Hybrid Scottish Wild Cat?

**Gronnuck** · 06-Mar-11, 15:48

Opinions please. Seen about the garden and the local area recently. IMO its a female since her nocternal wailing is unsettling our Ginger tom. She's twice his size with well defined makings and tawny brown makings under her chin and on her underside. Her tail is longer and thicker than any cat I've ever seen before. Her black dorsal marking runs all the way to the tip of her tail thus the tail rings are joined on her tail's upper side.

Click image for larger version.

Name: Cat1.jpg
Views: 7270
Size: 87.8 KB
ID: 8613

I have another photo at http://www.new2youtoyshop.com/wildlife/Cat2.jpg

**Happy Gilmour** · 06-Mar-11, 16:04

Found this on the Scottish Wildcat website:

The Scottish Wildcat
(felis sylvestris grampia)
Description | Conservation | History | Breeding program | Identification
Meet the neighbours

Identify a wildcat

Identifying a wildcat can be a tricky thing that takes a little practice, and this has been a significant issue with their conservation; imagine the gamekeeper who glimpses a tabby on his grouse moor; is it a feral he needs to protect his grouse from? Or is it a wildcat he could get heavily fined for shooting? This has also been a problem with identifying where wildcats live with almost any tabby coloured cat being fair game to be identified as one.

Below you can find some simple guidelines to identifying a wildcat, and the differences between them, their domestic cousins, and the hybrid offspring of each, which are the really tricky ones to tell apart. The most obvious identifier is the tail; the wildcat's magnificent tail is very thick and clublike with big bold distinct rings around it, only the snow leopard or Andean Mountain Cat have anything like such a thick tail in the feline world. Second are the coat markings; pure white patches or spotted markings are primarily domestic traits, as you can see in the photo above even the white muzz is actually a tawny brown colour, however a few spots or a very small white chest mark may indicate only very minor hybridisation that will fade over a generation.

This video takes you through the key things to look out for step by step, it is an extended extract from the film "Last of the Scottish Wildcats" featuring experts Prof David MacDonald and Dr Andrew Kitchener.

Wildcat

Mostly brown with distinctive black tiger-stripe markings
Thick, ruffled coat appearance
Little or no spotted markings
Little or no white patches
Muscular solid body frame
Wavy lines over head and neck
Dorsal stripe ends at base of tail
Vary thick tail with a blunt end
Perfect black rings circle the whole tail with a large black tip
Jaw large and robust, typically wide head and muzz

Hybrid

Mostly brown with black striped tabby markings
Coat appearance variable
Some spotted markings or stripes fused together
Some white patches on throat and chest
Variable body frame
Slightly wavy lines over head and neck
Dorsal stripe partly extends onto tail
Thick tail with a blunt or tapering end
Black rings circle the tail joined by dorsal stripe with large black tip
Jaw slimmer and less robust, typically slightly slimmer head and muzz

**Gronnuck** · 06-Mar-11, 16:14

Thanks for that Happy Gilmour. She appears to have most of the attirbutes of a wild cat but I guess only an expert will really be able to tell. I'm hoping to get more pictures while she's in the area, particularly of her tail.