Thoughts on why people go to the effort to own exotic cats...

"People that have never owned wildcats will never understand this...but as crazy as it is living with them in your house, there is nothing in the world as emotionally satisfying as wildcat lovin's.

Now that I have had them, I could never go back to not having them. Domestics are great, but there is just no comparison. I don't know how I lived before this!"

Used by permission from the Serval_and_Caracal e-list; 2008-11-07

"I was thinking about how to answer the most common question about exotic cats from uninformed people, and I thought of an analogy which I offer for your consideration:

Think of owning a domestic cat as Having a small cat like a bobcat or a serval as a house pet...requires special knowledge and training...and fairly ordinary people can be successful...like having a car. It requires some care and responsibility, but most people can manage it OK. Having a small cat like a bobcat or a serval as a house pet is like having a private plane like a Cessna. It costs a lot more than a car, it requires special knowledge and training, and it's not really practical all the time -- but it does get you something that a car doesn't, and fairly ordinary people can be successful at it if they work hard.

A pet tiger is like having your own F16. It's insanely expensive, and in addition to a much higher level of special knowledge and training, it requires innate qualities that a lot of people don't have, and it tends to give your neighbors and the government the heebie geebies. Very definitely not a good choice for the ordinary person -- but there are a few people who could do it. It might kill them in the end, but to them, it's worth it.

As a final touch to the analogy, having the exotic cat but just keeping it in a cage all the time, never interacting with it hands-on, is a little like owning the plane but never having it out of the hangar -- it's a shameful waste, but it's where you'll end up if you get the cat before you learn how to 'fly' it."

--Phil Parker

Used by permission from the FCF member e-list; 2006-09-17