Not a Phantom Cat

Back in April at my animal/pet blog, I told about coming across a cat at dusk and not being able to tell what it was other than it was large. It was in the park across from my house. When I say park, I only mean land that nobody is allowed to build on, it isn't a grassy park like a city park, it is grown up with everything that grows around here. That time it calmly sat at the edge of the park watching me pass, due to the light and the distance I couldn't tell what type of cat it was. Britton didn't see it and I think he thought my imagination was running wild and I had probably seen a house cat.

Last week I came home from the grocery around 8 pm. I was unloading the car when I heard a loud cat that seemed to be on the other side of the yard by my fence (hopefully on the other side of the fence and not in my yard) -- it did not sound like a house cat. I shouted "WTF was that" hoping to scare it. Pooka (my dog) ran in that direction, barked a couple times and came back. Strangely Pooka who isn't afraid of much of anything wanted in and when both Britton and I went out to see what was going on (he had heard the cat from inside the house) she didn't want back outside, which is really unusual. Britton and I find James Bond (our cat) hiding up in a tree. That is not an easy thing for him to do because he is a rescue that had been declawed.

So last night, or actually this morning around 2 am we took Pooka for a walk and I shine my flashlight into that same park where I saw the cat back in April and there it is or one very much like it. Once again, sitting there staring at us. I could actually see it much better this time because I had the flashlight and I am still not positive what it is. We actually stood there for like a minute or two staring at it with both our lights on it. I am almost completely sure it is not a house cat or a Bobcat. Sitting as it was, it would have come up to about my lower thigh, which pretty much rules out house cat. I can say that because I know how tall the bushes it was sitting by are. It didn't seem at all fluffy like Bobcats normally are. It looked too small to be a full grown mountain lion, but it doesn't mean it wasn't a mountain lion. Still it didn't look precisely like a mountain lion either. The strangest thing of all is that it seemed to be completely white. I don't know if it just seemed that way because we were looking at it with flashlights or if it actually was. Anyhow, I was glad Britton saw it this time so I know I am not imagining phantom cats.

What can you do? We finally continue our walk and this cat followed from inside the park around until we left the park area. I wasn't really afraid. For some reason I felt it was more curious than wanting to eat us. I think mainly because I know how cats stalk things and it didn't seem to be stalking us. It was very strange because wild cats do their best to avoid humans, they don't follow them around. So I am wondering if maybe this cat is not a mountain lion, but rather some smaller form of wild cat that had been someone's exotic pet and therefore it isn't really afraid of humans. Maybe someone from Albuquerque could no longer care for it and decided to dump it in the foothills and let it fend for itself?

That was my excitement for the day and probably the week and maybe even month. Other than that -- I feel like crap. I seem to have a cold or really bad allergies. I think it is a cold though. I have been sleeping on and off all day and I am going back to sleep now. Good night.