Can Wildcats be tamed as pets?

[nuser]

I don't really know where I should be posting this, but "Cats and Other Animals" seemed to be the closest to the subject. Can wildcats, "wildcat" referring to the domestic cat's wild ancestors, felis silvestris, (not bobcats, leopard cats, servals, etc) be tamed and kept as pets? 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, Chausies? Has anyone here worked with or lived in places where wildcats are common? How different are their behavior from ferals? 

 

[flamingo1981]

a real european wild cat is suppose to be very fierce, not something i would want in my house, selective breeding usually makes tamer animals. Cats are big unlike other exotics like sugar gliders and parrots a wild cat can be dangerous when tamed.  I guess large parrots can be also if you dont know what your doing lol

 

[nuser]

Obviously they should be left alone in the wild, and even ferals can be ferocious if approached incorrectly. But why hasn't anyone tried to breed hybrids of felis silvestris catus and a felis silvestris silvestris? Though I think Bengals have to be at least 4 generations away from the leopard cat to be fully domestic, how would crosses between cats and their first cousins work? There have been reports of domestic cats interbreeding with wildcats where they co-exist, but apparently they still carry over the temperament of wildcats, and are not domestic. Or are domestic cats and wildcats just too similar to each other that it isn't worth the effort, and if someone wanted a wildcat-looking domestic, they could just get a Norwegian Forest Cat, or maybe even a tabby?

Edit: I guess I was wrong, there's apparently a breed of cats that are derived from catus x lybica called the Sokoke.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokoke

 

[nbrazil]

There is a difference between tame and domesticated. Tame is a learned behavior, but the default is wild. Domesticated is apparently genetics based. Breeding for increasing degrees of tameness lasting into adulthood apparently favors this genetic disposition.

The evidence for the genetic source of domestication was apparent in an experiment done by Russians to domesticate foxes. But even domesticated animals can revert to feral when deprived of the social interaction with humans.

So... tame is not domesticated - as keepers of wild animals have learned to their detriment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox

 

[flamingo1981]

they do not cross the wildcat and domestic b ecause the offspring is extremly aggressive, more aggressive than the leopard cat crosses

wildcats the european kind are very forward aggressive I Think a lot more aggressive than a leopard cat, the man at the zoo said they scared him as much as the actual leopards.

wildcats and domestics do breed in the wild though, there are storyies of hunting dogs being sliced up from encountering domestic crosses.

 

[bhic]

Apparently they can...

A friend of my daughter grabbed a kitten of about 4 weeks old (its eyes had not changed yet color from purple to orange)  from a local forest and brought it home. Her parents took it to their vet who confirmed it was a wild cat kitten (felix silverstris) and said it could never be tamed. So they decided to take it back - however on the way to the forest the girl met my daughter and she phoned me. Since I know wild cats tend to abandon their young if they detect human scent and it was November and snowing plus several days had passed since the child took the kitten I told her to bring it home.  My parents bred Siamese cats (we had about 30 of them in the house at one time) so i grew up with cats. Siamese can be quite fierce and it was just a kitten so idecided to at least get it strong before releasing it. We had three adult domestic cats so I hoped he might learn from them.

The kitten was very fierce at first using claw and teeth when approached. A 4 week old domestic kitten would have to be fed on speciallly prepared milk but this wild kitten was already eating solid food at that age.  However over the weeks it grew to trust me and my daughter. He has now grown into a truely beautiful animal and is every bit as affectionate as any domestic cat.

My vet (very negative about my chances of taming him  when she first saw him)  is now very impressed (he is now 2 years old) but I do have to hold him down for his yearly injections and he will not let anyone but family touch him. He growls like a dog at strangers who come to the house and literally goes to attack if they continue to approach if he is not restrained. Every cat in our neighbourhood and the dogs too are completely terrified of him but he is dominant but friendly with my other 3 cats. Even though he is well fed (eating more than all the other 3 cats combined) he has unfortunately decimated the local bird population even catching and eating the magpies and crows. Our squirrels have also all disappeared so I guess he has eaten them as well. We live at the side of a forest and he goes out for over 8 hours a day.

When we go away on holiday we put him in a local cattery and the owner has been forced to use a pair of huge protective gloves (he tried without laughing at my warnings and so got badly scatched and bittten) just to get him in and out the travel cage. He said he has never seen an animal with such character after 30 years running a cattery.  A vet who visited the cattery due the illness of another cat saw him told the owner that it was the first time he had ever seen a proper wildcat kept as a pet. Tiggru (his name - the french name for the Winnie the Poo  Tigger) is happy to be fed but simply does not accept handling by people he does not know. Like any domestic cat he comes running to his name, always uses his lit tray and can be handled like a baby by family. He has never scratched or bitten me, my wife or daughter since he was a kitten.

However has a very different character and physique to a domestic cat, he continuously makes noises (grunts and low pitch meows) and is only quiet when he sleeps. Apparently this is common in forest cats that communicate in dense forest that way. He is not much bigger than a large domestic cat but he is nearly twice the weight and its all muscle he has no fat at all on him. Unlike any other cat I have owned his shape is wide at the front and narrow at the back. His ears are very furry Inside and he has a layerof thick black skin protecting his mouth, eyes and between his toes (apparently weather protection) and his face is narrow and refined like a pedigree cat not like a non-pedigree domestic or a feral.  His markings are absolutely symetrical down to the last spot showing no sign of the interbreeding with feral or domesticated breeds cats often seen in wildcat hybrids.  My vet says he is deinitely would make a good zoo specimen of the breed. He is much faster and stronger than our other 3 cats. We have a huge fir tree in the garden (>15m) and he can get to the top in seconds and he can jump over our 2m hedge something our other cats would never even consider.

So a wildcat can be tamed  (if you get hold of a young enough kitten) but they are never going to be fully domesticated and they are not a suitable pet if you have young children around that  the cat does not know  who might try to pick them up. They can make a wonderful loving animal but must be treated as a potentially dangerous animal like a big dog with strangers. Also my guess is that without the nearby forest to prowl he might have become more frustrated and agressive since wildcats are territorial and need to hunt I doubt a garden would suffice. So probably not a good house cat.

It should be remembered that wild cats are a protected species in most of Europe and cannot be legally taken from their natural habitat. I would never have touched him if I had seen him walking free in the forest but I am certain survival in winter for such a young kitten was impossible after he had been taken for several days. Tiggru could decide anytime he wants to go fully wild and never come back I could not stop him, meanwhile we have a fine cat with a character.

I can post some photos if you want.

Brian

 

[alkemist]

C

Apparently they can...

A friend of my daughter grabbed a kitten of about 4 weeks old (its eyes had not changed yet color from purple to orange)  from a local forest and brought it home. Her parents took it to their vet who confirmed it was a wild cat kitten (felix silverstris) and said it could never be tamed. So they decided to take it back - however on the way to the forest the girl met my daughter and she phoned me. Since I know wild cats tend to abandon their young if they detect human scent and it was November and snowing plus several days had passed since the child took the kitten I told her to bring it home.  My parents bred Siamese cats (we had about 30 of them in the house at one time) so i grew up with cats. Siamese can be quite fierce and it was just a kitten so idecided to at least get it strong before releasing it. We had three adult domestic cats so I hoped he might learn from them.

The kitten was very fierce at first using claw and teeth when approached. A 4 week old domestic kitten would have to be fed on speciallly prepared milk but this wild kitten was already eating solid food at that age.  However over the weeks it grew to trust me and my daughter. He has now grown into a truely beautiful animal and is every bit as affectionate as any domestic cat.

My vet (very negative about my chances of taming him  when she first saw him)  is now very impressed (he is now 2 years old) but I do have to hold him down for his yearly injections and he will not let anyone but family touch him. He growls like a dog at strangers who come to the house and literally goes to attack if they continue to approach if he is not restrained. Every cat in our neighbourhood and the dogs too are completely terrified of him but he is dominant but friendly with my other 3 cats. Even though he is well fed (eating more than all the other 3 cats combined) he has unfortunately decimated the local bird population even catching and eating the magpies and crows. Our squirrels have also all disappeared so I guess he has eaten them as well. We live at the side of a forest and he goes out for over 8 hours a day.

When we go away on holiday we put him in a local cattery and the owner has been forced to use a pair of huge protective gloves (he tried without laughing at my warnings and so got badly scatched and bittten) just to get him in and out the travel cage. He said he has never seen an animal with such character after 30 years running a cattery.  A vet who visited the cattery due the illness of another cat saw him told the owner that it was the first time he had ever seen a proper wildcat kept as a pet. Tiggru (his name - the french name for the Winnie the Poo  Tigger) is happy to be fed but simply does not accept handling by people he does not know. Like any domestic cat he comes running to his name, always uses his lit tray and can be handled like a baby by family. He has never scratched or bitten me, my wife or daughter since he was a kitten.

However has a very different character and physique to a domestic cat, he continuously makes noises (grunts and low pitch meows) and is only quiet when he sleeps. Apparently this is common in forest cats that communicate in dense forest that way. He is not much bigger than a large domestic cat but he is nearly twice the weight and its all muscle he has no fat at all on him. Unlike any other cat I have owned his shape is wide at the front and narrow at the back. His ears are very furry Inside and he has a layerof thick black skin protecting his mouth, eyes and between his toes (apparently weather protection) and his face is narrow and refined like a pedigree cat not like a non-pedigree domestic or a feral.  His markings are absolutely symetrical down to the last spot showing no sign of the interbreeding with feral or domesticated breeds cats often seen in wildcat hybrids.  My vet says he is deinitely would make a good zoo specimen of the breed. He is much faster and stronger than our other 3 cats. We have a huge fir tree in the garden (>15m) and he can get to the top in seconds and he can jump over our 2m hedge something our other cats would never even consider.

So a wildcat can be tamed  (if you get hold of a young enough kitten) but they are never going to be fully domesticated and they are not a suitable pet if you have young children around that  the cat does not know  who might try to pick them up. They can make a wonderful loving animal but must be treated as a potentially dangerous animal like a big dog with strangers. Also my guess is that without the nearby forest to prowl he might have become more frustrated and agressive since wildcats are territorial and need to hunt I doubt a garden would suffice. So probably not a good house cat.

It should be remembered that wild cats are a protected species in most of Europe and cannot be legally taken from their natural habitat. I would never have touched him if I had seen him walking free in the forest but I am certain survival in winter for such a young kitten was impossible after he had been taken for several days. Tiggru could decide anytime he wants to go fully wild and never come back I could not stop him, meanwhile we have a fine cat with a character.

I can post some photos if you want.

Brian

Can you please post some pics? Im curious to see. Im in somalia & i stumbled upon an emaciated kitten brought her home, shes been lovelyyy. Always goes to the litter, doesnt scratch or bite me. Follows me around all over the house, begs for me to pet her & sleeps nxt to me etc.

I knew she looked different than cats im used to seeing back in nyc; ive had her for over a months & to my excitement just found out that she is an african wildcat. Which explains her long legs & beautiful sleek body. I want to see how yours looks, nala is im guessing like 10 weeks old now, shes my first pet, but ive been feeding her raw goat & chicken meat since I got her. Shes pretty good at eating on her own but im unsure as to how much to feed her bc she doesnt touch food thats been out for more than 30 mins if not less. So how did you feed your wildcat? Thanks in advance

image.jpg

• alkemist
• Apr 11, 2015

 

[gloria1970]

I have a Scottish wildcat as a pet and in opposition to what many with say he is the sweetest boy I  ever had. He sleeps with me, plays, and is even house trained. He is very expensive though. His food cost me about $20 a week and I have to purchase special toys and scratching posts for him. He is also difficult when it comes to vet trips. Not many vets will take a wild cat and he needs a special cat carrier because he can easily break through any normal carrier I can find at the local stores. But if you are asking about temperament, he is one hundred percent a loving lap cat that one would never guess was ever wild. I think it really depends on the cat itself as for the temperament not the species of cat.

 

[mservant]

 
I have a Scottish wildcat as a pet and in opposition to what many with say he is the sweetest boy I  ever had. He sleeps with me, plays, and is even house trained. He is very expensive though. His food cost me about $20 a week and I have to purchase special toys and scratching posts for him. He is also difficult when it comes to vet trips. Not many vets will take a wild cat and he needs a special cat carrier because he can easily break through any normal carrier I can find at the local stores. But if you are asking about temperament, he is one hundred percent a loving lap cat that one would never guess was ever wild. I think it really depends on the cat itself as for the temperament not the species of cat.

I am interested in what you have to say about having a Scottish Wildcat as a pet.  Do you have some certification of 'pedigree' and if this cat is genetically pure Scottish Wildcat or hybrid?  This is interesting given research (or lack of) which is quoted in Joh nBradshaw's recent book, and the information contained on the website below:

http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/index.html

I have always been fascinated by these cats and recently fulfilled a life long ambition to visit a wildlife park where a small number of them are being maintained in captivity.  The male cat in particular was incredible, I was quite awestruck and stayed to watch him quietly for some hours.

 

[safq]

Hi everyone,

new to the site, and I see that there is an interesting forum regarding Wildcats, and if they can be tamed.

Well, I have for the last 3 years, had a Felis Silvestris as a pet. He came to our village around 4 years ago, already a mature male, and for one reason or another (I have 13 other cats), he came to live with us.

At first when he saw us, he would run and hide, but we would encourage him with food on the window ledges, and this lead to him eventually coming into the house. 

We took him to out vets, who confirmed that his he a "Wildcat", and one of the guys that works there is a Wildcat enthusiast. He thinks that he came to the village because his teeth were not at their best, and because of the easy food he decided to stay.

He's a real character, he uses the cat flap, he patrols the property, and he sits on the bio bin - which is the favourite spot - for one of our other cats (who does not come into the house) and "Buddy as we have called the Wildcat, is rather jealous, so he sits there guarding the bin, and the food on the window ledge, which is for the "Outsiders".

His teeth are broken, his fangs are nothing to be afraid of, his tail is his pride and joy, and it is quite incredible as to the power within it, as he brushes his body against my leg, the tail will wrap around my calf as Buddy is going on his way. He jumps up at my bum, as a way of saying hello, he is very, very chatty, and when we call one of our other cats "Harry", Buddy will respond by calling "Harry" too. 

His sense of direction is absolutely incredible, and before we had him castrated, there was a particularly nasty incident with our oldest cat, for some reason, Buddy hates Ebby and vise versa. Anyway, this particular time, Ebby was sitting on my computer desk, I was in the garden drinking coffee, the lounge windows were open (pre cat lap) and Buddy had gone in. There was an awful howling, screeching and hissing coming from within as Ebby and Buddy had a fight on my computer desk, I can tell you that the mess they left was quite disgusting (shan't go into details), luckily my laptop survived, thanks to the cleaning efforts of my husband. Anyhow, that night we decided to take Buddy on a re-housing trip (Shamed about the whole affair), but Ebby needed protecting, so we took Buddy in the car, and dropped him off in another village, 7 miles as the crow fly's away from us. Promptly dropped Buddy off and went home. Guilt, and remorse soon crept in, and I never stopped thinking about Buddy, hoping that he was ok. 3 Says later, I was walking through the kitchen, it was exactly 3 days later to the minute, for at 7.15 pm, to my greatest joy and relief, who should be sitting on the window ledge? Yes, it was Buddy. So he has the greatest homing device, not sure what its called, but it sure does work well.

So, after that incident, we took Buddy to the vets for a castration and that has helped enormously with his behaviour, well, at least towards Ebby. He still fights with other cats, and his arms are forever bloody - the vets can't do much about that - as he takes off whatever bandages we put on him.

So, it is possible to tame Wildcats -Silvestris silvestris, but I would never completely trust him, he has bitten me a few times and he attacked me once, but knowing him better, we can see when he has a "Mood on", his manner changes very quickly. But he is very loving, when he wants to be.

 

[lykakitty]

NO undomesticated feline can be reliably tamed as a pet. No matter how young you begin raising them they still have wild instincts and can never be considered completely safe, especially being handled by somebody who isn't educated in feline behavior. That doesn't mean every one that is tamed will attack someone, but it's never worth the risk, and it's illegal in most places.

 

[Uncaged]

Wild cats belong in the wild. They don't belong indoors. They're meant to roam, hunt, and climb trees. If I found a lost or injured wild animal, I would rehabilitate it and release it back to where it came from. Don't take home any animals from different parts of the world. It may be cute now, but it will grow up to be wild adult, and may become aggressive and destructive indoors. By nature cats are self-sufficient and are not domesticated just by being captive-born or hand-raised unlike dogs. Even after all these years of living with people, cats have retained their wild instincts. Some people say that they can't survive on their own. But that is not true. I've seen firsthand that cats lions, caracals, and tigers born in captivity can be successfully released back into the wild. Wild cats suffer in captivity. They become bored and agitated. I can't tell you how many times I've seen cats at the zoo pacing nonstop or heard stories of them trying to escape only to get shot and killed later. Please don't take home a wild animal. If you want to see wild cats, go on a wildlife safari or watch youtube videos.