# House cat/big cat crossbreed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796 "2007-01-05T07:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/1 "2007-01-05T07:54:49Z")
In my sleep-deprived state, I got to wondering about house cats cross breeding with wild felines, and if it’s even possible. Has anyone tried (Okay I’m sure some twisted soul with access to the lion cage at the zoo has, but have there been any documented cases)? Is there a chromosome match up? I know it’s possible with lions and tigers (but not bears, sadly). And moreover, what would you name the infernal offspring? House lion/tiger/cougar/saber-tooth? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/2 "2007-01-05T07:58:33Z")
> **[Savannah cat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_(cat))** > > The Savannah is a breed of hybrid cat developed in the late 20th century from crossing a serval (Leptailurus serval) with a domestic cat (Felis catus). This hybridization typically produces large and lean offspring, with the Serval's characteristic large ears and markedly brown-spotted coats. F1 and F2 male Savannahs can be very large, and in 2016 an F2 male attained a world record for tallest cat at 48.4 centimetres (19.1 in). Show-eligible F4–F5 cats range from 5.0 to 8.2 kilograms (11 On Apr... We had one of these as a patient at the vet clinic I used to work at. They’re a cross between an african serval and a house cat. Pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Aunt\_Flow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Aunt\_Flow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aunt_Flow)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/3 "2007-01-05T08:01:29Z")
My understanding is that as long as two species are in the same Genus, they can successfully produce offspring. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/4 "2007-01-05T08:25:48Z")
[QUOTE=Aunt Flow] My understanding is that as long as two species are in the same Genus, they can successfully produce offspring. [/QUOTE] Although that’s sometimes true, it’s not really anything like as simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/5 "2007-01-05T08:27:28Z")
[QUOTE=Electronic Chaos] In my sleep-deprived state, I got to wondering about house cats cross breeding with wild felines, and if it’s even possible. [/quote] Wild felines, yep. There are numerous hybrids between house cats and wild feline species. Big cats. Nope. Too much genetic distance between them. > [@](#): > > Has anyone tried? It has been tried on a few occasions that I know of. No luck. > [@](#): > > Is there a chromosome match up? Chromosome numbers vary, but that;snot really a major concern. A great many species have mismatches in chromosome numbers and are interfertile. The problem lies in the number of genes that have jumped to unrelated chromosomes. If the offspring don’t get at least one copy of every chromosome it’s just not viable, and since chromosomes tend to migrate around over time species that diverged along time ago tend to cease t be interfertile. > [@](#): > > I know it’s possible with lions and tigers (but not bears, sadly). I’m not sure what you mean by this. Many bear species are interfertile and produce hybrids quite readily. [QUOTE=Renee] We had one of these as a patient at the vet clinic I used to work at. They’re a cross between an african serval and a house cat. Pretty cool. [/QUOTE] A Serval is not a big cat, it;s a small cat. Hybrids between small cats are common as muck. Last time I bothered looking there were at least 9 species that hybridised with house cats, and 6 of those could be purchased in pet chops.. There are probably over a dozen by this. [QUOTE=Aunt Flow] My understanding is that as long as two species are in the same Genus, they can successfully produce offspring. [/QUOTE] Nope. Many species in the same genus are infertile ( eg Kangaroos and wallaroos). Many species in completely different genera, or even different families, are perfectly interfertile and produce viable young to the Nth generation (eg cattle and bison, pheasants and chickens.) Genus is a human construct and only provides basic very basic information on interrelatedness. Interfertility is much more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/6 "2007-01-05T09:22:19Z")
[QUOTE=Blake] I’m not sure what you mean by this. Many bear species are interfertile and produce hybrids quite readily. [/QUOTE] It was a (lame) attempt at a joke. Lions and tigers can breed together and produce ligers or tigons. Attempting to cross breed a lion or a tiger and a bear would result in a bloody mess. Thanks for the informative answer, though. I didn’t any sort of reply until much later. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/7 "2007-01-05T09:36:17Z")
[QUOTE=Electronic Chaos] It was a (lame) attempt at a joke. Lions and tigers can breed together and produce ligers or tigons. Attempting to cross breed a lion or a tiger and a bear would result in a bloody mess. [/QUOTE] Oh my! ---
**Author:** ![rocksolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@rocksolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocksolid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/8 "2007-01-05T12:13:55Z")
Not a big cat i grant you but wild cats, definately yes. The Asian Leopard Cat is a wild cat roughly the same size as domestic species and was (and still is) mated with domestic breeds to produce a new domestic breed - Bengal. > **[Bengal Cat Guide to the Breed, Buying Tips, Facts and Photos](https://www.bengalcat.co.uk/)** > > The Bengal cat guide with information on it's Wild background, Leopard like appearance and soft Natured Character. Choosing a Bengal and Keeping it Safe. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/9 "2007-01-05T12:14:40Z")
There are four genera of felid: Felis, the house cat, wildcat, serval, caracal, ocelot, and all the other small to medium size cats, plus the cougar (puma, mountain lion). The bobcat and lynx are generally considered to belong to Felis, although a very few authorities place them in a separate genus Lynx. Neofelis, the clouded leopard of the Himalayas. Panthera, including lion, tiger, leopard, and essentially all the other “big cats,” including the jaguar, the only New World representative of Panthera. Acinonyx, which is solely the cheetah, a species that seemed to have evolved on the principle, “Let’s see how different from other cats I can get while still remaining a cat?” ---
**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:** [January 5, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/10 "2007-01-05T20:45:57Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] > **[Savannah cat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_(cat))** > > The Savannah is a breed of hybrid cat developed in the late 20th century from hybridisation of a serval (Leptailurus serval) with a domestic cat (Felis catus). This hybridisation typically produces large and lean offspring, with the serval's characteristic large ears and markedly black spotted coats. F1 and F2 male Savannahs can be very large, and in 2016 an F2 male attained a world record for tallest cat at 48.4 centimetres (19.1 in). However, show-eligible F4–F5 cats range from 5.0–8.2 On 7 A... We had one of these as a patient at the vet clinic I used to work at. They’re a cross between an african serval and a house cat. Pretty cool. [/QUOTE] Linky no worky. Try this: [Savannah cat - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_%28cat%29) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/11 "2007-01-05T20:56:01Z")
As long as we’re linking to wikipedia: > **[Felid hybrids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felid_hybrid)** > > A felid hybrid is any of a number of hybrids between various species of the cat family, Felidae. This article deals with hybrids between the species of the subfamily Felinae (feline hybrids). > For hybrids between two species of the genus Panthera (lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards), see Panthera hybrid. There are no known hybrids between Neofelis (the clouded leopard) and other genera. By contrast, many genera of Felinae are interfertile with each other, though few hybridize under natural c... > **[Panthera hybrid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_hybrid)** > > A Panthera hybrid is a crossbreed between individuals of any of the five species of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Most hybrids would not be perpetuated in the wild as the territories of the parental species do not overlap and the males are usually infertile. Mitochondrial genome research revealed that wild hybrids were also present in ancient times. The mitochondrial genomes of the snow leopard and the lion were more similar to each other than to other P... And of course, Polycarp’s listing of Felid genera is a traditional one, but there are as many ways of divvying up the Felids into genera as there are Felid taxonomists. Or more. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/12 "2007-01-05T20:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=Electronic Chaos] And moreover, what would you name the infernal offspring? House lion/tiger/cougar/saber-tooth? [/QUOTE] The convention is to take part of the name of the father and add on part of the name of the mother: Male lion x Female tiger = liger Male tiger x Female lion = tigon If you could produce a hyprid cat/lion, you might call it a caon or a liat, depending on the species of its father/mother. Similarly, a hypothetical human chimpanzee hybrid would be a chuman or a humanzee. (How _you_ doin? 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/13 "2007-01-05T20:58:33Z")
[QUOTE=Electronic Chaos] Attempting to cross breed a lion or a tiger and a bear would result in a bloody mess. [/QUOTE] Maybe not, if they were both horny enough. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/14 "2007-01-05T21:15:53Z")
[QUOTE=rocksolid] Not a big cat i grant you but wild cats, definately yes. The Asian Leopard Cat is a wild cat roughly the same size as domestic species and was (and still is) mated with domestic breeds to produce a new domestic breed - Bengal. > **[Bengal Cat Guide to the Breed, Buying Tips, Facts and Photos](https://www.bengalcat.co.uk/)** > > The Bengal cat guide with information on it's Wild background, Leopard like appearance and soft Natured Character. Choosing a Bengal and Keeping it Safe. [/QUOTE] I should point out that Bengals aren’t a cross between a domestic cat and an Asian Leopard Cat in the way that ligers or tigons are a cross between a lion and a tiger. A cross between a domestic cat and an Asian Leopard Cat is an F1 hybrid. Male F1 hybrids are sterile, but the females can be bred with a domestic cat to produce an F2 hybrid, and so on (eventually you get a cross where it’s likely that males will be fertile). Only F4’s or later can be registered and shown as Bengals in The International Cat Association. So any Bengal you are at all likely to see is at most 1/16 Asian Leopard Cat, 15/16 domestic cat. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/15 "2007-01-05T21:48:55Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Neofelis, the clouded leopard of the Himalayas. [/quote] And Straight Dope Administrator, don’t forget. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/16 "2007-01-05T21:56:34Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] The convention is to take part of the name of the father and add on part of the name of the mother: Male lion x Female tiger = liger Male tiger x Female lion = tigon If you could produce a hyprid cat/lion, you might call it a caon or a liat, depending on the species of its father/mother. Similarly, a hypothetical human chimpanzee hybrid would be a chuman or a humanzee. (How _you_ doin? 😉 ) [/QUOTE] So, another name for a mule would be a honkey? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/17 "2007-01-05T22:11:36Z")
[QUOTE=Electronic Chaos] It was a (lame) attempt at a joke. Lions and tigers can breed together and produce ligers or tigons. Attempting to cross breed a lion or a tiger and a bear would result in a bloody mess. [/QUOTE] Actually, there’s a hypothetical product of breeding a lion, a tiger, and a bear (not sure if this requires creation of a single creature with 3 parents, or breeding 2 of them, and breeding the third species to the offspring of the other 2). The [literature](http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Oz-Two-Disc-Special/dp/B000ADS63K/sr=8-1/qid=1168034871/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2560857-2244723?ie=UTF8&s=dvd)describes this as an omai (Omai? sp?). What? 🙂 on preview, **mangetout** has clearly already researched this but I’m the one who posted the cite, so there! ---
**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:** [January 5, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/18 "2007-01-05T23:53:45Z")
Anecdotal to be sure, but a friend had a cat whose conformation and traits hinted strongly at a domestic shorthair/bobcat cross. Mom was a tuxedo barn cat who lived out in the boondocks of Amador County, CA and she had just one very large kitten, named Stencil. He was a rough furred, huge footed, tuft eared, short tailed grey/black/cinnamon tabby who had to be handraised from early kittenhood as his mother disappeared when he was about three weeks old–could’ve been a hawk or coyote that got her, who knows? He grew to be enormous, twenty pounds and stocky, but never got over the need to suckle on earlobes–it was a trifle disconcerting to those who didn’t know the beast to have him bully his way onto a lap, place his oversized paws one either side of the neck and then snerkle away on the ear, purring and drooling… Most people were afraid to move him because he was an imposing critter, but he was one of the most affectionate and least aggressive cats I’ve ever known. I wonder whatever happened to him… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/19 "2007-01-06T00:24:55Z")
Years ago I was joking with a guy at work who is a keen dog breeder. I said that I had a brilliant plan to get rich - cross breed pit bulls with cavalier king charles spaniels. I would then end up with the perfect guard dog - the aggressive looks of a pit bull with the placid nature of a king charles spaniel. He replied, “Or the opposite.” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796/20 "2007-01-06T00:31:02Z")
Years ago I was joking with a guy at work who is a keen dog breeder. I said that I had a brilliant plan to get rich - cross breed pit bulls with cavalier king charles spaniels. I would then end up with the perfect guard dog - the aggressive looks of a pit bull with the placid nature of a king charles spaniel. He replied, “Or the opposite.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-cat-big-cat-crossbreed/386796.md?page=2)