Posted on 07/04/2012 11:03:47 AM PDT by Stoat
Sophia, 11, has been living with her pet lynx since her mum and dad brought it back from an animal sanctuary as a cub four years ago.
She helped bottle feed the wildcat — named Zen — and has developed such a close bond with the animal he lets her dress him up, play games and even sleeps on her bed
Pavel Nikulochkin and his wife Svetlana, from Kaluga, Russia, always dreamt of owning a lynx as a pet and consulted animal experts to find ways of realising their dream.
After being told their tiny flat wasn’t big enough for the animal to live in, they saved up to buy a house.
In Russia it is not illegal to keep a lynx as a pet. And it is not uncommon for the wildcats — who can weigh up to 30kg and hunt birds, fish ad rabbits in the wild — to become house-trained.
Sophia and her family found Zen recuperating in a rescue centre after he was abandoned by his mum. She was part of a troupe of exotic animals being dragged around Russia in a travelling circus.
Pavel, 43, said: “After three years getting everything sorted we eventually met Zen — a small fluffy red-haired ball rumbling with his brothers and sisters hissing away.
“He couldn’t feed himself at this age so when we got him home we fed him with cat’s milk substitute, little by little adding some meat.
The cat — with his distinctive pointed ears and large “snowboot” paws — has settled in well with the family’s other animals.
“We already had pet cats living at home so they took care of the new ’kitten’ even though he looked different.
“Even now he still thinks the other cats are in charge and obeys them.”
“He’s very funny — he purrs exactly like a cat but obeys to our commands like a dog so we often call him CatDog.
“Zen loves children and allows them to do almost anything but at the same time understands who are guests and who are strangers — he’s definitely the best guard-CatDog you could wish for.”
Sofia added: “Zen is like my best friend and is very gentle with me. We play all the time but he never seems to get tired.
“Even though he has got bigger he still acts like when he was small.”
A lynx bite and scratch attack would be nasty indeed, but no moderate sized cat is able to do a bite down like a pit bull. Hopefully it’s also customary to keep kitty’s claws trimmed.
In the linked article from The Daily Mail above, (here again) all outdoor photos of the Lynx are shown with a collar at minimum, and one features him with a prominent leash attached. It seems that he's being raised much like a dog would be.
Until the neighbor rat dogs stopped yapping and folks wondered why....
You’re very welcome.
Have your wife sew 4 tiny paw sized sacks that can be put on the cats feet and held by rubber bands. With the cat’s claws sheathed, their attempts to struggle against being bathed become pathetic and ineffectual, but not at all bloody and painful for you.
I would think that most boyfriends would also pause and think before trying anything.
That's a matter of the food you give it. If you feed a low-residue food you won't have those giant tootsie rolls.
LOL, you can just see it when they’re giving you the eye, right?
Johnny’s mother looked out the window and noticed him “playing church” with their cat. The cat was sitting quietly as he was preaching to it. A bit later she heard very loud meowing and hissing and could see Johnny attempting to baptize the cat in a tub of water. Mom yelled at Johnny, “Stop that, the cat is afraid of water!”. To which Johnny responded, “He should have thought about that before he joined my church”.
This is a weird but true story. One of my husband’s co-workers, who lives near here, had a wild bobcat start coming up onto the deck and stealing food from his dog’s dish. After a while the bobcat got used to the man and his wife, and they would actually let him into the house on occasion; he would walk around, inspecting things the way cats do. From there, he started seeking out the house during thunderstorms and bumping the door with his paws to be let in.....when they would open the door, the bobcat would dash inside and dive under a bed, away from the thunder, LOL.
He eventually stopped coming around, though; they don’t know what happened to him.
You’d probably sustain some wounds getting those things onto kitty’s paws.
“Have your wife sew 4 tiny paw sized sacks that can be put on the cats feet and held by rubber bands. With the cat’s claws sheathed, their attempts to struggle against being bathed become pathetic and ineffectual, but not at all bloody and painful for you.”
I’ve tried doing something like that. It’s much less traumatic all around to just throw the cat in the washing machine for a few minues. You just have to remember to get it out before the spin cycle starts.
I’ve always told prospective cat owners to let the cat pick you, but that takes it to a whole ‘nother level!
That’s the unfortunate part. I might never happen, but just one wrong primal thought from kitty, and the poor kid loses her face, or worse. But it all seems so cute.
If you want a very large cat, but a domestic one, it is better to get a Savannah cat. It is a proprietary cross breed of a wild cat (serval) and house cat. Likewise, it has a personality like a dog. Typically they can weigh as little as 7 pounds and as much as 30 pounds.
LOL, no kidding
She was very cute, but had claws you would not believe.
He no longer has her, thinks an acquaintance stole the badger. But she could have been caught by coyotes.
These people are stupid. It’s a wild animal.
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