# Can wildcats be tamed as pets?



## Nuser (Apr 21, 2014)

Hello, I am a new user, and I have a question about wildcats and their behavior. I don't live in an area where wildcats are present, but I have a fascination with wildcats, the cats that look like a husky tabby cat, but live in the forests, far from people. Supposedly pet cats are descended from the African wildcat (felis silvestris lybica), and I've read in cat encyclopedias and stories that apparently the cat can be tamed by people, and are kept by herders in the Middle East to hunt rodents. But what about European wildcats (silvestris silvestris) and possibly Central Asian wildcats (silvestris ornata)? They all look more or less similar to a typical shorthair brown mackerel/spotted tabby cat, except larger, and have longer limbs. From what I've heard, the European wildcat is the most difficult, if not impossible to tame, especially Scottish wildcats. But I've found something that mentions hand rearing European wildcat kittens, and this page on a website in Switzerland mentions a European wildcat living in a guy's backyard, but some of the pictures look like a wildcat/domestic cat hybrid, as the cat has a marbled tabby coat, but has the head shape of a wildcat. But wildcats can breed with feral cats, and the hybrids are slowly wiping out the wildcat as a pure subspecies. Why haven't there been any domestic cat/wildcat hybrids sold as pets, (felis s. catus x silvestris/lybica/ornata) unlike Bengals, Savannah cats, and Chausies? Has anyone here worked with or lived in places where wildcats are common? How different are their behaviour from feral cats?


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

IMO wild felids belong in the wild & should be left alone, if you want an animal that behaves like a pet, get a domestic cat, I think it's wrong to try & 'tame' wild animals.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

I read a book by someone who kept wild/domestic cat hybrids. They never became tame as such, were friendly as kittens but once mature reverted to being shy and without bite/scratch inhibition.

The hybrid situation is worrying in terms of preserving the true wild species.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

The short answer is no. Even animals bred in zoos are never really 'tame' as they are still classed as wild animals, not domesticated ones like tabbies and other moggies. Just because the wildcat looks like a domestic tabby does not mean it will behave in the same way. If you want to get a cat, go to a rescue centre and adopt one. Wild animals belong in the wild.


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## Nuser (Apr 21, 2014)

Obviously I wouldn't advise anyone to keep a wildcat as a pet, but then how do exotic cat breeders cross their cats with wild felids? Bengals are the most common, and now there's Chausie (_Felis silvestris catus_ x _Felis chaus_) and Savannahs, which are bred with Servals (_Leptailurus serval_). The wild cat is usually mostly bred out in those hybrids, but often the wild cat crossed with them aren't even of the same genus as a domestic cat. Maybe this is another question all together, but what are your opinions on the ethics of cat hybrids? Especially since some exotic cats don't do well fed on domestic cat diets, or are more aggressive.

And what about ferals living in areas where they co-exist with wildcats? I read somewhere that domestic cats in Europe show some evidence of interbreeding with the European wildcat.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Any domestic animal that hybridises with a wild animal is in essence diluting the gene pool of the wild animal. This is bad because our domesticated animals have lost many of the traits a wild animal has and needs for survival, domestics are often heavily in bred, and domestics often carry characteristics which we have bred into them that we like but are either useless or even detrimental in a wild animal. On the flip side, the resultant offspring may have characters WE find undesirable, as you already mentioned they might be less tame than a purebred domestic. Hybrids are also often sterile, particularly if different species cross, and this is problematic because it's essentially a whole generation lost.

So basically its a terrible idea and I certainly don't approve. Humans have messed around enough with animals as it is, and there's another cat breeds and varieties out there without making more.

An example of hybridising gone bad: dingos and domestic dogs (though techincally dingos are thought to be the descendents of early domestic dogs bred in south east asia). Dingo gene pool is being eroded by the crossing (no problem with hybrid sterility as they are both the same 'species') and the hybrids are larger and much more aggressive than dingos themselves, and cause even more problems where they come into contact with humans and their livestock.


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## DanielEmily (May 15, 2014)

no it is not possible. no doubt we have seen lions and tigers in circus when they perform their skills and the entire show is controlled by ring master. they cannot come under the category of pets. similarly wild cat is also very dangerous. just imagine if any wild cat jumps on any person then what will be the situation.


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## ForeverHome (Jan 14, 2014)

I believe they are protected and it would be a criminal offence. There are conservationists working round the clock to preserve this WILD species, and what you're proposing to do is one of the major threats to the survival of the species - hybridisation. It's extremely dangerous to bring a wild animal into your home. It's also morally abhorrent.

What is wrong with some people that they see something beautiful and just have to own it? I have a major soft spot for pumas. I wouldn't think of owning one, they belong in the wild.

Bengals and others have been carefully bred and even a 5th or 7th generation is still not a novice owner's animal. Personally I disagree with it, but at least it's been done under controlled conditions and not with some random wild animal of an endangered species.

Why don't you have a read or watch on You-tube about the problems of wolf-dog hybrids. Look out for Jennifer McCarthy for some really eye-opening differences between wolf and dog, or watch this 



 - this is what your proposed kitty-cat would be like.


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## AlexArt (Apr 25, 2010)

There's a rescue centre near me who had a scottish wildcat kitten brought to them to be hand reared, it was wild as hell and only came out of hiding at night to eat! They're tame for the baby phase just like any animal, but once they hit adulthood they revert to their wild state irrespective of their upbringing. Yes you get some individuals who do remain able to interact with their human 'parent' but it's often only when that animal has returned to a wild life and it does so of it's own choice, captive wild animals tend to be frustrated and generally angry and will take it out on people. 

Hybridising cats is a bad idea I think - just for the sake of a coat pattern, why they can't leave the wild animal and put their resources into protecting them instead of trying to get a tame version of it is beyond me!? Even a good number of generations away from the wild cat they used to breed with, the offspring are often nuts, aggressive, destructive, and show little inclination for human contact!!! There's a fellow of Facebook in germany who breeds those hybrid cats, yes they look pretty, he also has the servals and other wild species of cat he uses to breed them, but his garden looks like he's trying to keep elephants in it - the fences are 10ft high with electric along the top!!:eek6: I hate to think of the smell, wild cats will spray everything and can pee 5ft up a wall no problem!!

I worked with some people at a wildlife rescue in south africa for a bit and one of the keepers had hand reared a beautiful leopard cub from before it's eyes even opened. When it hit 8months old it attacked him, and was ready for release, she was totally wild and scared of people, if you went near her cage she would charge!! Someone else I new had a african wild dog that was also hand reared, even though it looked and behaved for the most part like a dog it was still wild, that attacked its carer at just over a year old and was later released. 
So no I don't think it's a good idea to even try, domestic animals have been bred for thousands of years through careful selection of breeding the tamest and ones who showed characteristics unlike those of their wilder parents to get to the levels of behaviour we have today, even some of our older breeds still have those wild instincts in them, look how many people get killed by bulls a year, and have you ever tried herding Hebridean sheep!! Wild animals are just that and should be left as such and protected to keep them that way imo.


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