Well, I am looking at pet caracals today 🙂 . It is easy to find them in social media and here we are on TikTok where I found this video. For me it is another unhappy pet caracal unnaturally confined to a human home as if in a zoo with carpets. As you can see in the video this medium-sized wild cat can be vicious. You would not want to be on the end of one of those caracal swipes unless of course they’ve declawed the poor fella which is distinctly possible. If people are scared of being scratched by a domestic cat magnify that by 10 for a caracal.
We are told that this pet caracal likes to have his owner’s finger in his mouth. I am not sure I’d put my finger in his mouth! This hints at the possibility that the caracal was weaned too early and needs to suckle on something. Anything. The owner’s finger will do nicely.
If this is true it also hints that this caracal was removed from their mother in the wild or perhaps the cat comes from a breeder in the US. We don’t know. Either way it is concerning.
It is the constant desire to hiss which also concerns me as it points to a cat who is anxious and defensive. The hiss is a defensive gesture to warn others that they are in a fighting mode and will attack if they advance further. In the video the caracal hisses and then viciously swipes with their forepaw. This is a classic attack from a wild cat.
If they have declawed the cat: shame on them. Think twice about buying a pet caracal. There are huge responsibilities. High costs. Challenges. Change in your lifestyle. A pet caracal will severely interrupt a person’s lifestyle. You can’t live normally. And to make a pet caracal happy in a home will be a monster challenge beyond most.
Here are some links to other pet caracals: