Black panthers are not fiction for sure. I have seen several while living in Central Florida. It does look like a juvenile black panther to me. Look at the rear haunches on it and see how thick they are. Not many domesticated or wild house cats are that big in the hips. My wife may be...but definately not a house cat.

Zeeter,

If this cat is really a cougar then we have history in the making. There has NEVER been ducumented prove of a black cougar in North America. In fact they do not even have a black gene. As far as the Florida panthers go they are a different species or sub-species and do have a black gene. Again there has been NO documented sighting of a black one dead or alive. Like I wrote in an earlier post, put this on the THF and there will be some good laughs.

The "OLD" (Before it burnt down) "Big Fisherman" Restaraunt inbetween Rockport & Aransas Pass used to have a LIVE FULL GROWN Black Panther on display..


Rob

Tail like a mtn lion. It is definately a big cat. I would think if it was a house cat you would see it often. Call it what you want but definately from mtn lion family.

tail of a domesticated cat(short).Although one close pic looks to be pantherish.there is a large black jaguar that can be in southern north america but thats not it.

Stump is correct there is no such thing as a black panther (or cougar). They are melanistic variants of two species, the African leopard or the South American Jaguarundi. Jaguarundi's do exist in Texas and this may be what we're looking at here, Either that or a very, very large feral cat.

Big A$$$ domestic tom cat!!!

I'd like to have him for a pet...would be fun to watch him chase all the neighbor's dogs.

By the way...

My sister had a domestic cat that had to be weighed on the dog scales when they took him to the vet. He was 41" from his head to the tip of his tail and weighed 38lbs.(A lot bigger than many of the bobcats I've killed over the years) He had that exact same build, which looked very similar to a mountain lion. Domestic cats that large occur a lot more than most people realize.

Also...
The use of the term "Black Panther" is just slang. Most people realize that a true "panther" or mountain lion does not produce a black phase. People are just loosly using that name to describe what is actually a Jaguar. Why the %^&*! people keep beating that argument to death, I'll never know.

Actually, I you ask a biologist or better yet a genetisist you'll find that (panthers) mountain lions do not have the melanistic genetics required to produce that black color phase.

I would also like to point out that my house cat is 42" long, but he was fixed as a kitten, so he should have gotten bigger. Domestic cats will get large, especially if left unaltered.

The same things keep getting repeated over and over and over.

+1
I'm a Texas History buff and the Black Panthers are native to Texas. Go to Vanzandt and Henderson County and you can hear them scream @ night. First time I heard one I thought it was a lady screaming for help. I never saw one but the old timers in the community (Edom) saw plenty of them in the day.

got any pictures of that big house cat you care to share? Might help end this debate..

I got a fat cat at home. He's pushing over 20lbs. He's got a chest like a barrel!

Too bad our cat has some white on him, this picture could pass as him.

I've heard the screams too. The first time was at night while we were fishing in a boat in the middle of the river. Didn't matter, we split anyway. Them things can swim! They'll sure creep ya out... make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Seriously.