# Did I just see a bobcat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-see-a-bobcat/646914 "2013-01-11T23:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-see-a-bobcat/646914/1 "2013-01-11T23:15:09Z")
The baby was napping and I was enjoying the silence when suddenly I heard a thud-crash from the bedroom and the cat comes running down the hallway to the living room and starts attacking the glass slider door. Outside was what I first thought was a domestic cat: a largeish-female size with tonal brown stripes in its fur. It was standing on our back deck, watching my cat make a fool of herself. Then it moved on, and I saw that it had a short tail. I was looking at it through lowered miniblinds with the evening sun shining on everything, so I couldn’t see more detail than I’ve described. We live at the edge of a forest preserve full of coyotes and beavers and foxes, but there have been no reported sightings of bobcats in our county. They are in the next county over, though. Whaddaya think? Could it have been a bobcat? Or just a domestic missing half its tail? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-see-a-bobcat/646914/2 "2013-01-11T23:35:42Z")
Bobcats can quickly expand their range if they have green corridors to travel through. They seldom travel through a city but small fields, drain ditches and such are all they need to travel several miles in only one evening. Once they settle they tend to have a limited range. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-see-a-bobcat/646914/3 "2013-01-12T00:38:54Z")
I live near the downtown of a mid sized Indiana city. Across the street is a creek that eventually finds it’s way to a bigger river. Lived here 25 years and just recently saw (for the first time) a fox out the front window. I believe I saw a bobcat over there twice. Both times it was just disappearing into the brush and it looked like a very big gray tiger cat with a stubby tail. Didn’t see the head either time. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-see-a-bobcat/646914/4 "2013-01-12T00:45:51Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Outside was what I first thought was a domestic cat: a largeish-female size with tonal brown stripes in its fur. Relative to most domestic cats, bobcats are substantially larger and bulkier. The poster **KlondikeGeoff** once posted some pictures of one his house cats interacting through a glass door with a young bobcat - you can see [here](http://s25.beta.photobucket.com/user/KlondikeGeoff/library/bobcat) that a bobcat would look like more than just a largish cat. Also they tend to be more spotted than striped, though the coat is a bit variable. Stub tails in domestic cats on the other hand are not insanely rare. In particularly inbred populations it can even become a common mutation. I saw quite a few stub-tailed cats roaming the grounds at the [Alhambra in Spain](http://www.flickr.com/photos/sally_v/465969071/). ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-see-a-bobcat/646914/5 "2013-01-12T01:10:20Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Relative to most domestic cats, bobcats are substantially larger and bulkier. The poster **KlondikeGeoff** once posted some pictures of one his house cats interacting through a glass door with a young bobcat - you can see [here](http://s25.beta.photobucket.com/user/KlondikeGeoff/library/bobcat) that a bobcat would look like more than just a largish cat. Also they tend to be more spotted than striped, though the coat is a bit variable. > > Stub tails in domestic cats on the other hand are not insanely rare. In particularly inbred populations it can even become a common mutation. I saw quite a few stub-tailed cats roaming the grounds at the [Alhambra in Spain](http://www.flickr.com/photos/sally_v/465969071/). Hmmm…the Klondike pic where the bobcat is looking the other way looks a lot like what I saw, except the tail on whatever I saw wasn’t as long as that bobcat’s. It was really stubby. It did seem to have the longer legs with bigger feet. I saw it from quite a ways away and it was disappearing into the brush. I’ll keep watching, maybe I’ll get a better look.