Cabbit

A cabbit is a fictional hybrid between a cat and a rabbit. They have appeared in fiction and fantasy stories including Japanese anime and manga, and have also been dubiously purported to have been observed in the wild. Most if not all observations are attributable to either misidentified Manx cats or outright hoaxes. It is genetically impossible for a cat and a rabbit to produce offspring together.

A cat-rabbit hybrid creature was first incorrectly documented by Joseph Train of Castle Douglas, Galloway, Scotland, in his "An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man", where he opined that the local Manx cat was such a hybrid: "My observations on the structure and habits of the specimen in my possession, leave little doubt on my mind of its being a mule, or cross between the female cat and the buck rabbit." Train also refers to the tufty tail on the posterior of the "Manks" cat as being a fud (Scots: fud), "or brush like that of a rabbit." But scientific study has, of course, invalidated Mr. Train's genetically impossible conclusion.

The portmanteau term "cabbit" is used for such imagined hybrids. The exact year of coinage is uncertain. It was used in 1977 to describe a specimen found in New Mexico and exhibited in Los Angeles.