Unidentified Furry Animal Problem

Just laughing over mahatmakanejeeves post from Craiglist about a woman who mistook a Bobcat for a domestic cat. It seriously ages me but it made me remember this request from A-Schwarzenegger for help identifying a new pet he inherited.
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28. It lets you pet him
but it makes this sound that sounds like
a combination of growling and purring and
a upset stomach so your never quite sure.
It's fur feels like the end of a old broom
and runs in different directions and different
lengths so your hand gets tangled in it. To be
honest I wear miner's gloves when petting it. It
watches your hand with its eyes wide and dilated
and its mouth open. But it seems to like it. Its
breath is like that water in a vase when the flowers
go bad. I don't think my uncle must of petted it much.
It brought home a old bucket it found and keeps nosing
it down the stairs and then gets it and brings it back up
and noses it down the stairs again. My neighbors are
watching it through their blinds.

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