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The cactus cat is a mythical, fearsome critter once commonly reported in the American Southwest. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, frontiersmen reported sighting the cactus cat as it traveled from cactus to cactus drinking each plant’s sap until it stumbled away in a drunken stupor. Although the cactus cat is a fictitious feline, locals claim to have heard the drunken beast holler as it clumsily hobbled around the nighttime desert.
As an outcome of the westward expansion of the United States, frontiersmen—including cowboys, lumberjacks, and other pioneers—settled and worked in the American Southwest. To pass the time, these frontiersmen told stories about odd critters, including the cactus cat. According to these stories, the cactus cat was native to the American Southwest, particularly common near Tucson, Arizona. Frontiersmen offered thick descriptions of both the cactus cat’s appearance and its behavior. As its name implies, the cacti-like features of this animal distinguish the cactus cat from other native feline beasts, including bobcats, cougars, and jaguars. Thorny thistles covered the cactus cat from head to tail. Some descriptions of the cactus cat described its coat as green, while others marked the beast’s fur as grey or brown. Contemporary artistic renderings of the cactus cat often highlight the beast’s oddly shaped tail, which sometimes looks similar to a ball and chain. Yet what truly set apart the cactus cat as unique was its weapon: protruding from the end of the beast’s paws were blades like that of a knife.
The cactus cat craftily used its weapon with deliberateness and cunning. The cactus cat moved carefully and with purpose: it didn’t just scamper quickly from cactus to cactus. Frontiersmen claimed that the cactus cat used its paw-attached weapon to puncture holes in the tough exterior skin of a cactus, thereby allowing sap to freely ooze out of the plant. Rather than immediately drinking the plant’s sap, the cactus cat controlled its cravings and moved on to other cacti, showing the same restraint at each.
After repeating this process for several nights, the cactus cat finally allowed itself to enjoy the fruits of its labor. By the time the cactus cat returned to the original cactus, the plant’s sap had fermented. The cactus cat nonetheless lapped up this alcoholic treat until intoxication took hold of its body. After the cactus cat had consumed every last drop of sap from each cactus, it staggered about the desert making loud noises.
Though most witnesses report that the cactus cat was merely unruly, some claim that the beast could and often did become violent. Some people argue that the cactus cat would club to death those who followed it around, while others said its behavior amounted to sheer silly antics. Although these reports are inconsistent, what exists across each claim is that the cactus cat did, at least from time to time, interact with frontiersmen.
As of the late twentieth century, reports of the cactus cat were essentially nonexistent. Some people claim that the cactus cat is now extinct, while others recognize the beast as a mythical construct from imaginative, lonely, and bored frontiersmen. Whatever the truth may be, the cactus cat lives on in human memory—forever in search of its intoxicating beverage of choice.
Jake Dionne
See also Ball-Tailed Cat; Demon Cat; Tailypo; Wampus Cat
Further Reading
Cohen, Daniel. 1975. Monsters, Giants, and Little Men from Mars: An Unnatural History of the Americas. New York: Doubleday.
Cox, William T. 1910. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts. Washington, DC: Press of Judd & Detweiler.
Johnson, Hal. 2015. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: 20 Chilling Tales from the Wilderness. New York: Workman.