# Could a giant cat like a lion be kept as a pet by giant humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145 "2009-08-29T08:44:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/21 "2009-08-29T14:37:24Z")
[The GF and I were watching a program the other day about lions on ABC](http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=8322292). This trainer had raised and worked with this pride of lions since their birth and was keeping them on reserve somewhere. Their behavior was similar to what you would see in a large 300 lb housecat. They would playfully pounce on the trainer and he would be wretling around with them and whatnot. The dude was regular person size. I’m sure you can read all about it in his what will most likely be unfinished biography. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/22 "2009-08-29T14:45:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > …had raised and worked with this pride of lions since their birth and was keeping them on reserve somewhere. Their behavior was similar to what you would see in a large 300 lb housecat. 'Zactly. I used to know some wealthy, decadant country weirdos (I mentioned them in a thread waaay back when [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501143](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501143)) who kept a puma as a pet. They had found her as a cub on a hunting trip and adopted her. She behaved just like any other housecat; the only difference was that —even with claws removed and teeth kept filed by a vet— if big kitty wanted to playfully swat at you she might knock your ass across the room. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/23 "2009-08-29T14:53:06Z")
That’s what I would be scared of. I often see lions playing with each other but the difference is they’re used to playing rather roughly with each other, to the point where it could seriously injure a normal human being… But a giant human being might be able to take it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/24 "2009-08-29T14:59:47Z")
Born free! As free as the wind blows! The most famous semi-tamed lioness: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa\_the\_Lioness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa_the_Lioness) For those who don’t follow the link, an orphaned lion-cub was hand raised and treated like a pet. She was eventually released into the wild. There’s a movie about it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/25 "2009-08-30T05:07:14Z")
Lionnesses, hunting cooperatively, are used to going after game that’s much larger and heavier than they are. Water buffalo, for ex. Thus even if you were 8 ft. tall and weighed half a ton, they might see you as simply an upright ungulate or somesuch, to be measured up for the fateful lunge to the neck. I’m thinking you’d need to be like the 50-ft. woman to intimidate wild lions on the basis of size (and keep your neck and lower abdomen safely out of reach). ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/26 "2009-08-30T05:24:44Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Unlike dogs, which have been domesticated for 10-15,000 years, cats have only been our buddies for 3-4,000 years. That’s “only” several thousand cat generations. Forget about lions, there are several species of wildcats comparable in size to a domestic house cat. I wouldn’t recommend taking one of them into your home. ETA: Actually, domestication of cats is now thought to have begun [much earlier](http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/273438). ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/27 "2009-08-30T05:27:58Z")
I’ve read about people keeping servals, caracals and fishing-cats as house pets. So obviously it’s possible to do. What exactly separates those wild cats from lions and tigers, in terms of their instincts? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/28 "2009-08-30T20:50:17Z")
Cheetahs can also, I’ve read, be pretty easily domesticated. But they’re not at the top of the African foodchain; lions are. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/29 "2009-08-30T22:37:59Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Cheetahs can also, I’ve read, be pretty easily domesticated. But they’re not at the top of the African foodchain; lions are. Yeah, cheetahs are supposed to make pretty good pets even for normal sized people. They aren’t that aggressive but watch out when they try to chase a car going down the highway. They will catch it. There are way, way more people in the U.S. that have large cats as pets than most people realize. You can buy them online and some, like tigers, aren’t even very expensive at all and you can probably adopt one for free because it costs a lot to feed them. They can be fine until they get in a pissy mood. I played with a pet mountain lion once. It made me a little nervous just because of its teeth and strength but it was only about as evil as any house cat (and probably much less because of a lack of Napoleonic Syndrome). ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/30 "2009-08-31T16:59:35Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I’ve read about people keeping servals, caracals and fishing-cats as house pets. So obviously it’s possible to do. What exactly separates those wild cats from lions and tigers, in terms of their instincts? > [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Could this man keep a lion inside his home the way you or I would keep a housecat? If there was a giant litter-box (normal by his standard) would the lion use it the way a housecat uses a normal litterbox? This is from a [pro-exotic-pet source](http://www.exoticcatz.com/index.html): “Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: exotic cats don’t come litterbox trained! In fact, they often go to the bathroom in “unauthorized locations” even once they are trained. One woman’s pet serval sprays her in the face! While training can be quite successful, if you can’t live with the possibility that this animal may soil your house or don’t have time to devote to litterbox training, your decision should probably be to avoid owning an exotic feline… Male servals mark their territory up to 46 times per hour, and females mark about half as frequently. … spaying or neutering your cat only reduces the chances of spraying; many felines altered at a young age including mine spray or are unreliable in using the litterbox.” > [@](#): > > Would the lion behave inside the home? Would it be kind to its owner? From an [exotic-animal vet](http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2009/07/new_oregon_law_will_clamp_down.html): "Although a serval wouldn’t attack an adult human, it shouldn’t be left alone with other pets or a human toddler, says Melinda Surrency, an exotic-pet veterinarian at Southwest Animal Hospital in Beaverton. “Although servals aren’t that much bigger than a big house cat, they are much stronger. They have more of a wild instinct and are harder to manage.” Note these are from sources you might expect to put a positive or neutral spin on exotic-cat ownership. If you look at sanctuary and animal-welfare sites, you can find much stronger language. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/31 "2009-08-31T20:40:37Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > That’s what I would be scared of. I often see lions playing with each other but the difference is they’re used to playing rather roughly with each other, to the point where it could seriously injure a normal human being… But a giant human being might be able to take it. Right. You know how regular house cats think it’s the most hillarious thing in the world to jump out at you and bite your ankle? Last summer, a half-grown lion decided to play the same side-splitting joke on me. The results weren’t pretty. As pointed out earlier, lions are a particularly poor comparison to house cats. Lions live in prides; every other cat species is solitary. A better comparison might be lions:: dogs. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145/32 "2009-08-31T23:56:22Z")
Just some back of the numbers calculations. An average housecat is about 10 lbs. A lion can be as big as 400 lbs. So by “giant” human, you might want to be at least 40x your current size. For me, that would be about 8000 lbs or roughly the mass of an elephant. [And I’m still not sure that would be big enough.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOE4RzS7JPY&feature=PlayList&p=6D5CA71F5CC62EC0&index=19) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-giant-cat-like-a-lion-be-kept-as-a-pet-by-giant-humans/508145.md?page=1)