For those who had lions as pets...

[Jovial]

Ok. I'm a wreck now. I used to have a North American mountain lion (Cougar) that I raised from a cub. His name was Buster. When he was little, everyone thought he was an ordinary house cat that looked a little funny, but they thought nothing of it. Until he "meowed". It sounded like a cat with a horrible sore throat. They would always ask what was wrong with him and I would just tell them that he's experiencing "growing pains". :biggrin1:

He was very smart, and grew to be more playful and *VERY* protective of me. More than any guard dog. He could tell good people from bad. It would be all I could do to hold him back if a "bad" person tried to approach me. He loved the neighbor's kids (not for breakfast!!) and turned out to be a good babysitter for them. He was very gentle with them and if they had something in their hands he didn't think they should have, he would take it away and hide it from them. We knew the kids were always safe when they were together.

He loved to go for rides and *ALWAYS* had to have shotgun. THAT seat was his!! There was no arguing. You either got out of his seat, or he'd either drag you halfway out of the car or just climb in and sit on you. I taught him to wear sunglasses, (to protect his eyes) and I would take the T-tops off, he'd throw his paws over the windshield, and off we went. I suspect we caused a few accidents that way. We certainly got a lot of stares!! If we went on a long trip, and he got bored of that, he'd crawl in the back of the mustang and catnap. He also *LOVED* to swim. Loved the water.

They play kinda rough. I learned to take some really good hits. Getting hit by a man was nothing in my line of work then, getting hit by my cat was far worse. Those big paws have some power!! You just haven't lived until you wrestle a 200lb. cat.

I miss him so much now.........................

Weren't you scared of the liability if the cat attacked someone?

 

[EagleCowboy]

The thought did cross my mind a few times. Buster was very predictable. I never once had to worry. Only a really stupid person with zero common sense would provoke a big cat and piss him off. Then they would pretty much deserve it.

Now if someone did something to piss my cat off, it wouldn't be my cat they would have to worry about. It would be me. Simply because I would mercilessly attack them through their pocketbook without hesitation. They would also find themselves on one of those national TV shows that feature people who abuse animals.

So I really didn't worry.

Now if someone attacked you with intent to do harm, what's the difference between your overgrown dog protecting you, or your overgrown house cat?