Everyone loves pets. They can become true friends. Today, having an ordinary non-pedigreed cat is no longer relevant, so owners buy more expensive pets. Many people love exotic cat breeds. The caracal cat successfully holds the palm.
She is beautiful and exotic. Fast and graceful. A wild predator in nature, in the right conditions, can become an affectionate and domestic cat.
From the article you will learn what this breed is, how to properly care for it, how much a Caracal cat costs and much more.
Brief description of the breed
A cat with an amazingly beautiful color is called a steppe lynx: its legs are long and fast, and there are tassels on the tips of its black ears. These cats live in African and Asian territories, choosing steppe plains.
The caracal is a true hunter who prefers to hunt at night. Its food consists of small rodents, birds and mammals. He does not disdain small livestock either. Because of this, it is now in danger of extinction. Because it exterminated livestock, it was actively hunted, which seriously reduced the population.
The caracal is a very beautiful species of the cat family: a fast runner and an excellent swimmer. His appearance is very memorable: a small elongated muzzle, which is decorated with black and white spots; large ears with black tassels at the ends; almond-shaped eyes with yellow irises; thick dense wool of brown color, and light weight of 15-20 kg.
Big Shlepa Floppa Russian cat - caracal breed
The meme did not gain significant traction outside of ironic meme pages until April 2021. Between February and April 2021, tongue-in-cheek Instagram pages such as tfosing, big_sahnr, pantothepizza, dogie.official and others posted "floppa" memes, using the word to refer to the caracal, as well as other medium and small cats such as bobcats and servals. On March 24, tfosing (esoteric.irony) posted an edit with several clips of Gregory's Caracal and a pet serval with the caption "HOW SOFT IT IS" (shown below). The post received more than 260 likes in three months. On March 25, on Instagram, user hambubrger reposted the meme, gaining more than 2,700 likes in the same period. On April 6, 2021, the iFunny account ShitpostSanctuary posted the meme with 75 smiles.
View this post on Instagram
Posted by Tfosing (@tfosing)
Gosha's owners know about their pet's viral success. They actively publish new content with cats. And they have already adopted a new meme nickname. For example, they sell merch and accessories in the Big Floppa Store online store.
Much is also known about Gosha himself. He was born in the nursery on December 21, 2021. Caracals are wild animals, but recently they can be kept indoors. At the age of 4 months, Bolshoy Shlyopa moved to the house of Muscovites: Andrey and Elena Bondarev.
Rare breeds of cats don't often end up in memes. But everyone knows: if you see a Pallas’s cat, pet the cat!
Before April 16, 2021, an unknown user posted an ironic demotivational meme with the caption "Big Floppa Flop fo no hoe" (shown below). On April 16, Twitter user @pawpawchan48 made the earliest known repost of the meme, receiving 55 retweets and 420 likes in two months. On April 19, Twitter user @Xenodizzy reposted the meme, receiving over 240 likes and 38 retweets. On April 24, Redditor LlamaKnight11 posted an image of Gregory Caracal titled "Big Floppa" to /r/aww, receiving over 150 upvotes.
What does the price depend on?
This breed is one of the five most expensive. When purchasing, there are many nuances and sometimes you don’t know how much a caracal cat costs. It is not easy to choose where to buy a kitten: from professionals or in a nursery. The choice is made easier by the fact that there are about 5 such nurseries around the world.
Breeders must have some experience in this matter, at least 5 years. It’s easier for foreign nurseries: they must have a special license to breed kittens. It is more difficult for Russian breeders: before starting breeding, they must fulfill the necessary conditions:
- Be a member of several organizations for breeding rare breeds of cats.
- Have the necessary documents on hand, including a pet card, veterinary passport, etc.
The future owner needs to take into account the following nuances:
- It is better to purchase a kitten rather than an adult animal. An adult is more difficult to tame. The kitten must be no more than six months old.
- The pet must be healthy: thick and shiny fur, clean skin, without any discharge.
- A kitten that has grown up in a nursery must be kept without an enclosure .
In different regions the price is different. At the nursery, the cost increases several times. Its increase is influenced by several points:
- Purity of the breed.
- Age.
- The place where the pet is purchased.
- The level of reputation of the establishment or breeder.
- Experience.
- Is there a veterinary passport and card for the caracal?
- Feline health.
Attention! If you are going to purchase a purebred breed rather than a hybrid, the price will be increased. This also applies to having a passport and card.
Big splash Floppa Russian cat - meme from where
Big Floppa is a meme with a caracal named Gosha, who is called Big Floppa in Western social networks, and in RuNet - Big Floppa.
On December 23, 2021, Instagram user prozhony posted a photo of his beloved caracal named Gregory (Gosha) and another cat lying on the windowsill. The image gained over 16 in six months (mainly due to its meme popularity).
The hero of the meme is a real caracal named Gosha. Its owner, Andrey Bondarev, has been running a thematic Instagram account for many years. The family and Gosha live with ordinary cats: Zhora and Matvey.
In late December 2021, a collective of ironic meme accounts on Instagram, including users big_sahnr and dogie.official, began posting memes based on the image (posts no longer available), initially calling the caracal "sahnr" and "big sahnr" (invented by user Instagram pantothepizza). In late January 2020, now-inactive Instagram user young.taxi coined the name "Big Floppa" or "Big Floppa" by posting memes of a caracal, and other accounts adopted the name.
On February 14, 2021, Instagram user tfosing (formerly esoteric.irony) posted a demotivational poster based on the photo with the caption "FLOP Exclusive" (shown below, left), which is the earliest currently available caracal meme. The post received more than 120 likes in four months and was reposted and edited by other tongue-in-cheek users the same day, including posts by pantothepizza and floppa.official (shown below, right).
On December 23, 2021, Andrey published another photo in which Gosha is lying on the windowsill. This photo attracted everyone's attention and subsequently became the basis for memes.
In March and April, the popularity of the Gosha caracal on the Internet increased. Thanks in large part to the Big Floppa memes. The pictures and videos, as a rule, did not have any specific message and were surreal.
The massive distribution of memes and pictures with caracals began in May-June 2021. This trend came to RuNet later. Russian-speaking memers gave the animal another nickname - Big Shlyopa.
How much do caracal kittens sell for?
This animal is exotic and wild, and breeding in Russia is not yet popular. Caring for an individual is quite difficult. That is why the price of a kitten is so high: from 10,000 to 50,000 dollars (in Russian currency - from 700,000 to 3,000,000 rubles) .
Standard price starts at $8,000 . If the individual is rare and valuable, the price increases. Females are more expensive than males. Age also affects the price: the younger the cub is, the more expensive it is.
Gallery
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Big Floppa or Big Floppa refers to a series of ironic memes based on photographs of a caracal named Gosha, as well as photographs of other medium-sized and small cats such as lynxes and servals. Initially circulated among ironic meme accounts on Instagram beginning in late December 2021, the meme became more widely popular online beginning in May 2021.
Breed standards
Each cat species has its own standard characteristics. Caracal is no exception:
- Origin: Africa, Asia.
- Year: approximately 1766.
- Dimensions: large.
- Group affiliation: wild species.
- Average weight: male 14-20 kg, female 9-13 kg.
- Coat color: honey brown. Ear tassels are black.
- Wool: very dense, thick and soft.
- Temperament and character: active, loves water, nocturnal. Requires socialization.
About the character of the caracal
When buying a kitten of this breed for yourself, do not forget: in any case, this is a predator, even if it is with you at home. When raising a little caracal, it is necessary to maintain consistency and set clear requirements, but there is no need to rush in training. Your task is to help your beloved pet as much as possible to feel the difference between the owner and his ward. To ensure that subordination is not violated, it is important to develop a number of rules of behavior for the animal in the house.
How can Caracal cats get sick?
This lynx lives in the wild and has excellent immunity. Lynx is practically not susceptible to any diseases. The only disease that can affect her is Aujeszky's disease or pseudorabies. But it can be easily avoided if you do not include pork in your diet.
There are known cases (albeit very rare) when adults were carriers of chlamydia. But they themselves did not suffer from this disease.
When purchasing, remember that his health is now your responsibility. You need to immediately take care of preventive vaccinations. The first one is done already at 10-12 weeks, and the second one after 3-4 weeks. The rabies vaccine is given at 12-13 weeks. The third after the teeth are replaced.
We recommend! Don't include pork in your diet. This way you can avoid the appearance of pseudorabies. Be sure to get vaccinated against worms, rhinotracheitis and panleukemia once a year.
Big splash Floppa Russian cat - pictures photos instagram template
Since May 2021, the meme has become more popular on sites such as YouTube, Reddit, Instagram and iFunny. On June 4, the r/bigfloppa subreddit was created, collecting thematic memes and fanart.
Breed card
| Characteristics of a cat | Notes | |
| General information | Exotic cat breed. The domestication of wild caracals made it possible to obtain offspring that were human-oriented, but retained many of the traits of their ancestors. | The high price of caracals also implies high responsibility. Keeping an unusual cat is not cheap |
| Character | An inquisitive, agile and very active caracal resembles a dog in behavior. The cat loves walking and exploring the territory | Caracals hiss and growl, rather than meow like regular domestic cats. |
| Appearance | Large cat - height at the withers - 50 cm with short honey-colored hair, characteristic dark spots on the face, yellow eyes and large ears with black tassels | Domestic caracals are very similar to their wild relatives |
| Behavior at home | The caracal will explore and try out all the things available to it. There should be several scratching posts in the house so that the cat is not interested in your furniture. Toilet question: it is better for the animal to have access to the yard of a private house; in apartment conditions, accustom your caracal to the tray as early as possible | We do not recommend having a caracal for families with small children, as well as being in proximity to other pets. |
| Care | Feeding raw meat is preferable | Do not forget to freeze the meat for 3 days to kill parasites |
| Health problems | No hereditary diseases were identified | Caracals boast good immunity and almost never get sick. But it’s worth finding a veterinarian in advance who is willing to monitor the health of such a big cat. |
