# Would a lion attack a housecat?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 21, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374 "2009-11-21T04:12:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374/21 "2009-11-21T21:10:42Z")

</div>

> [@St.Anger](#):
>
> Any notion that you can lock up an animal and Simba would just lay down with it, lick its ears, and be it’s Mommy is delusional. Your cat’s nine lives would be used up, and damn quick.

I never said that. I said in all likelihood the Lions would ignore it, because chasing it is too much effort when they aren’t hungry.

I also agree with previous posters who noted the housecat would probably tree itself, or wedge into a very tiny space if there was an overt threat.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![St.Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@St.Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Anger)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374/22 "2009-11-21T22:58:25Z")

</div>

Agreed, though the OP said if the cat was put in a lion’s cage. Sadly, there would be nowhere for Fluffy to hide then.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374/23 "2009-11-21T23:35:14Z")

</div>

> [@St.Anger](#):
>
> Agreed, though the OP said if the cat was put in a lion’s cage. Sadly, there would be nowhere for Fluffy to hide then.

I guess I was picturing a naturalistic modern enclosure, with trees, rocks, etc.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374/24 "2009-11-22T18:13:50Z")

</div>

And even if it is a cage, a cage designed to contain a lion would probably have gaps between the bars big enough for a housecat to fit through.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374/25 "2009-11-23T11:33:11Z")

</div>

A family aquaintance used to raise big cats on his hundred acre property. Each type of cat was well enclosed with others of its kind.

He also had barn cats to deal with rodents. The cougars, tigers and lions would mostly ignore the barn cats even if the barn cats came into their enclosures.

Sometimes the big cats would kill a barn cat, but they wouldn’t eat them. Any other critter was usually eaten.

The leopards however, would kill anything and everything that got near them. They really never ate much that wasn’t fed to them-just liked to kill.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-lion-attack-a-housecat/518374.md?page=1)