Domestic cat or wildcat?
How to tell them apart
A European wildcat is bigger and more heavily built, with a bushy, blunt tail ringed with two or three black bands and a black tip.
Quick answers
They differ on 3 of the 8 quick answers: dangerous, domesticated, kept as a pet.
| Question | Domestic cat | Wildcat |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Mammal | Mammal |
| Carnivore? | Yes | Yes |
| Dangerous? differs | No | Can be |
| Domesticated? differs | Yes | No |
| Awake when? | Night | Night |
| Hibernates? | No | No |
| Kept as a pet? differs | Commonly | No |
| Do people eat it? | No | No |
At a glance
| Question | Domestic cat | Wildcat |
|---|---|---|
| Found in differs | Worldwide | Europe, Asia |
| Habitat differs | Towns, Farmland | Forest |
| Size | Small | Small |
| Length differs | About 46 cm, plus a tail of about 30 cm | Up to 65 cm, plus a 34.5 cm tail |
| Height differs | 23–25 cm at the shoulder | – |
| Weight differs | Typically 4–5 kg | Males about 5–8 kg, females about 3.5 kg |
| Legs | 4 | 4 |
| Covered in | Fur | Fur |
| Lives | Alone | Alone |
| Lives for differs | 12–18 years | 12–15 years |
| Can fly | No | No |
| Swims differs | Yes | No |
| Lays eggs | No | No |
About each
Domestic cat
The only domesticated member of the cat family. Cats were first tamed from the African wildcat in the Near East around 7500 BCE, and there are now an estimated 600 million worldwide.
Everything on the domestic cat page
Wildcat
The European wildcat: bigger and stouter than a house cat, with longer striped fur, a dark stripe along the back and a bushy, black-tipped tail. It lives mainly in broad-leaved and mixed forests, avoiding farmland and towns.
Everything on the wildcat page
Sources
Last reviewed . The answers and notes come from each animal's own page, where every source is listed.
How each answer is decided: How we answer. More look-alikes: Side by side.