Wild Cats in Captivity


Date: 2011: The data presented relates to the period before 2002. However, information relating to wildcats is often old in my experience. The general picture gleaned from compiling this chart from the excellent and highly recommended Wild Cats of the World
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats
is that the status of wild cats in captivity is poor to very poor with one notable and outstanding exception: the snow leopard.

Several species of wild cat are not uncommonly kept as pets in the United States – a form of keeping wild cats in captivity. The puma and serval are probably the species that are usually domesticated. Of these there are probably more domesticated servals than cougars. The margay is reportedly a species that can be domesticated whereas the leopard cat is not. Servals do well in captivity it appears. One failure of domestication of wild cats is the usual desire to declaw the cats. Although this might reassure the “owner” this is a very poor practice as not infrequently it can leave the cat lame or worse.

Wild Cats in Captivity to Wild Cats by Size

Useful tag. Click to see the articles: Cat behavior

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.
Useful links
Anxiety - reduce it
FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
Children and cats - important
Scroll to Top