What Is It Like Having A Lynx As A Pet?

Lynxes are medium-sized wild cats that are quite unique for their powerful, high jumps and their lovely, beautiful nature. Because of how cute these cats are, they are sometimes kept as pets. It’s quite nice and alluring to see a picture of a lynx parent posing for a picture or playing with their pet lynx in the snow. It’s these kind of scenarios that make a lot of animal lovers desire to own a pet lynx. But then, you need to know how much of a pet these animals really are in nature, so you know just what you’re getting yourself into.

What Is It Like Having A Lynx As A Pet?

Having a lynx as a pet is like having a wild, aggressive, hyperactive, predator, all packaged in a cute and medium-sized cat body. Normal housecats are naturally calm, and cool, but lynxes are a different story. The wild nature of these animals always manifest later on, no matter how much domestication is done on them. As such you may find your lynx pet marking out territories in your home, preying on other animals, attacking people it’s not familiar with, and destroying things in your home. The best time you could actually enjoy having a lynx as a pet is when they’re kittens. But even then, they’re a whole different ball game compared to regular house cat kittens.

Do Lynxes Make Good Pets?

No. Lynx are wild cats, and no matter what you do, you can’t change that. If you’re going to keep a lynx, be prepared for every wild nature it’ll exhibit. Lynxes will show aggression, hyperactivity, territorial tendencies and will prey on other pets or animals around. Most people who keep lynxes, actually defang and declaw them, and sometimes sedate them to keep them calm. But none of these changes their wild nature.

4 Wild Behaviours A Lynx Will Exhibit In Your Home

Marking Out Territories

Wild cats like the lynx have a natural habit of marking their territories (this is why siblings always separate when mature). They do this by spraying strong-smelling urine around bushes and nearby vegetation. A full grown lynx will bring this habit into your home; they’ll spray urine on basically anything and everything, including you. After all, you made your home their territory.

Hyperactivity

Another thing with lynxes is the hyperactivity. Even as kittens a lynx will scamper around at very fast speeds and would want to chew at and tear anything it can lay its hands on: From wires to pillows, blankets, plastics and anything that their teeth can break (and trust me, their teeth can crush a lot of things in your home) a lynx kitten will spare nothing in your home. Even adults still exhibit this trait.

Preying on other animals

This is one thing a lynx will do that may get you in trouble: It will attack any other animal in the vicinity, regardless whether it’s larger or smaller in size comparison. The only way a lynx can relate with other animals is when it bonds with them right from its young age. So if you have other pets, make them socialize with your lynx when it’s still a kitten or else they’ll become a potential enemy/prey when the lynx grows up.

Aggression and isolation

If you’re not ready to get bitten by your lynx when feeding or playing with it, then maybe you shouldn’t get one at all. Lynxes normally avoid humans (especially humans they’re not familiar with) but may equally attack when cornered. So your lynx will naturally be aggressive to visitors. To make matters worse, punishing your lynx pet it times like these will only complicate matters. It may begin to see you as an enemy.

This aggressive nature of Lynxes is why most owners declaw and defang them.

How much will it cost to get a lynx kitten?

It’ll cost you around $1,000 to $1,800. However, a Siberian lynx kitten will cost you more, about $3,000.

Tips for keeping a lynx cat

• Get them while their kittens:It’s best to take them in when they’re little kittens. Once they’re old, they’ll prove to you they weren’t born to be pets.

• Don’t yell or punish them when they bite or misbehave: Yelling at your lynx cat or smacking it as punishment should be the last thing you ever do, except you want your cat to go into attack mode and pounce on you. It’s advised instead, that you squirt them water from a bottle whenever they bite you or misbehave.

• Get toys for them: This may very well be the only thing that’ll help preserve your properties. Toys will keep your lynx pet occupied so it doesn’t go tearing up things in your home.
• Feed them meat and exotic cat food: Lynxes don’t eat kibble. Wet cat food may suffice, but it’s always good to feed them meat a lot, or exotic cat food. You can also supplement with fruits for vitamins.
• Keep them outside on a leash: Except you just want your pet indoors with you, keeping your lynx outside may save you a lot of trouble. However this may not work when they become adults, as they won’t like to be on a leash.
• Don’t keep them in a room or place with a high temperature: The highest tolerable temperature for your lynx is 75 – 80 degrees. Anything above this, you’re asking for trouble.
• Take Them To A Vet That Looks After Zoo Animals: Your neighborhood vet won’t be able to cater for a wild cat, so a zoo vet is your only option here.

Final Words

If you’re still bent on owning a lynx for a pet, the best advice for you is to get one as a kitten. If you can, maybe sell it off when it matures. This is because mature lynxes think and behave very differently from the kittens: males will begin to mark territories and females will come on heat and need mating.

In all, a lynx can be a cute and loving pet, but there are so many complications and risks involved. If you can out up with all of these things, then by all means go ahead and get a lynx cat. However, make sure that owning one is actually permitted in the country or state you’re residing.

Here’s a brief summary of some popular countries and their stance on owning lynx pets.

Country / State	Verdict On Keeping Lynx Pets
Canada	Allowed (permit needed)
North Carolina	Allowed (no permit needed)
USA	Allowed (permits needed)
South Carolina	Allowed (no permit needed)
India	Not Allowed
California	Not allowed
UK	Allowed (permits needed)