# Domesticating large wild cats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969 "2017-10-04T18:08:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969/21 "2017-10-05T21:21:43Z")
I have had several Maine Coon cats and currently have a MC cross who’s not all that big, runs about 18 lbs. Full bred MC toms can and do top 20 lbs by a significant margin. The Captain, and Pratchett before him were and are lovely cats, cuddly and friendly lap monsters with very doglike habits and very UN catlike vocal patterns. That being said, cats are notional and odd things set them off–The Captain gets fussy when I talk on the phone and gesticulate and sometimes he takes it into his head to wrap all four legs around my forearm, put his claws out only a fraction of their considerably pointy length and chew quite gently on my hand. He’s almost impossible to dislodge unless he allows it, I always end up at least a bit bleedy and have divots in my hand from his teeth although he doesn’t break the skin. I can’t even imagine how huge a hurt that cat could put on me if he were ever genuinely pissed off or scared to the point of losing his calibration. I would have serious trepidations about a cat even bigger than that around with many generations less of selection for good temperament and chill behavior. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969/22 "2017-10-05T22:43:55Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What we call domesticated cats aren’t very different from their wild relatives, except for their size… And the color, shape and length of their fur, and the morphology of their faces, and… There are lots and lost of domestic cats, many of which look quite different from their wild relatives, even if many domestic cats don’t look so different. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969/23 "2017-10-05T23:12:26Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And the color, shape and length of their fur, and the morphology of their faces, and… > > There are lots and lost of domestic cats, many of which look quite different from their wild relatives, even if many domestic cats don’t look so different. There are certainly a number of physical difference, and not just superficial qualities of appearance. But in terms of behavior domestic cats share a lot with their wild relatives. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969/24 "2017-10-10T22:54:54Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The fox domestication experiment IIRC, too, specifically included selection of pups for aggressive characteristics - and breeding only the docile ones. Presumably deliberate and systematic selection accelerated a process that otherwise in pre-history took many more generations of eliminating animals that showed too much aggression or lack of cooperative behaviour. A “tamed” animal may be comfortable around humans, not usually defensive, territorial or assertive - but there’s no guarantee some random act won’t trigger an interesting reaction. It is, in fact, exactly this sort of experiment (except with lynx, or cougars or something of that nature, not feral cats) that I’m curious about. I suspect that someone could have gotten away with it 50 years ago but that it would be impossible to start now, due to ethical and logistical reasons. It would be fascinating to see what the physical outcome would be as well as behavioural. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969/25 "2017-10-10T23:51:15Z")
I don’t see why a zoo or rescue couldn’t do it. Although, the amount of breeding adults in captivity is probably limited, at best. I am not sure whether I, personally, would be okay with it. I often think of the Killer Whales in captivity, and how sad that is. One thing I do know, Regular people and families in neighborhoods should not have large breed cats as ‘pets’. It just not safe, not to mention just really stupid. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969/26 "2017-10-11T05:17:20Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > It is, in fact, exactly this sort of experiment (except with lynx, or cougars or something of that nature, not feral cats) that I’m curious about. I suspect that someone could have gotten away with it 50 years ago but that it would be impossible to start now, due to ethical and logistical reasons. > > It would be fascinating to see what the physical outcome would be as well as behavioural. I think it would be more about the money. In the good old days, a lot of research was very easy-going and profs had a lot of latitude. Nowadays everything seems to be about results, even if it’s “pure research” not research related to a marketable product. The cost of assembling a viable breeding set and maintaining that for decades would be prohibitive - especially if the purpose were simply “let’s see what happens…” Where would you get (cheaply) a hundred or more wild cats? then there’s all this issues about bringing outside species into the country. At least the Russian foxes were local. If the animals are too big, the time between generations gets too long. > [@](#): > > Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the project ran into serious financial problems. In 2014, officials stated that the number of foxes was never reduced and is still stable at about 2,000.[10] As of August 2016, there are 270 tame vixens and 70 tame males on the farm Yikes! 340 animals… That’s a lot of dog food. Plus care feeding monitoring separation and breeding… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-large-wild-cats/797969.md?page=1)