mate with oestrus Siamese females than with other breeds. At the time of those accounts (1980s), the American Bobtail was claimed to be a bobcat hybrid.

The alleged bobcat hybrid breeds are the "American Lynx" (and related "Lynx" breeds), "American Bobtail" and the polydactylous "Pixie-Bob" (no genetic evidence of hybridization). The bobcat heritage of both the American Bobtail and the Pixie-Bob is anecdotal and based on their appearance; genetic analysis has thus far failed to find any bobcat genes and these are classed as wholly domestic cats. In early advertising, the American Lynx claimed up to 25% bobcat blood (i.e. quarter bobcat) and the Desert Lynx 12.5% (Bobcat within 3 generations), but bobcat markers have not been identified in its genes and these, and related breeds, are classed as wholly domestic. Bobcat blood, if it was ever present at all, is now too dilute to be detected.

The PixieBob Jungle cat hybrids and Bengals were introduced early into some Pixie-Bob lines. After TICA initially recognized the PixieBob there was an open registry and similar-looking cats of American Bobtail, Japanese Bobtail, Maine Coon, Manx may have been registered as PixieBob. TICA also permitted "Legend Cats" (supposed bobcat hybrids) to be registered as PixieBobs and there are suggestions that spotted Chausie variants were registered as Legend Cats. A Jungle Cat hybrid called El Gato del Oro, became the most awarded Pixie-Bob of all time.

Although it is speculated that the Desert Lynx breed group (American Lynx, Desert Lynx, Highland Lynx, Alpine Lynx and Mohave Bob) is derived from bobcat crosses DNA testing has not confirmed bobcat ancestry. These cats are therefore considered wholly domestic by registries. Some early claims for the breeds suggested the percentage of bobcat blood. American Lynx were derived from supposed bobcat hybrids bred in Arizona. Desert Lynx have the addition of short-tailed domestic cats. Highland Lynx are derived from Desert Lynx and Jungle Curl crosses and are curl-eared versions of the Desert Lynx and have Jungle cat genes in addition to bobcat genes. Some Desert Lynx breeders introduced Jungle Cats or Bengals to ensure a spotted breed. Maine Coons, with their size, rugged look, shaggy fur and tufted ears, enhanced the lynx-like look. The genetic mix included PixieBobs, American Bobtails and Manx, all of which have short or bobbed tails.

The Alpine Lynx is a white variety that traces back to two kittens born to a silver-and-white barn cat in the Turtle Mountains, North Dakota near the Manitoba border. The kittens were larger and wilder than normal and there were no pure white male domestic cats in the area. There was a white bobcat known as Witte Wolk ("White Cloud" in Dutch). These were bred to Highland Lynx and therefore can have curled ears as well as polydactyl paws. The cats are not albino, but carry the dominant white gene (properly termed epistatic white). Sceptics have noted that the dominant white gene can only have come from a free-roaming white domestic cat as all white bobcats examined have been albinos (a recessive gene).

The Mohave Bob breed is a rexed Desert Lynx developed by crossing Desert Lynx with Selkirk Rex to introduced the rexed coat type. Both longhaired and shorthaired varieities exist. The conformation is essentially that of the Desert Lynx: intelligent, large-boned, muscular cats with longer hind legs, tufted ears and possibly tufted toes. It has large, wide-set ears on a broad head with a broad, pronounced muzzle and wide-set eyes with heavy brows. The tail varies from absent, as in the Manx cat, to a hock-length bobtail. A natural short tail is preferred. The preferred patterns are tawny (ticked tabby with tabby pencillings on face, barring on legs and tail and sometimes necklaces), leopard (spotted/rosetted), and clouded leopard (a marbled pattern) although solids and classic or mackerel tabbies also occur. Silver series, sepias (Burmese colour restriction), minks (Tonkinese colour restriction) and snows (colourpoints) also occur and the eye colour matches the colour. The patterns occur in all colours except for tortoiseshell or bicolour. There may be a faint spotted pattern on tawny (ticked) individuals.

Mohave Bobs, Highland Lynx, Desert Lynx, and Alpine Lynx may be bred together, with offspring registered according to their appearance. Solid white offspring with either straight or curled coats and either straight or curled ears are considered Alpine Lynx. Non-white kittens with rexed coats are considered Mohave Bobs. Non-white kittens with straight coats and straight ears are considered Desert Lynx. Non-white kittens with straight coats and curled ears are considered Highland Lynx. As curled ears and white colour are both dominant traits, there is no danger of these occurtring as unwanted recessive traits in other Lynx varieties within the Desert Lynx grouping.

Until recently there has been no definitive genetic test for bobcat genes in a domestic cat. Dr Joy Halverson at Zoogen Labs is now conducting genetic testing for bobcat genes in domestic cats. Although hybrids of domestic cats with other small cats have been proven through captive breeding and upheld by testing the offspring for the markers of the two parents, bobcat hybrids seem to rely on anecdotal evidence as the bobcat parent is generally wild-roaming or the mating was several generations previously. Though there are claims of captive breeding and a few photos showing captive bobcats apparently mating with domestics, there is no firm evidence. Cats ovulate following mating and may mate with multiple males during oestrus. Where kittens have resulted these may have been sired not by the observed bobcat mating, but by subsequent domestic tomcats. Because the speculated first generation hybrids come from domestic females mated with bobcats, the mitochondrial DNA is wholly domestic (it is inherited from the mother only).

On the other hand, bobcat-hybrid breeders can still claim benefit of the doubt because current genetic tests can only prove a kitten is the offspring of two known cats rather than simply detecting wildcat genes (for example, even in known chaus hybrids, chaus genetic markers could not be identified). If bobcat hybrids occurred naturally, the bobcat would lose its distinctive looks due to interbreeding with the more numerous feral cat in just the same way the Scottish Wildcat is becoming increasingly mongrelized. Mapping of the feline genome and more refined genetic testing will eventually answer the question. Meanwhile, bobcat hybrids may be possible but very, very rare compared to other hybrids, and domestic cats that resemble bobcats appear to be due to natural selection among feral cats or artificial selection by breeders.

In cryptozoological circles, alien big cat writer Nigel Brierly incorrectly suggested that the Maine Coon breed of domestic cat is a hybrid between domestic cats and the Lynx (native to North America). This is incorrect and is unnecessarily alarming. The Maine Coon's size, build and shaggy appearance are due to natural selection for a rugged build and protective coat by fierce New England winters. There are no confirmed hybrids between the Lynx and domestic cats and there would almost certainly be a similar size difference/gestation period difference to that encountered in serval hybrids. There is only anecdotal data on the interfertility of the lynx and the domestic cat, however the lynx-like bobcat is interfertile with both the domestic cat and the lynx so it is possible that the domestic cat and lynx are interfertile.

The Maine Coon is a naturally occurring domestic cat descended from cats imported by colonists. Despite myths about its origins, it is not a hybrid with either the lynx or the bobcat any more than it is a cat/racoon hybrid. Claims regarding its size are frequently exaggerated by journalists. Some males can reach 25 lb, but most do not exceed 18 lb (except for obese individuals). In general, Maine Coons have gentle temperaments. Brierly's concerns included the danger to the Brown Hare in the UK. The Maine Coon is probably less of a threat to hares than are hare-coursing (with greyhounds) and hunting with hounds (with beagles or harriers). Brierly's sources were a lady from Maine whose Maine Coon had been destroyed after it had badly bitten her young child, and a Maine Coon in a multi-cat household where it bullied the other cats. Having read that they can grow to over 20 lbs he concluded they were not ideal pets. In the former case, the owner had passed on one of the Maine Coon myths and the child possibly provoked the cat once too many times (behavioural problems are a major cause of euthanasia in the USA). In the latter case, the "vicious" Maine Coon may be reacting to overcrowding. His views were, therefore, based on two cats and a myth rather than on more detailed research into the breed, its traits and its origins.

To breed a cat/lynx hybrid, the two would need to be raised together otherwise the lynx would view the smaller domestic cat as prey. Gestational mismatch would present similar problems to those encountered by Savannah breeders (see Fertility Issues. Even if a lynx had mated with a cat in the early days of the Maine Coon, this would have been more than 200 years ago and generations of selective breeding would have eradicated any of the lynx's wild temperament (Maine Coons were well established by the 1800s and exhibited at cat shows as early as 1861). The Maine Coon is not a hybrid and is no more dangerous to humans or wildlife than any other domestic cat.

K Ackerman (1898) wrote that hybridization between the domestic cat and European Lynx (F lynx) has been alleged. All reported Lynx hybrids have been based on circumstantial evidence.

In 2002 I was contacted by someone who had a acquired a Bengal x Canadian Lynx (i.e. wild Lynx) hybrid from a breeder who was using a Canadian Lynx sire on female Bengals. So far, I have no confirmation that the cat, a male, is a genuine lynx hybrid although it is described as having lynx-like features and to be temperamental and liable to claw its owner. Disturbingly the cat was sold as a domestic pet. If this pet is a genuine first generation Lynx/Bengal hybrid then it is irresponsible of the breeder to sell it as a pet to an owner who was unprepared for its non-domestic temperament. First generation wild/domestic crosses do not generally have domestic temperaments and are rarely suitable as domestic pets.

In December 2004, I received information about another claimed lynx x domestic cat hybrid born in July 2004. The sire was allegedly a full-blood Canadian Lynx and her dam a Bengal mix. Information from several other sources and further investigations disputed her ancestry, claiming that the supposed sire had been deceased for over a year prior to the cat's birth and had also been neutered. Independent sources, and the supposed hybrid's own appearance, indicate that the true sire was a jungle cat (hence the wild look). DNA testing for lynx markers was not available and the cat has since been spayed.

The only photo of Pedro has been in Crystal's father's wallet for over 20 years and is in poor shape. Crystal writes: "It is kind of hard to tell Pedro's size from the picture - until you take a regular housecat and put them around your shoulders that way, or compare a human's head size to a reguar housecat's. You can also see some of his coloration, although not that well - in the winter he was white but in the summer he developed different markings. You can't see the ear tufts here either, but he did have them. "

Pedro was huge for a cat. When he stretched out to sleep on windowsills, his hindquarters were barely supported on one end and his head hung off the other. His colouring changed in the winter when he grew his winter coat. He had a fierce temperament and was possessive of Crystal's father (not unusual for a hand-reared kitten). He also reacted adversely to the colour black and once bit through Crystal's mother's toe one night when she wore a black night-gown to bed. Her mother left the nightgown in a corner when she went to hospital and Pedro urinated all over it. Apart from attacks provoked by black garments, Pedro was apparently devoted to his immediate family and tolerant of the children. If a baby was left on a blanket in the floor, Pedro would pace around the blanket and not allow anyone except the baby's parents to touch the child. He was extremely devoted to Crystal's father and allowed him to clip his claws and bathe him. Crystal remembers trying to climb on Pedro's back as a very small child; Pedro just lay down and waited until she got tired of the game.

Pedro was aggressive (probably territorial) towards dogs and neutered cats and would fight and kill both. He was attempted to mate any unneutered female he found. As a result of his antisocial and often vicious behaviour, the local police required him to be restrained or confined. Since Pedro had managed to break windows to get outside, he had to be tied to a cinderblock in the yard to slow him down enough that the other animals had a chance to escape. Although this sounds cruel, it was the only way to restrain a large cat that was capable of harming humans. Antisocial behaviour towards other cats can be related to hand-rearing, but in this case may have been inherited from a wildcat father. Certainly his size, strength and wildness are suggestive of a captive lynx and there were manageability problems comparable to those for a captive wild animal.

Interestingly for a supposed hybrid, Pedro was fertile. Crystal's grandmother owned a Persian named Booboo (who was a polydactyl due to inbreeding). Pedro and Booboo were mated, resulting in three litters. The maximum litter size was three kittens. Two litters were delivered naturally, but the third required a caeserian and Booboo was spayed at the same time. The kittens were intelligent, friendly and grew into abnormally large cats. There are no details of whether these kittens were bred and their presumed lynx genes spread further in the domestic cat population. Crystal remarked that many people are attracted to the notoriety of owning a first-cross hybrid cat, but it takes a lot of energy to tame and train such an animal as it largely takes after the wild parent. Pedro displayed more of his presumed wild genes than his domestic ones and could have been very dangerous if he had not been hand-reared. In many regions, first cross hybrids are classed as wild animals and must be housed and controlled as for a purebred wild animal.

MESSYBEAST SMALL CAT HYBRIDS