Canada lynx and bobcats really don’t belong in the pet trade.
They might be somewhat easy to breed and feed, but their needs are usually too much for the average person. Most of the ones available on the pet market descend from ancestors that were bred for the fur trade.
And the fact that they are wild animals that have a lot of power for their size just makes the inappropriate as pets.
Declawing such animals might make sense in this context, but for a species that is known for producing such a copious undercoat, a Canada lynx needs all the grooming equipment at its disposal.
And never mind that declawing is a very painful procedure.
Those matts made her look like a tiny lion
Declawing can also make an animal more prone to bite (because they realize they have no claws). Not exactly something you want to encourage!
This is true. I have had several declawed cats (already declawed when I rescued them), and they do become biters. I have a beautiful Ragdoll cat, about 4 years old, whose previous owners had him declawed when they had him neutered, as a half-grown kitten. Many people have that done, because they just don’t know any better. He has the sweet, docile personality that most Ragdolls have, but when he is upset, he doesn’t bat with his mutilated front paws; he snaps like a dog. With much pointier, sharper teeth than a dog. He is also developing arthritis in his shoulders, directly caused by the declawing; cats tend to rock the weight back onto the center pad of their paws when they are declawed, which puts abnormal strain on the joints of the elbows and shoulder & causes the chronic inflammation that leads to arthritis. Ragdolls are big, heavy cats, too, and that exacerbates the condition.
I think people should think carefully when chooseing a long haired dog breed. In our family, for example, there is a papillon which looks immaculate with hardly any grooming required at all. It has a silky straight single coat which tends to stay pristine without much grooming beyond an occasional wash and brush. However, then there is the shih tzu whose soft and slightly wavy double coat would tangle irretrievably without a daily comb through; taking five minutes which most people seem unable to spare in their busy day.
Yet, of these two examples, the gentle baby faced shih tzu seems by far the more popular. In the real world almost all shih tzus are periodically trimmed within an inch of their hide in a variety of styles all less attractive than the natural coat, imo, which seems perversely against the reasons new owners are attracted to them in the first place, plus those trips to the groomer also cost time and money.
There seems to be a delusion that short haired breeds are the better choice for the houseproud – until they discover that the coats are only short because of the sheer volume and frequency of natural shedding to maintain a short coat. This applies especially in the case those so called “primitive” breeds.
We’ve always stayed away from breeds that require regular clipping (mostly because of the expense and hassle), but we have no problem with long-haired breeds. I love grooming them–its part of our bonding experience. When ol’ Sam was still alive I combed him every day after our afternoon play session. The only part he didn’t like was when I brushed out the feathering on his tail, but he put up with it pretty well.
Ditto for my cat Chess (just lost him this week, needless to say I’m not doing too well right now.) Part of his evening ritual was being brushed–and we both loved it. He used to put his little chin up so I could brush out his chest and ruff, purring like the dickens the whole time.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your cat, m. No matter how intellectually mature we are as pet owners, when the time comes that we must lose them, it hurts so much.
I’d never have a breed of dog that is touted as “non shedding” for several reasons. One being I don’t like dogs with long hair on their faces that obscures their facial expression. Second being that I like a dog to be approximately dog shaped. Another being they don’t shed because the fur is more like human hair that grows in length until it’s cut and they need more or less constant attention to their coats to stop them ending up a matted, smelly mess that’s detrimental to their wellbeing. I used to work in a kennel that had a grooming parlour attached and I’ve seen the mess some of these dogs arrive in. Their owners seemed to think non shedding means they don’t need brushing in between being clipped.
Give me a papillon type coat over a shih-tzu type any day. It’s beyond me why shih-tzu and Lhasa apsos are both more popular than the beautiful little Tibetan spaniel who is basically the same dog as a Lhasa (they used to be born in the same litter at one time), but with a silky fringed coat that just needs a brush to keep them looking neat.
One of the most common things strangers say to me about my Tibetan Mastiff is “I bet he sheds a lot of hair!” when truth is, they are amongst the easiest breeds of all to groom and apart from for about a month once a year when they drop their undercoat, they hardly shed a single hair in the house. The hair doesn’t tangle or mat so even grooming with a brush isn’t time consuming or a frequent requirement. I usually just go over him with my hands to check everything is okay. I used to have a chow chow and the TM is a lot easier to groom. My shar-pei out moult my TM quite spectacularly considering the size difference! I used to wonder how my little horsecoat could feasibly shed the amount of hair she did without ending up bald like a xolo. The bearcoat leaves little tumbleweeds here and there, but saying that, all three shar-pei coat types are very easy and quick to groom and don’t shed as much as GSDs and labradors seem to as they don’t have the undercoat.
There’s a reason that Papillons aren’t more popular: the little bastards bite :-D.
Of course, that doesn’t stop people from buying Chihuahuas…
Then stuffing their poor, unfortunate canine dress up dolly in a handbag and wondering why they end up biters. Be thankful Paris Hilton didn’t buy a papillon!
Papillons are very popular here. I guess in the UK only wimps let little dogs bite them and walk all over them.
Also we do not debark or declaw here.
Elizabeth
I was joking :-D (sort of). Most of the Pappis I’ve known have been snappish little beasts, but then, as a rule, many dogs are not on their best behavior at the vet clinic or the groomer’s ;-p. And of course, their owners do have to understand them. I actually love the little guys. But I love Chihuahuas too … much the same temperament. Smart, fiesty, and much bigger than their actual size!
I find the medical problems interesting. How old is this cat? The animal equivalent of the noble savage ideal suggests that wild bred animals have few genetic diseases. Is this old girl an exception? Or evidence against the assumption?
I suspect that many of the health problems we like to attribute to inbreeding, etc. are common wild populations as well. If few individuals live for more than four or five years past their earliest reproductive age, there’s little selective pressure against problems like old age arthritis. If a wolf bitch can whelp a few large litters and have fair survival of cubs, selection won’t care if hip dysphasia causes her to stiffen up at six or seven years of age.
Of course many of these problems are also present in wild species. But two things mitigate against their wide-spread expression: 1) a robust gene pool w/ a correspondingly high MHC; and 2) those maladaptations that express before breeding age or relatively early in the breeding cycle are simply less apt to persist over time.
Those that express later in life, as you indicate, are not overtly detrimental to the species’ survival and thus will persist–although the better immune systems associated w/ a high MHC would presumably ameliorate the effects of this class of genetic defects.
Also note that this particular cat is the victim of human intransigence–if she hadn’t been declawed the mats (though not the arthritis) probably wouldn’t have occurred.
Declawing cats causes them to develop arthritis & also causes stiffening of the tendons in the toes, paws & feet. It’s a terrible thing to do to a cat. If people only realized the suffering it inflicts, they would never have their cats declawed.
Just noticed this: should have said “also causes stiffening of the tendons in the toes, paws & legs.”
I agree, ideologically, and yes, the theory you’re presenting has a science base. I’ve argued the same theory myself. But theory not backed by empirical data is to be questioned. Have you seen data showing that wild populations are largely free of late-onset genetically linked diseases?
Individuals in wild populations probably rarely reach old age to have late onset anything.
Unfortunately, it would appear to be a rather solipsistic situation. As soon as such a condition does present, the animal is likely to be lost to predation; the inability to sufficiently provide for itself, or both (I’m reminded of the many films showing predators taking the older, slower members of a herd.) I’m not sure we have a macroscopic tool to definitively make this determination. Maybe the molecular evidence can provide an answer to that question.
And yes, I agree, lacking true empirical evidence, any assertion should be challenged. But then, one can say that all assertions should be challenged–regularly–its the essence of scientific enquiry. New evidence is constantly turning old “knowns” on their heads.
BTW: You may notice that I sprinkle a lot of “weasel words”, such as “suspect”, “probably”, “possibly”, “presumably”, “likely”, etc. into my rhetoric. Its an old technical reporting habit that allows me a way to dig myself out of those self-engendered holes I might otherwise find myself in. (LOL)
I doubt that this is a true wild bred lynx.
Canada lynx have been bred on fur farms for decades, and they have been selected for particular pelts all along.
Well, there ya go–Scottie just blew us right out of the water! We mad an unwarranted assumption that this Lynx was wild-caught when in all likelihood its the product of generations of selective breeding.
Nearly all the cats at Big Cat Rescue are rescues from private owners & were captive-bred. The few exceptions are cougars that were orphaned as wild kittens and a wild bobcat or two that were permanently injured in some way (auto accidents & I think one was rescued from a leghold trap) & could not be returned to the wild.