When the Cox family of Novato unpacked from a weekend coast trip, they were initially humored by what looked like a small kitten that had sneaked in through a front door they had propped open as they brought bags inside.

"My son J.D. said, 'Look, a kitten came in the house,'" said Kim Cox, recalling the events that occurred about noon Sunday. "We all thought it was a kitten, and he was wandering around the living room. But then it freaked out and hid underneath the couch."

The Coxes, a self-described "dog family," then called friend Sue Hunt, who is more of a cat person.

"I got over there, and we tried to get it out with some brooms," recalled Hunt, who lives a couple miles away. "At first we could kind of move him, but then he really dug in. It was a strong little thing."

Then it began to growl, and quite loudly.

"For its size, it was pretty loud," Hunt said.

She then went in for a closer look and saw that this kitten had spots - like a bobcat.

"It turned out it was a bobcat," Cox said. "First I thought this thing was cute, then I got a little scared. What if its mother was around looking for it?"

The Cox family lives on Butterfield Drive, which abuts Mount Burdell. Apparently the baby bobcat - which looked like a 4-month-old kitten - meandered down off the mountain and into the Cox home.

Eventually Hunt and Darrell Cox, Kim's husband, where able to get the bobcat out from underneath the couch.

"It scurried around the living room and bounced

up against the windows, but they were closed," Kim Cox said. "It finally went out the back door."

It climbed a 3-foot retaining wall and then an 8-foot fence and then back into the wild.

"I hope it found its mom," Kim Cox said.

As for the Cox dog, it wasn't around.

"The dog was still in the kennel. That was a good thing," she said.

 

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