Big Cat Scats

I have found a number of big cats scats in the British countryside. They have their own musky cat aroma that is quite unlike the rather unpleasant smell of a fox scat! Big cat scats usually contain deer hairs, as deer are their main prey, as well as the cat's own grooming hairs. They have segments and a large adult black panther or puma scat can be up to a foot long with all the segments! They are entirely different from the short fox scats with their distinctive twisty ends and which are typically 2 inches in length and any larger fox scats too. A big cat scat cannot be mistaken for anything else! It is what it is! You KNOW when you have found one and it's a privilege to do so!

This page contains just a few photos of some of the big cats scats I have found in Devon. N.B. I have arranged some of the scat segments in a line to show the length of the scat. Immediately below is the first big cat scat I ever found! It came out as a dollop and was in a Devon wood.

This is the first big cat scat I found. It was in a Devon wood and I suspect it came from the leopard I have photographed and recorded sawing in the wood. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Fresh puma scat found in a South Devon wood where I have seen a puma and photographed a female puma and her cub twice and have also caught the male puma there on my camera. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

I walked past the place where I found the scat above and it wasn't there but a puma came out of the undergrowth and deposited it in broad daylight and I found it on my way back through the wood about 45 minutes later. I actually have a photo of the puma, taken in broad daylight in the same location.

I found this puma scat in the area where I had my first sighting of one in South Devon. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Big cat scat in a Devon wood - 2020. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard or puma scat on the edge of woodland in South Devon. Photo copyright Alex Bowler 2023

Leopard or puma scat in a Devon wood - 2020. Note the many hairs including deer hairs. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

This is a very long leopard or puma scat I found in a Devon wood in 2020. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard or puma scat found in a Devon wood in 2020. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard or puma scat in a Devon wood. Photo copyright Alex Bowler2020.

Fresh puma scat found in a South Devon wood where I had seen a female puma and photographed her with her cub twice. I also caught a male puma on my camera there. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Puma scat found in a South Devon wood. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler

Leopard or puma scat found in a Devon wood. Photo copyright Alex Bowler 2020.

Leopard or puma scat found in a Devon wood in 2020. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard or puma scat found on Devon heathland. Photo copyright Alex Bowler.

Puma scat found on heathland in Devon where pumas have been sighted. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

I found this puma scat near to where I photographed and filmed a puma in a Devon wood in 2022. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Puma scat found in a South Devon wood near to where I filmed a puma. Photo copyright Alex Bowler 2022.

Look at the abundance of hairs, including deer hairs, in this scat found in a South Devon wood. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard scat found in a Devon wood where I recorded a leopard sawing. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler

Close up of the leopard scat I found in a Devon wood. Photo copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard or puma scat in a Devon wood. Photo copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard scat found in a Devon valley where I and someone else I know have seen a black leopard. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Leopard scat found where I and two others have seen a black leopard in South Devon. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler

Note the deer hairs in this scat Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Puma or leopard scat found in a Devon forest in 2023. Photo Copyright Alex Bowler.

Big Cat Scats found by my friend, the naturalist and big cat expert, Jonathan McGowan

Jonathan McGowan by a log showing the remains of different sika deer that were found in one area on the edge of woodland in Dorset. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan.

This scat is from a leopard, from which dna was extracted and shown to be panthers pardus. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan

This is a scat from a puma alongside a railway line embankment outside Salisbury. The train driver often saw the puma sunbathing on a bank on the edge of woods that run down to the line. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan

This is a is a puma scat, complete with four deer hooves from a Roe. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan

This is a scat from a lynx in Bournemouth. I saw the cat just after it left it, soon after consuming a rabbit. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan

This is a puma scat containing fallow deer hooves and pheasant parts. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan

This is a leopard grass scat, only comprised of grass, this is normal and I find quite a few. Photo Copyright Jonathan McGowan

Puma or Leopard scat in a Cornish Wood

Stuart, from Cornwall, found this scat in a Cornish wood in September 2024 and sent me the photos, which are used here by kind permission. It's clear that the big cat had been feeding on rabbits.

Red Fox Scat - Foxes are omnivores and eat fruit, like berries, vegetables and animals such as rabbits.