Anybody have or had what would considered a bad ass cat?    

    I found this guy when I lived in Dutch Hbr, AK in the warehouse on a shipping dock I ran.  He followed me home and we named him Cougar.  He was a stud and blanked every female cat he could, and killed rats as big as he was and leave them in my shoes on the porch.  He would stay with us then disappear for a day or so, and show back up covered in dirt or snow sometimes.   We finally got him fixed and solved that problem.    He used to ride in the back of the pickup with our  225lb Mastiff when we went to the beach, about 4 or 5 miles or so.  I would take him fly fishing with me sometimes and he would look for something to hunt.  I was going through some old photos, so thought I would share maybe hear some stories of others here.    He has been gone 25 years now and I still miss him.       I will see Cougar again someday.

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He was sitting on a log in the middle of the creek watching salmon swim by.  

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A good pet is so much more - they're a buddy.

I accepted a neighbor's kitten I really didn't want,
out of pity.  (I always had dogs as a kid)

Odd kitten.  Would perch on my shoulder like a parrot.

Another neighbor's dog chased my kitten until he
ran up my backside and dug into my shoulder for
dear life, forever ending me allowing the "parrot trick."

Later as an older cat living out in the country, he behaved
more like an independent dog, following me around the farm,
and a ways down the dirt road to my mailbox.

He survived animal attacks, being struck by a car, and other
things, using up all nine of his lives.

At one point that cat was a part of my life longer than my own kids.

I get your bittersweet memories of your buddy, OP.  

I think he’s pretty bad ass for something that weighs less than 10 pounds.

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Someone in the neighborhood videoed him with a rabbit he just killed and posted it on the community facebook page.

We currently own 3 cats.  A 5 pound 11 year old Scottish Fold.  She can't jump on the couch without thinking about it first and would run from a gopher.  Another 5 pound Scottish Fold at least she can jump a little and thinks she is a hunter when she saw the little bat stuck between the screen and window.  My guess is if she actually caught it would let it go out of shock,  The bigger 13 pound Ragajmuffin is actually athletic but we've never let any of them outside.  Hey, even a bad ass cat would have issues with the coyote pack that lives outside or the occasional bobcat.  

But they are lovable.  

Growing up in Rhode Island we had a Persian angora calico cat that probably weighed 5 pounds and we kept inside her first 4 years of life to protect her,  Shoot that thing was cray cray.  She would chase any dog that dared enter her yard down the street and the back yard was littered with the results of her hunting,  

My mom had a cat that was unusually murderous and extremely, even weirdly, proficient at it.
We had lots of cats over the years but he was like the far side of the curve compared to all the others. He hunted everything, constantly. Long patient stalks, opportunistic ambushes...he never played with his victims or ate them, just thwack! and they were dead. Then on to the next.
It looked like he was practicing...deliberately. He even looked different than most mutt cats with a very leopard-like face like he was a genetic throwback.
After living with her for a few years one day he just moved in with a couple of elderly lesbians next door and ordered them to care for him. They renamed him and he'd answer to that.
Never came back to my mom, although he would deign to visit(and eat or drink) and of course her property was his property.

Mandy, was a shelter cat from Pontiac, MI.  Loved my son with all she had for the rest of her life and took zero shit from anyone.  Been gone a couple years and the remaining cats still expect her come stomping into the room.
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A Russian blue tom when i was a kid and a manx/maine coon mix tom when i lived in town.

Two of the most loyal one man cats, they were like lions.


Ive had several loyal one man dogs in my life

A little Russian Blue that happened upon me while I was cutting siding on a job 2 years ago. She was walking down the middle of the street. She sat there next to me all day, hungry, thirsty, lonely.

I put her in the truck and brought her home with me. She wouldn't leave my side when I went through 3 bouts of covid last year.

She was blind, had asthma, and an enlarged heart.

We spent $8k over the past few years at the vet trying to save her.
She passed away in my wife's arms a few weeks ago at emergency vet.

I honestly never thought I could get so attached to a cat. My heart feels like it's been ripped from my chest.
I miss my Zoey

We had a cat named Buddy a few years ago.  I think he was a Korat.  We nicknamed him "Warrior Cat".  Very territorial.  He would always patrol the fields near our neighborhood or perch on our front porch watching the world go by, chasing off other cats and I even saw him chase off a couple of rabbits. He refused to stay indoors most of the time, so we'd just let him out in the morning.  We have a six foot vinyl privacy fence in the backyard that was useless keeping him in.  He'd scale it and walk along the top, even sitting on it at times.  At night I'd call for him and he'd come running into the house.  When I'd walk our two little dogs if he saw us he'd come running and follow us along our walks.  I told my wife to be ready that he might not come back one day, that a coyote or hawk would probably get him.  He'd come home with puncture wounds, cuts, and assorted other injuries.  We treated him with antibiotics a couple of times after he got a couple of nasty wounds.  He died in 2017 at 16 years old very peacefully.  I was surprised he lived that long.  His last couple of weeks he just hid in the basement, kind of the way you'd expect a cat like him to do when it's at the end of it's life.  He was a loving cat who looked out for the house, a total watch cat.  Miss you Buddy.

   Cougar was like Buddy show back up and beaten up sometimes.   He also fought off a couple of fox attacks in Dutch both of which woke me up in the middle of the night and I was able to get him in.  Once we moved down the states, he still wondered the woods and I thought the same that a coyote would get him.    In the end at 9 or 10 he became diabetic.  We gave him shots and monitored him, but cats can all of a sudden revert back and it was the insulin that took him out.     I put him down myself at 3am, I put a baggie over his head, and he was gone in a minute if not less he was so weak.   I probably waited longer than I should have, but his will to live wouldn't let him go and I couldn't stand seeing him like that anymore.  

 All great stories guys, thank you!

Meet Elvis. He came in at approximately 9 months old and took over.
He is a guard cat. When a vehicle comes down the driveway or a strange dog comes in the yard he jumps up and starts growling. He does the same when strangers come inside the house. He’s launched himself into windows on several occasions when a bird or snake was visible. Attached File

I had a male stray we rescued and after a few months you would never guess he was a stray. He brought us all kinds of presents, some alive and some dead. He sure was my pal. I currently have a 16 pound male tabby that is my buddy along with 4 female cats. They all like to snuggle when I am in bed or in my recliner. Right now I have one of the female cats on one side of my chair and the dog on the other side.

In Tennessee he doesn't see much of this. Full time outdoor cat, except a few single digit nights. Been slaying birds foraging on the snow. Frequent torturer. Mostly eats what he kills.

I have a tomcat I got when he was 8 weeks old from a homeless girl. At the time me and my dog were living in our Jeep somewhat uncivilized, spending much of our time in the Oregon wilderness. He spent the first years of his life in the mountains and high deserts.
I didn’t get him neutered because tomcats grow bigger and stronger and I wanted him to have every edge he might need if his life depended on it. He was incredibly powerful and rugged. He went everywhere we went, swam, he was basically like a wildcat who was somewhat tame.
I finally had him neutered when he was almost 4 when we started living a more civilized lifestyle.To this day he’s still strong and really tough and wants to be outdoors as much as I let him.

A girl I dated for a while had an all white cat that weighed about 18 lbs. He would  climb the tree in the front yard that had a branch which protruded over the sidewalk. He would lay on the branch until a dog walked by and would drop down on the dog. Scared the shit out of the dog. 18 pounds of snarling with teeth and claws, falling from nowhere. Scared the shit out of the dogs.

Before that I wondered why dogs would go to the other side of the street and not walk by her house.