Question for AmberTheBobcat (aka John) and everyone else.

Ok, this is really a two part question and I wasn't sure where to put it (behavior, health, breeders) so move it where ever you want. Just let me know!

First part...can Bobcats mate with regular cats? The reason I'm asking is a lot of our barn cats have bobbed tails (some, no tails at all) and this just started about 7 years ago. Apparently a no-tail cat came around then and that's when all the short tails started happening. Only 2 of my original 7 cat's have full tails and they are brother and sister and found at about 3 months laying in the middle of the yard. They may have been drop offs. All the rest have half tails. There are a few running around with full tails, but not very many.

Second part deals with the barn cat that apparently has made itself an indoor/outdoor cat. He's actually a kitten of one of the original barn cats that ALSO likes to come indoors (yes, I'm running a kitty hotel apparantly). Anyway, he is the first one I have ever had close contact with that has absolutely NO tail. Not even a stub. Just...nothing there. When he was a kitten, we had to clean his butt or else it would get caked over, but we thought that was just him being a kitten and mommy being stupid (she is young and getting fixed). But, he's now almost 9 months old and it's still happening. Do you have to help clean no-tail butts? Does not having a tail affect how they go potty? I never really thought about it, but are they lacking muscles or something to help them?

I have no problem checking and cleaning his butt but it just seems like this happened over a day or so.

The lack of a tail is a genetic mutation.....and unfortunately bowel issues seem to sometimes go with it. I believe it's called "Manx cat syndrome".

Thanks! I've actually never thought to look it up....I thought it was all taken care of when he was still young. I didn't realize it was something that should be watched.

The tail-less or short tail gene is just a mutation - doesn't mean the cat has a manx or a bobcat in the background to produce it.

Bobcats can mate with domestics, but its pretty rare. Most bobcats would kill a domestic cat before they would breed with it. It happens tho, but the males are sterile and not capable of breeding.

As far as problems - yes you can have problems with bowel movements/cleaning - the muscles that normally are there in tailed cats are missing in totally tailed cats and you can have those problems.

A friend of mine had a MC/Manx (mom was a Manx that lived on a farm). Chessie was a very unique cat with the longer body and coat of a MC and completely tail-less. As she got older she had a lot more problems in eliminating solids and many times had to go to the vet to have stools removed.

I don't know if it was an actual bobcat since I wasn't here, but MIL and DH both saw it lurking around for a few weeks but he didn't cause any problems so they didn't chase it off. The woods are as much his as it is their's. But shortly after that is when they started having kittens with short or no tails. It was a BIG tabby with no tail...maybe it was just a bobcat mix or manx mix or just a strange mutation that has been passed down.

I LOVE the name Chessie!! He was named Panther, but I like that so much better and it fits him. And, my dad worked for Chessie (then CXS) so it's definitely appropriate.

His butt is clean now (he is SO not happy!) so that's a good thing. His little butt hole is very irritated so what can we put on it? Would diaper rash cream work to calm down the irritation? I don't want to put anything on it that he can lick off and hurt himself, and the vets is closed. I will call them tomorrow but if I can get something over the counter and not have to pay for a presciption that would be great.

Also, is there anything I can feed him to help him with this? ie, mineral oil, hair ball forumal, etc? I really don't want to give him the runs (but I'd rather clean up accidents then have him have his little butt all stuffed.).

I feel so bad....I honestly didn't realize I had to keep an eye on him and make sure he was clean. I'm doing more research over the weekend to see what we can do to make his life a little easier and not have his poor furr ripped out while trying to wash and clean is bottom.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

The tail-less or short tail gene is just a mutation - doesn't mean the cat has a manx or a bobcat in the background to produce it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I knew a British Shorthair kitten who was born tail-less, all others in the litter had normal tails, so did the parents. The little female was very playful, energetic and full of life until it came time to start eating solid food.. It turned out that her bowel system was lacking something which was unfixable. The poor thing had to be put to sleep at the age of 7 weeks. She was my BLH's litter mate, very beautiful golden spotted tabby.