A woman’s story of raising a stray kitten quickly went viral on TikTok after she realized the feline turned out to be more foe than friend.
About two years ago, Audriana, known on TikTok as @audriana.3, discovered a stray kitten near railroad tracks in Jackson, Michigan, instantly welcoming it into the family. She told Newsweek that she had had the male kitten for about five to six months before things took a turn. He began growing extremely fast, gaining about 15 pounds in the first four months.
She took him to the vet for shots and a checkup, which is when she learned that he might not be your average kitten.
The vet told her the kitten was a stray mix and likely half bobcat, but gave the green light to keep him if he didn’t become too aggressive. However, shortly after, the cat ran away, leading her to never get confirmation on whether he was a full bobcat or not.
While she no longer owns the cat, she said that about four months after he ran away, he began returning to the farm. This time, he came as “his full-grown bobcat self.” The average adult bobcat weighs between 15 and 30 pounds.
However, unfortunately, he began snatching the smaller animals, such as the chickens, on her farm. She’ll see him lurk around from time to time.
“He’s come as close as 20 feet from us just a couple of weeks ago and snagged a duck,” Audriana said. “So we chased him throughout our neighborhood, trying to find where his den or home was and never found it.”
Reflecting on their short time together, Audriana shared the story of raising a bobcat when he was a kitten in an August 9 TikTok video, which generated over 4.3 million views and 614,000 likes as of Friday. TikTok viewers, however, were not convinced of this kitty being a bobcat.
People flooded the comment section claiming it was a Minx cat or an American bobtail. Some just declared him “adorable” and “spicy.”
Bobcats can be identified by their striped legs, spotted bodies and black-tipped, short, stumpy tails. They are found in Southern Canada and throughout most of the contiguous America.
Can bobcats and domestic cats breed?
A vet-approved article from Catster stated that there is no viable record to conclude that these animals can have offspring. Any evidence to say otherwise has been “circumstantial and anecdotal.” However, there are a few cat breeds that look similar to bobcats, including Pixie-Bobs, Highlanders and American Bobtails.
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