Cat, dog or photoshop?

[Morrigan]

http://images.craigslist.org/5N95F85...c5a8521fb9.jpg



I belong to a horse forum, and this popped up.

The animal doesn't look like a dog to me.

[Chloe]

Those are horses.

You're welcome.

[GenYus234]

It is hard to see clearly, but it looks more like a cat to me, especially the way the head is being carried. It could be a normal sized house cat with weird perspective making appear larger than usual.

[Morrigan]

Originally Posted by Chloe

Those are horses.

You're welcome.

I just knew someone was going to say that...

[Spamamander]

Zebras with mange.

[RichardM]

It is not something the horses are afraid of. And it is not threatening the horses. I think it is a dog.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

It is hard to see clearly, but it looks more like a cat to me, especially the way the head is being carried. It could be a normal sized house cat with weird perspective making appear larger than usual.

Looks similar to a bobcat. I agree with the weird perspective making it hard to judge relative size.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

For some reason, to me, it looks like a Boerboel-type dog with a docked tail.

[Lainie]

I don't think the horses would be so calm in the presence of a bobcat.

[UEL]

I suspect it is a dog for three reasons:

- I just double checked and cats, even big ones, walk with the same gait (don't know if that is the right word). A cat walks so that the legs on either side are not working "together". For example, a cat's left foreleg will be forward, while his left rearleg will be back. Meanwhile, the same cat's right foreleg and right rearleg will almost meet. This critter has its legs going in unison, like a dog's.

- The left front paw of the critter is up. Again, I checked, and cat's paws don't do that (there may be exceptions, but the rule is they don't). Dog's paws do that regularly.

- The body shape. Specifically, I'm talking about the chest to belly to rear legs. I just looked up Google images for profiles of dogs and cats and in the hundreds of images I saw, I saw one cat that looked like that, but about half the dogs do.

My suspicion, it is a dog.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I don't think the horses would be so calm in the presence of a bobcat.

Why wouldn't they be? Bobcats aren't much bigger than house cats (almost typed horse cats there).

As far as the animal in question actually being a bobcat, I don't know. The color patterns don't seem correct, for one thing. The short tail and back legs just reminded me of a bobcat. On a second look it does appear that the tail's length is the result of docking rather than being naturally short. It's hard to tell on my laptop's screen, but the ears of the animal appear to flop over like a dog's, as well.

[erwins]

Originally Posted by Ryda Wong, EBfCo.

For some reason, to me, it looks like a Boerboel-type dog with a docked tail.

That's what it looks like to me as well. Its head is turned slightly away, which makes it a little harder to see the shape, but the body is right on.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by crocoduck_hunter

Why wouldn't they be? Bobcats aren't much bigger than house cats (almost typed horse cats there).

But I bet horses know the difference. And even if they're not afraid of the bobcat, I think they'd be more vigilant around it.

[Swordmaster]

Looks like a dog to me. If you look really close, you can see that the head is turned towards the wooded area rather than in the direction that it's walking. I would say that it's probably investigating something he heard in the woods.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

I would say it is standing like a dog that sees something of interest that it likes. The head seems to be turned away so we only see the back. Plus the picture is not that large and has the lack of detail you would expect with a cell phone camera.

[overyonder]

Looks like a mountain lion to me.

OY

[Lainie]

I see the resemblance, but I can't imagine the horses calmly continuing their meal as a cougar walks by.

[overyonder]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I see the resemblance, but I can't imagine the horses calmly continuing their meal as a cougar walks by.

I do agree with that. Of course the photo could be shopped... I would also expect the mountain lion to be looking at its prey, too. Even if it didn't consider it as prey, I'd expect the mountain lion to still keep a watchful eye on an animal that's much larger than itself...

OY

[KirkMcD]

It could be an English Mastiff. They look pretty similar in size and coloring.

http://www.assisi-molosser.com/masti...ok_dini01.html

[Horse Chestnut]

If you zoom in on the photo, you can see that the head of the animal is pointed down and turned away from the viewer, so you are actually seeing the back of the head and the the lower part of a longer nose.

When you make the photo bigger, it's pretty clear that it is a dog with a docked tail.