Link
Ok, it’s not straight up, but it’s still alot more than a human can do.
I wouldn’t want to get into a blue with even a domestic cat. I’d probably win that one, but if the cat was scared, angry, or otherwise pumping on adrenaline, I wager I’d come away looking like a barber pole.
Any sort of wild cat coming at you with intent to do you harm would (if you even saw it coming) be a high speed blur of toned muscular limbs, slashing claws, and sharp teeth.
A mountain cat leaping at me, biting my face, slashing my neck, and kick-slashing my abdomen with its incredibly powerful hind legs? And all before I had a chance to say, “Oooh shi…”? No thanks. I’d rather take my chances with a drunken biker.
I take it you’ve never been around an angry average house cat?
A angry house cat can kick your ass.
A mountain lion can do much worse.
Moron story #2:
I’m talking to this guy who is new to the state. He tells me he’s going to Kodiak with his wife to “camp in the woods”. Being a friendly type, I ask him “You do know that Kodiak has the highest bear density per square mile in the world, right?”
“Yeah, no problem, I’ve got a .44 mag.”
::disbelieving stare::
“Hey, if a bear jumps on my back, I’ll just point the pistol over my shoulder and shoot him in the fuckin’ head!”
“Good plan!” ::walks away, shaking head::
Huh. You and I are exactly the same size and weight!
Chefguy, did they ever find the bodies?
Yep, this is the problem. The cat has a huge advantage in speed, strength, stealth, ferocity, and killing experience. The speed differential alone would be amazing. It would look like you’re in slow motion. You would have no chance at all of landing a hard blow and any blow you landed, the cat could easily absorb and counterattack with devastating slashes.
Unless this is a competition to run calculations on an Excel spreadsheet, an aggressive cat will win 1,000 out of 1,000.
You obviously weren’t feeling too friendly, otherwise you would have advised him to file the front sight of his gun.
I would go with the bluff move if needed. Cats are generally solitary hunters and will avoid the risk of injury unless they are really hungry. I would avoid backing one into a corner, though. When they are upset or frightened and fighting for survival, things can go bad quickly. I had to tell the vet assistant to dump my cat out of his carrier instead of sticking her hand in to pull him out.
Here
is some video of an officer with an orange tomcat that did not like being on a leash.
Here is some footage of a human versus a
Big Cat
Some humans were injured during the production of these videos.
Sorry bad link above.
Here is a better link to the orange tomcat that did not like being on a leash.
I’d like to point out that the one with the orange domestic cat had a guy who clearly had some experience with pissed off animals, knew better than to grab the cat, and still was screaming like a little girl at the end of the clip. (Can’t say I blame him.) Of course, the instructive part is to watch the cat whipping itself through the air just because it dosen’t like the leash. Picture the same thing on a much bigger, deadlier animal. “Oh, mommy, let’s adopt that one! It’s animal of the week!”
Pinky! (If I was a girl, I’d be squealing…)
Pinky the Cat is my all time favorite animal Funniest Home Video.
I laugh so hard my stomach hurts every time I see it.
And I have a 22-lb tomcat at home with a very similar disposion to that jaguar. If he decides he’s going to tear you a new one, you better be ready, and you better be quick, cause otherwise he’s gonna be done and you’re gonna be bleeding before you even know it. And if you’re gonna take him on, you gotta be first, too. If you don’t get him by the scruff of the neck before he goes into fully spun up Tazmanian Devil Mode, you aren’t getting a hand on him without losing some blood.
I once decided it would be possible to get him out from under a bed by reaching in, grabbing a leg, and pulling. I still have the scars.
However, the worst laceration I’ve ever gotten from a cat was not from a large Tom, but from a vicious little 7 lb lass. Her little claws were like razors, and I tried to block a swipe with my hand… she cut my hand wide open. :eek:
Indeed. As a kid, we had an elderly, sedentary, unhealthy and overweight, desexed female cat. She was very tame and friendly, however, being a young boy, I managed to do something to piss her off (as I recall just wanting to play when she wanted to sleep), and she punched a paw into my freakin’ eye. The whole action took a nanosecond (after warnings such as tail-tip flicking), then she curled up again and went back to sleep.
Seconds later and I thought, "woah. I am in debt to that old cat in that she saw me merely as an annoying friend and not as a true enemy. She kept her claws sheathed. She could have blinded me otherwise, and done so before I would have known what had hit me. As it was, I didn’t see the paw approaching my face at light speed… and this was a very old domestic cat.
RIP Susie. You were cool. 
, I didn’t see the paw approaching my face at light speed… and this was a very old domestic cat.
RIP Susie. You were cool.
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You may find this site about moutain lion attacks. I especially reccommend the story of Aigust 1, 2002, which I heard about on the news at the time. This guy had his scalp ripped loose and dragged over his face, yet managed to kill the cat with a knife. Unarmed he would have been absolute dead meat.
There are, however, numerous cases where the cats were beaten off in one manner or another, which says to me more an about their interest or desperation than than any particular things the humans did.
I can only imagine the look of complete humiliation in the eyes of the cat:
Leopard: Hey, it’s one of those things with no claws, dull teeth and no scales. Think I’ll eat it!
Photographer: Zounds! A leopard doth advance hither! I shall defeat it with fisticuff to the jaw. Observe, good Fallstaff!
Fallstaff: : hic : Aye, but a kick to the nethers would avail you more good sir photolimner.
Leopard: GOTCHA
Photographer: Have at you, foul fuzzball! :whiff:
Leopard: WTF! I’ve been impaled gutterally by mine repast! alas & alack!
Park bicyclist conquers cat. (The story is near the end of the page.)
As my grandpappy used to say,
“If a wild animal is charging at you, just throw shit in its face. Reach around, it’ll be there.”
I’m going to perfectly, bluntly hoenst here: while you do’t want to piss of a bear, tiger, or grown lion, humans can sucessfully take down pretty much any other land predator mano-a-mano unaided.
Now, you’re likely to die during the process, but you’ll at least inflict enough damage to cause said animal to die slowly of stavation, if not sooner. Humans can’t slash and claw but we can break bones and pop joints. Animals have to kill us fast, and we’re big enough with fewer vital areas (its a lot easier to get a grip on a big, wide deer neck than a small, thin human one) If they can’t do that, humans tend to go berzerk with fury and punch and kick like there’s no tommorow. Humans may not look like much (and would be much more dangerous if more of us actually worked out and got muscles rather than turn into blobs).
Now, nearly every animal that could conceivably kill us has been warned quite deliberately never to ever, ever do that by countless receding generations. Most ones willing to attack humans when not preovoked are desperate and quite probbaly weak, anyway.
So, my answer is yes. Taking on a moutain lion isn’t something I’d want to do asually, but very few of them are willing to risk death to kill a man, and I can quite easily hurt it enough to guarrantee its death. If it drops out a tree on me, then I may be in more trouble, but then, its going to be attacking my back through thick hiking clothing, while I’ve just gone into panic! mode.
Even a weak human can quite handily toss a 150 lb cat off his/her back if there’s eough adrenaline.
Right- the Puma will pounce- most humans will panic- and you’re breakfast.
If it was “mano a gato”- then yes- you’d have a decent chance. Primates are stronger than Felines, and you likely outwiegh him. If you were in good shape (Mr. Puma is in tip-top shape) had martial arts training and plenty of fight experience (the Catamount has had both)- then you’d win- but you’d be plenty hurt. Same with a small bear. A weapon will up your chances a LOT- Lions are killed with just a spear and there are very few deaths on the human side. Chefguy- with a boar spear instead of an axe, and a smallish bear- he could likely do it… IF he was very brave and skilled. :dubious:
Duckster- the reason why the house cat kicks your ass- is because you are likely not trying to kill the kitty. A human can easily kill a house cat.
Holy crap, that’s hilarious! What was the guy thinking to let that cat between his legs? He’s lucky he didn’t lose the family fortune!
Here’s something to consider: we took our cat to the vet for teeth cleaning, which meant she had to stay overnight. Went back in the morning to retrieve her, the vet goes into the kennel to get her, we hear a blood-curdling cat shriek from the other room, vet comes out hastily and says “Perhaps you should go get her.”
Our cat has no front claws.
It says something about the respect an experienced animal handler has even for the pointy-impaired animal.
I’m going to perfectly, bluntly honest here; someday I hope to be as macho as you think you are smiling bandit
Throwing off the weight of the cat is not the problem; the problem is throwing off the weight of the cat, when its fangs are sunk into your neck, and all four paws full of very sharp claws are dug into your sides.
Kick and punch all you want your fingernails are no match for the cat’s claws.
I for one would like to see some cites on unarmed man v Grizzly bears, momma elks, momma moose, and mountain lions before I give your any other land predator statement much weight.