A while ago, I was talking to a guy who volunteers to work with  big cats.  He says that he finds it easier to work with tigers and lions than with the smaller cats like caracles because tigers and lions take more time to switch moods (for example, from friendly to "wanting their own space"), but smaller cats tend to switch moods more quickly.

I tend to think of cougars as a "mid-size" cat (for a kat), and I was wondering what you thought about this, especially now that you've met so many kats.

Cougars can change moods quite rapidly, especially if there's a trigger for it. A while back, I'd cleaned out a number of cougar cages, and a male noticed the scent of a female on me. In about zero point zip second, he went from treating me as a "buddy" to viewing me as competition, and I received some decent scratches and a torn pair of jeans before I got out of the cage.

Fortunately, this was still a juvenile cat, and I'm a pretty big guy. If a tiger had done the same thing, I would've been in real trouble.

(Just as an FYI, our standard operating procedure is to have a second party stand guard any time anyone goes in with a big cat. So help would not have been far away, if I'd needed it.)

I'm just glad you're okay.

I've never really had the chance to meet any of the "lesser cats".  That is, besides Goliath.  Of course, he's never said "boo" to me, so I never know what type of mood he's in.  He sleepwalks, though, so I try and avoid him for that reason alone.

As for me, my mood typically depends on how close it is to dinner time.  

I've "worked with" bobcats, servals, and a caracal up at WildCat Haven.  They all vary greatly in their moods.  Some of them are perpetually ornery (the caracal), while others are 98% affectionate.  There is one serval, in particular, who would very much enjoy being petted.  That is, until it was revealed that the petting wasn't being done by someone she knew very well.  See my August 7th, 2006 strip for an example.  Of course, this was drawn well before I had met any of the cats up in Oregon.  Servals are biters and are very quick with the paw slap, but they won't necessarily leave you looking like Scott in that last panel.  

Cougars and other big cats can change moods rapidly, as well.  They often will snap into "hunt" mode if you happen to have your back turned to them.  That's bad enough when you're dealing with cubs.  It's a whole different ballgame when you're working with a 500 pound lion or tiger.

I'm glad you're OK, Stian.  What with clothing and deoderant, it surprises me that cats can tell human gender, but they sure seem to be able to.  

There's an animal fdn place that I like to visit that had a bobcat who had been taken in after the bobcat was taken from his male "owner", who apparently wasn't so nice to the bobcat.  As a result, the bobcat loved women, but he'd snarl at any male volunteer who got too close to him.

This same place has a caracal who likes to hiss at anyone who comes by (I think he's saying "I don't come and look at you when you're in your house".)  But there are 2 female caracals who seem pretty laid back.  The cats there in general seem very relaxed and content.

One thing to remember about cougars is that they are still in the felis family.  There is something about that family that is physiologically different than the pantherae group.  I think it has a lot to do with adrenal response.  Cats (including cougars because they are still felis), seem to have turbocharged adrenal glands...one of the things that makes their kidneys so weak.  This causes more extreme reactions than those with more systems built in like us.

Thanks for all the concern. I don't think I was in any real danger from this cougar; I was just trying to demonstrate how quickly attitudes can change.

I have another tale of cougar behavior, but it will have to wait until after work. Stay tuned.

Is it after work yet?  It's great to hear about kats from people who work with them.

I've got a few cougar stories, but one of my favorites is the story of a cougar that passed on a few years ago from a facility I worked with in the past.  She had an enclosure that was somewhat poorly designed in that she could reach out and make contact with anyone that walked by her narrow path.  Of course, she was an absolute sweetheart and the only time she reached out was if you dared walk by without giving her 'the toll'!  And of course, the toll happened to be a vigorous scritch under the chin and behind the ears.  Sometimes if she was feeling benevolent, she'd demand bellyrubs, but she was terribly ticklish and couldn't tolerate it long before a bite was imminent

OK, so it ended up being after work, and after work the next day, and...yeah, anyway.

The cougar is named Brian. He's a bit special to me, because he's one of the few cats I've been around since he was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

Brian, unfortunately, does not have a cage mate. We tried to introduce one, but he was a little too rough on her. Not mean, but Brian has a lot of energy and he likes to use it.

Now, Brian is a sweet cat. If you go up to his enclosure and scratch his ears through the fence, he'll reward you by purring so loudly it wakes up the neighbors. He's very affectionate, and very much like a giant house cat.

Except he's smarter.

See, Brian knows that fence is there. And when people go in his cage, he knows the fence is not there. He also gets wildly exciting, because for the last year or so, it's rare that somebody goes in his cage. Everyone else says he's "impossible" or "too wild" or whatever. But I don't listen.

A few months back, I went in his cage with him. No scratching behind the ears, he was up on his hindlegs and had his front paws on my chest and basically just trying to make sure I was aware that he existed. He left no room for doubt. But nothing aggressive, just a bit in-your-face social.

Well. Everyone knows cougars are extremely acrobatic. And extremely quick. But I don't think we generally realize HOW acrobatic or HOW quick they can be. See, I got Brian back down on all fours. Then, a blur, I saw a 150lb furry projectile aiming straight for me.....

.....backwards.

He had somehow managed to jump, turn in mid-air, kicked off from my chest with his HIND LEGS, bounced off the left side of the enclosure, 90 degrees SIDEWAYS onto the back wall onto his box. All of that in maybe 2-3 seconds, tops.

By the time I recovered from being hit in the chest by 150 lb of cougar, he was on his box, on his back, ready for his belly rub.

I gave him one. And to the day I die, one of my biggest regrets in life will be that I was unable to get this amazing feat of catrobatics captured on film.

Here, by the way, is a photo of me with Brian (some of you may have seen this before, but it's one of my favorites, so I'm showing it off again.) It shows the forepaws-on-chest thing he likes to do, and you can see his den box in the background.



 

--Last edited by stian on 2007-08-19 00:37:18 --

By the way...I still visit Brian regularly. I usually lock him up in the den box, clean his cage, stash the cleaning supplies safely out of reach, then let him out for 10-15 minutes of social time every weekend. I wish I could take him home, but I really don't want my walls to turn into 88% spackle.

Man, that must be so nice!

Wow!  Just wow!

And I supposed Brian never even realized that hurt you.

Stian, I think I've seen that move before.  You know in Looney Tunes, when Daffy Duck would start bouncing from wall to wall making the "Woo-Hoo" sound?



Well, cougars can do that same thing.


My cougar athletic ability story...

I was in an enclosure with two adolescent cougars and one of their owners (always make sure that you have at least as many humans around as cougars).  We were sitting down on the edge of the cats' wood deck enjoying a conversation, while the two cougars wrestled at the other end of it.  Mind you, we were a good 40-50 feet away from any fangs or claws.  Still, we would keep glancing over every few seconds to make sure the cats were not currently in "stalking mode".

At one point, as I glanced over to see the cats both involved in some Olympic quality Greco-Roman wresting, I must have inadvertently made eye contact with one of them.  And, just as I turned my head around to resume my conversation, he leapt upon my back and started gnawing on my ear.  There wasn't a single sound made during the entire 40-50 feet sprint, which he covered in a span of about seven-tenths of a second.

Mind you, this was all in good fun (for him).  He followed up the brief gnawing with a bunch of cougar kisses (licks).  The claws, however, remained unsheathed the entire time, as he needed something to help him keep his balance.  

I'm looking forward to visiting with him again in just over two weeks' time.  

--Last edited by John on 2007-08-20 09:56:28 --

Ouch! Industrial-strength back scratcher!

Kristina: I think Brian sometimes distinguishes between animate or inanimate objects by how much they move. To him, if you stand still for a second, you become an inanimate object; in this case, a wall to bounce off of.