I'm getting a pet...

[Baphnedia]

...I know that it might be intrinsically wrong to say that I'm getting a Cat on a Canis Lupus forum, but, that's that.

It'll be fun, Sunday is when I'm picking him up.

[Ink]

What kinda kitty?

[Doruk Golcu]

Cats are good. Especially leopards. They are graceful.

[PariahPoet]

Aww, I'm jealous. I wish I could have a kitty at my apartment. My stupid face neighbors won't even let me feed a pair of strays that live around here. -_-

[Baphnedia]

I'd love to have a Big Kitty here... but probably not happening. The only one I know of was a bobcat / something cross that weighed only 85 pounds, owned by a frind of mine out in the country.

When I get him, pictures cometh.

[vrikasatma]

Bobcat cross...85 pounds? Crossed with what?
That's bigger than a lynx. You're getting into snow leopard/clouded leopard size in that range.
Now, bobcat weighing in at half that figure — that I'd believe.
I just saw a wild cat show at the outdoorsmen's show last weekend. They had a 5-month-old caracal catkin who was lovin' all over the handler: hugs, grooming his sideburns, rubby head, the whole shebang. It was even funnier when they brought out the 250-pound Siberian tiger cub — 16 months old! — and she did the same thing!

[wolfbound]

if i had a kitty i would play with it all the time. lol

but for real. cats are great.... when they are out side.

just kidding. the best thing about cats. you put a box in the corner and point and say "there." and boom! potty trained.

[Ronkonkoma]

i plan on eventually getting a small parrot, preferably a Senegal

[vrikasatma]

My candy teacher had parrots, I think she had Senegals. My brother has a blue-fronted Amazon. Thing's about 30 years old and mean as all hell. Bites him sometimes...I'll see him and his hand or arm will have a hole in it...

[Renorei]

Bobcat cross...85 pounds? Crossed with what?
That's bigger than a lynx. You're getting into snow leopard/clouded leopard size in that range.
Now, bobcat weighing in at half that figure — that I'd believe.

Hybrid vigor, maybe? For example, the weight of a liger is more than that of a tiger or lion, not an average of the two.


As for me...I've always been more of a dog person. Which is not to say that I don't like cats, I just prefer canines. I like them because it seems like they're easier to play with.

Nonetheless, there are certain pleasures a cat owner has that a dog owner doesn't. Congratulations on your new kitty!

[Shadow Wulf]

I usually get really annoyed with house cats, thier selfish, spoiled, they have no respect for anyone, they have no obedients and you have no control over them. yeah thier cute, and they are only good to play with when thier young, but from what I understand you arent getting just any house cat, so it should be a completly new experience for you.

[Apokryltaros]

On the contrary:
Before he disappeared a month ago, our cat, Lassie was exceptionally well-trained for a cat.
He would come when we called his name.

[vrikasatma]

Yeah...and my cat's just plain spoiled...
He tries to crawl into my lap when I get on the computer (I have a laptop).
The nice thing is he grooms my eyebrows and shares my pillow at night

[Shadow Wulf]

Yeah my cat sassy follows me all around outside, what I really like about her is that she nibbles at you when she purs and it just feels funny.

[vrikasatma]

H'mm...Fetelbaum does that, he lays in my arms and kneads and purrs and then he tries to do the tomcat jaw-clench on my hand. Thought that was a boy-kitty thing...

[Apokryltaros]

H'mm...Fetelbaum does that, he lays in my arms and kneads and purrs and then he tries to do the tomcat jaw-clench on my hand. Thought that was a boy-kitty thing...

Or, it could be that he's attempting to dominate your hand?

[Anubis]

i have two cats one is a loner doesn't really hang around with any one, the other is a freaken mainiac this is why my mom named it "Attack cat"(don't ask me why my mom named it that)

[Set]

I'd love to have a Big Kitty here...

Ha...hahahahaha... Do you have any idea of the sheer stupidity of that statement? It's like people who want wolfdogs, they don't realize how dumb that is either.

but probably not happening.

Thank Ra for that. It's far better for both you, and the poor animal that would've been in your care otherwise.

The only one I know of was a bobcat / something cross that weighed only 85 pounds, owned by a frind of mine out in the country.

On the subject of bobcats: I used to know a guy who had one. Raised it from a baby. I live out near the Savannah River Site where they make weapons grade radioactive stuff, among other things. There was a mother bobcat and her kittens in a place where they really shouldnt've been, so they shooed her away, but she left the babies. So a few of the guys took them. The rest died but his lived.

Mean as hell that cat. He had it defanged, and he still had tons of scratches and scars all over him from where the cat would claw and bite him. Who in their right mind would want an animal like a bobcat? You can't take them to the vet, and it's ILLEGAL to have wild animals as pets without tons of permits. I'm damn surprised no one arrested the idiot.

Good luck with your new kitty. Hopefully it's a generic housecat and not an exotic...

[vrikasatma]

I agree, one shouldn't have a big cat unless they're prepared to go into it full time. As in, "You have a big cat. This is the rest of your life."

As for keeping big cats (and other wild animals) in captive populations: it's saving the Siberian tiger, it's saving the Amur leopard, it saved a lot of other animal species that would have gone extinct otherwise. We have peregrine falcons in the wild today because wildlife management people partnered with falconers to create a captive breeding population. This is why it's so crucial that anyone who goes into keeping big cats in captivity be absolutely prepared to devote their lives to it and not go into it just because it'd be "cool."

[Ink]

Exotics (as in Non-native animals) can be housed for the sheer fact they're exotic. (Unless law explicitly defines them as illegal.) Exotics will find homes with us because if they don't they either cannot exist in the area they are non-native of or if they are introduced they could devistate the ecosystem.Note: This doesn't mean it's a good thing but with deminishing natural habitat it's the only thing that will allow a healthy population to exist and keep them from extinction.

Native wildlife is usually not housed because it could be living in the wild, thus it is illegal.

The only exception: Rehab animals, animals for educational purposes, scientificly kept animals, and the only known sport to utilize wild animals for the hunting of game - Falconry.

[spoiler]Falconry is important. It allows us an interconnection with nature with a boldly positive outcome. There's a 70% mortality rate for these birds in their first two years in the wild. Falconry helps them get their footing and then allows them to go back to the wild to successfully breed new offspring and carry on the population.

It's a highly protected, unbelievably regulated and fascinating sport which demands a lifestyle out of it's participants. It takes two years chasing paperwork for the state and federal government, finding a sponsor for your apprenticship, taking the yearly given exam, plus building a mews (hawk house), having the mews and your equipment inspected by the state, and trapping a passage (first year) bird. And after the two years of that tail chasing you still have to work for a General or Master level falconer to complete your apprenticeship.
[/spoiler]
People should realize unless they are a permit holding and trained individual, like a rehabilitator or falconer, they shouldn't be doing what they're doing... namely because they probably don't know what they're doing.

[vrikasatma]

Yeah, I knew about that. I looked into getting into falconry in high school but found out I couldn't apprentice until I was 18. By then, I was out of the house and into an apartment, so there went that theory.

And now...yeah, I'm still interested, but I'm still in an apartment. I'd probably get a Harris's hawk because they're friendlier and fly better than redtails and can catch more than kestrels. Sure, you can handle a kestrel without a glove, but they don't catch anything exciting. "Oh, look, she caught a...grasshopper. Good girl! I'll skin it and cook this up right now..."

It's much the same for keeping exotic cats, you have to apprentice at a recognized zoo or circus for two years, get licensed after having your facilities inspected and approved by the state, and then the real work begins.

I'd like to note that Texas has a booming captive big cat population. In fact, there are more tigers in the state than there are in China. You can breed anything in Texas, which is the main reason it's the epicentre of the exotic animal trade in this country.

We have a number of people who keep exotic cats here in Oregon. That's probably because the state isn't all built up and overpopulated so it's possible to buy forty acres for your Siberian tiger, snow leopard or cheetah to run around in.

[Ink]

Apprentices can only have Redtails or Kestrels in the states as far as I know. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

So two years of that and such. And usually both seasons you'll catch and train new birds for experience, releasing those that you train until you become a General Falconer in year three. And then you could get an Harris. People do love them a lot. I really fancy the redtail and would like to try my hand with a Ferruginous hawk one day. But, then again, I like big birds, even as somewhat tempermental as the Ferruginous hawk.

They've got the plan now to let people use Harris Hawks for Apprentices if the legislative plans go through in the next five years.

If you get any cold weather those birds are useless, though. They cannot go freezing temperatures, they are nothing like the redtail as far as hardiness ... and while Redtails aren't social like the HH's, they still say some of them aren't keen on going 'goodbye!' ... I mean, to them, while they could care less about you, they know you mean food.

I'm still planning on the falconry thing. I wish I'd gotten into it sooner, actually. I never took my parents up on the 'sport' choice like my sister did (with unbelievable Paint and Pinto horse competition).

I contacted (and am still in contact with) a few falconers about it and am on enough mailing lists to drive me insane (over 200 emails a day). A lot of them waited it out to becoming one. Some even waited till retirement. It's a process, after all, and one's life has to be stable enough to marry a person into the art of it all. I mean, in season it's got to be trying -- every day, two to five hours of non-stop hawking. It goes on mind-numbing the hours that'll be used into it all.

Ooo -- the big cat tidbit is also some cool information. And didn't one of the Govenor's of Texas, in the past, have a few tigers?

[Baphnedia]

I'd love to have a Big Kitty here...

Ha...hahahahaha... Do you have any idea of the sheer stupidity of that statement? It's like people who want wolfdogs, they don't realize how dumb that is either.

but probably not happening.

Thank Ra for that. It's far better for both you, and the poor animal that would've been in your care otherwise.

Ok - time for some clarification: Exotic pets, like big cats, don't go into cities. I live within city limits (albiet at the edge of them) and I don't have a permit. As much as I'd like to have a 40-60lb (at maturity) cat, the chances of that actually transpiring are zilch.

For falconry, I knew some of the reasons behind the sport, but now, I'm surprised to learn what good it's done for falcons. So far as my cat goes, I've got to go get supplies and all that crazy stuff.

[Set]

Ok - time for some clarification: Exotic pets, like big cats, don't go into cities. I live within city limits (albiet at the edge of them) and I don't have a permit. As much as I'd like to have a 40-60lb (at maturity) cat, the chances of that actually transpiring are zilch.

Clarification is good. After all, I have no idea where you live or what you'd consider a "big cat". My point, however, remains the same. They are not pets. Never have been, never will be.

I'd much rather come across as a jerk and spare you and an animal alot of grief than be nice and let you both suffer.

Ink: Since you're into the falconry thing I have a question for you. Are goshawks really as psychotic as everyone says they are?

[Renorei]

I would love to have a big cat that is about 60 pounds at maturity...but has the mentality of a house cat. That would be cool. Impossible, but cool.

And when I say impossible...I mean impossible right now. With genetic research and engineering taking place at such a rapid pace, I wouldn't be surprised if they can make an animal that has the body of a tiger but the brain of a housecat before our lifetimes are over.

In related news, I recently read an article about a company that is engineering special cats that won't have any effect on people with cat allergies. All cats that they sell will be spayed or neutered before the new owner gets them. Pretty sweet, eh?