Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-10502460-20180502030220/@comment-10502460-20180503042057

"Firstly, why the fuck would a person hold onto a bloody Lynx it bothers to feed? It is like holding a mini-Tiger, do you really want one as a random hunter in the middle of so called nowhere? Probably dead, on your wall. It's just a really weird premise to have the whole conflict be between a captured Lynx and a kid, at a hunters house."

There are some people who are into exotic pets, and some who actually have lions and tigers, legally and illegally. I actually had the uncle live in Ohio because the state is known to have lax laws on exotic pet ownership. That said, the Lynx isn't necessarily captured, it could be raised from birth or illegally trafficked.

I actually meant to imply only that the lynx killed the dog, not ate it. But I know cats can be pretty vicious with animals they kill so that's why I made it so graphic.

As for how the lynx behaves toward the child, the lynx is supposed to be acting territorial, not hungry. It doesn't mean to eat the kid, it just sees her as a threat because the house, which is a lot more enclosed than the open wilderness, is its territory. It's true that lynxes and most other wild cats prefer to steer clear of humans in the wild, but a big cat in a house would be a beast at bay, and cornered predators can be a lot more unpredictable. An average house would not be that big for a wild predator. Plus the thing has been living in the basement and its unknown how well the uncle has been treating it, so that could also make it more aggressive.

Also, the lynx is not actually prowling around the house looking for the child, that's just how she feels in the situation. She gets attacked twice because the cat sees her as infringing its territory, but everything else is just the cat doing cat things while its out, not caring about the kid as long as she is out of sight.

The original idea for this story was actually a vicious dog, but I liked the lynx better because of the silent prowler aspect.