I'm guessing a cat like this one would have to be a house cat, right? First there's the good chance someone would steal it. Then you'd have to worry about all the other cats in the neighbourhood getting massacred by it.

Well, in my experience with Tut (my F1) who was quite the escape artist, is that the other cats recognized in about .000001 seconds that Tut was higher on the food chain than they were, and they would be totally gone instantly. Every other cat I ever introduced him to was terrified of him and didn't want to play--even cats that their owners assured me were the most laid back cats in the world--even cats that outweighed him by 5 pounds. He would have been happy to play with them: he was always a gentleman with other cats, not that it got him anywhere (I bet some of you can identify with him there...) I did find him fighting with a possum once, which scared the crap out of me.

And yes, I think someone would easily try to steal him. Or misguidedly try to protect their small dog from one, or something. I don't know if you can tell from this video, but no one who sees one of these cats loose thinks it is a completely domestic cat, and when they move, you just know they are hunters.

I tried my best to keep Tut in, but he was so dang smart. He could open doors in about 3 seconds flat if I forgot and left a door unlocked. Apart from everything else, I didn't think he would be good for the local wildlife and songbird population.

Hm, interesting. I used to be very allergic to cats - and because of this pretty ambivalent about them - but I've discovered that I'm not any more.

One cat in particular, last winter, completely won me over. He's a black cat that could let himself in or out by unlatching the window... so in the middle of the night he'd land on my sternum and then curl himself around my ears like a warm Russian hat.

In short I think cats are amazing creatures and I think I'm going to get one in four or five months--once I get back from this trip coming up. Probably I'll rescue one from being euthanized, but I might just get one of these cats++, if they're not twenty thousand dollars.

Incidentally I used to live on a very small island (on the west coast of British Columbia) that had twelve really big cats. (I was still very allergic then.) I was moored at the side of the island, next to a large crack in the rock-face, which had a sea otter living inside. One morning just after dawn I was watching all twelve cats stalk the otter, who was casually breaking into an oyster. When the cats crossed her invisible line she made this noise - impossible to describe - but extremely loud and weird. The cats vanished in a whoosh.

*discard

Discarding this post - discard requested by original submitter oxdottir.