The
black-footed cat is Africa's smallest cat. An
adult weighs about 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs or about half the weight of
the average domestic cat).
It is one of the world's smallest cat species (the rusty-spotted
cat is probably smaller). At first appearance this dimunitive cat
looks like a slightly exotic domestic tabby cat. The inky black or brown spots hint at a
wildcat, however. They are the kind of spots you see on a serval
or serval wild cat to domestic cat hybrid (Savannah cat).
Small wildcats make up for their lack of size in fierceness when
challenged.
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 The
ears are rounded and the eyes large. Although the eyes of the
rusty-spotted cat and margay
would appear to be slightly larger in proportion to overall size. The
tail is banded and has a black tip. It is about half the length of the
head and body combined.
The coat's background color "varies from cinnamon-buff to tawny". The
spots merge to form bands on the legs, neck, the tail as mentioned and
on the sides of the face. The double lines on the cheeks almost mirror
the rusty colored lines of the rusty-spotted cat.
The paw pads are black - hence the name. Apparently the skin is
unpigmented. Usually a cat's skin is pigmented to the same pattern as
the fur (note the Shynx cat)
. There are no ocelli (light colored spots on the ear flaps). The back
of the ears are the same color as the general background coat color.
Black-footed cat description -- Reference, quote: Wild Cats Of The
World page 76 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-77999-7
From Black-footed cat description to the range of this cat.
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