Oleg Zabluda's blog
Friday, March 30, 2012
 
The smallest of our cats (Lidia) is 9lb, the largest (Irene) is 15 lb.
The smallest of our cats (Lidia) is 9lb, the largest (Irene) is 15 lb. Their mother, Daria was 18lb, and their father, a Huge Black Cat was much more huge. All are with full carnivores, with fully intact claws and teeth and speed and everything.

There are perennial scary stories (страшилки) for cat owners about owls hunting cats. I call it BS. It's hard to prove a negative, but even the largest owl (Great Great Owl) weights only 4 lbs and would be torn apart by a typical cat, which is 2-4x the weight. The source of the "owl-hunting-cats" urban myth must be all those feathers, which make an owl to look 2x the size and 8x the weight it really is.

Even raccoons, which are 2x the weight of a cat, are not known to hunt them (Lidia the cat vs 2 raccoons (Лидочка против 2-х енотов)).

The smallest animal actually known to hunt cats is a coyote, which grows up to 46 lb [1].

Other scary stories (страшилки) for can owners include foxes (up to 13 lb) hunting cats. That's almost certainty a legend (see Betty Chases the Fox off the Porch). If based on anything at all, possibly just confusing foxes with coyotes. Coyotes certainly kill and eat cats, and ate 2 of Sergey Zhupanov's cats. One was a huge, strong and vicious male bengal cat named Бодухан, the other was his sister Kwanzaa (Кваша/Квашенька). They are survived by their daughter Vassilisa.

[1] Technically, the smallest predators known to hunt domestic cats are bobcats (20-30 lb typical), but it's very rare occurrence and can be neglected.

An eagle, a fox and my cat all getting along fine on my porch
Gizmo & the Eagle 2-4-12.AVI
Gizmo & the eagle 3-15-2012.avi

My Cats Eating Tuna and an Eagle Comes!
Cats Eating Tuna and An Eagle Comes-Part 2

My Cats Hanging Out with the Eagles

American Bald Eagle is 9-13 lb, and I doubt very much it could hunt a cat. If those stores are based on anything, it's probably on eagles swooping and taking a swipe on a cat who started it (like here An Eagle Slaps My Cat avig ), or eating a dead cat, like Vultures do around here do all the time. If interested, read http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=343
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSEd6O0bBFs

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