The probable ancestor of domestic cats is the African Wildcat (F lybica/F silvestris lybica) which, through mutation and selection, has given rise to modern F catus. Professor Eric Harley considers F catus to be a natural sub-species of F lybica. The intractable European Wildcat (F silvestris/ F silvestris silvestris) can interbreed with F. lybica and may have contributed to the gene pool. The modern domestic cat will interbreed naturally with F lybica and F silvestris subspecies, producing fertile hybrids. In the 1800s it was believed that domestic cats in each country evolved from indigenous wildcat populations, so crossing domestic tabbies to Scottish wildcats was seen as back-crossing rather than hybridisation. Hybrids occur naturally in rural areas where free roaming domestic cats or feral cats encounter these wildcats. According to Clark, Borodin and other authorities, population studies of domestics in such areas indicate the heavy influence of wild type genes.

According to Charles Darwin in "The Variation Of Animals And Plants Under Domestication" (1860s), "Sir W. Jardine has no doubt that, "in the north of Scotland, there has been occasional crossing with our native species (F. sylvestris), and that the result of these crosses has been kept in our houses. I have seen," he adds, "many cats very closely resembling the wild cat, and one or two that could scarcely be distinguished from it." Mr. Blyth (1/89. Asiatic Soc. of Calcutta; Curator's Report, August 1856. The passage from Sir W. Jardine is quoted from this Report. Mr. Blyth, who has especially attended to the wild and domestic cats of India, has given in this Report a very interesting discussion on their origin.) remarks on this passage, "but such cats are never seen in the southern parts of England; still, as compared with any Indian tame cat, the affinity of the ordinary British cat to F. sylvestris is manifest; and due I suspect to frequent intermixture at a time when the tame cat was first introduced into Britain and continued rare, while the wild species was far more abundant than at present." In Hungary, Jeitteles (1/90. 'Fauna Hungariae Sup.' 1862 s. 12.) was assured on trustworthy authority that a wild male cat crossed with a female domestic cat, and that the hybrids long lived in a domesticated state. In Algiers the domestic cat has crossed with the wild cat (F. lybica) of that country. (1/91. Isid. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 177.) In South Africa as Mr. E. Layard informs me, the domestic cat intermingles freely with the wild F. caffra; he has seen a pair of hybrids which were quite tame and particularly attached to the lady who brought them up; and Mr. Fry has found that these hybrids are fertile. [...] Dr. D. Short has assured Mr. Blyth (1/92. 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1863 page 184.) that, at Hansi, hybrids between the common cat and F. ornata (or torquata) occur, "and that many of the domestic cats of that part of India were undistinguishable from the wild F. ornata."

Presumed hybrids between the domestic cat and Libyan Cat (F libyca ocreata) were reported by K Ackerman (1898), RI Pocock (1907). K Ackerman (1898) also reported alleged hybrids between the domestic cat and Indian Desert Cat (F libyca ornata).

Domestic cat x F libyca silvestris (European Wild Cat) and F silvestris grampia (Scottish Wildcat) hybrids have been reported on numerous occasions, both in captivity and in the wild (K Ackerman (1898), O Antonius (1951), E Hamilton (1896), HB Peters (1932), TH Gillespie (1954), H Hemmer (1968), International Zoo Yearbook (1966, 1967), I Kotarba (1968), L Martin (1878), HB Peters (1932), RI Pocock (1907)).

According to H.C. Brooke in “Cat Gossip,” 8th August 1928, “Considering that the European Wild Cat (F. sylvestris) was at one time very common all over this country, and is still common in many parts of the Continent; and that it will inter-breed with tame cats, it is very singular that it has left practically no type-impression on the latter, though now and then in Scotland tame cats are found carrying the short thick tail characteristic of their savage cousin, probably the most absolutely untameable animal in existence. The tail of the wild cat is quite different from the brush of the Persian. The fact that about the tenth century Welsh laws placed a high value on cats and kittens, the wild cat being at that period common all over Britain, shows that the domestic cats of that day were not derived from sylvestris.”

And two weeks later, in "Cat Gossip," 22nd August, 1928

TH Gillespie (1954) reported 2 presumed hybrids, a male and a female, born to a domestic cat in spring 1924. They had rusty grey-striped coats resembling the Scottish Wild Cat. These were sent to Edinburgh Zoo where they mated and produced 4 kittens that were predominantly white in colour (indicating the white spotting gene was inherited from the mother). The kittens died young. Gillespie also reported 2 litters born to a female Manx cat that mated with a European Wild Cat (presumed Scottish Wildcat?). The litters were born in successive years, but none of the kittens survived for long.

H Petzch (1958, 1959) reported that a male Steppe cat (F libyca caudata) and "predominantly black" longhaired female domestic cat were caged together at Halle Zoo. After 69 days 3 female kittens were born. 2 resembled the domestic mother (white markings?), while the third resembled the Steppe cat (flecked coat). In temperament, the hybrids were timid and intractable, taking after the wild cat rather than the domestic cat. All were shorthaired due to the longhair gene being recessive and present only in the mother. Only one of the hybrid kittens survived to maturity. When mated to a Male Siamese cat she produced 5 offspring, none of whom inherited the Steppe Cat's flecked coat. 4 of these offspring (being 75% domestic, 25% Steppe cat) resembled their maternal grandmother i.e. black in colour. Seal-point Siamese cats are genetically black and the F1 hybrids carried the recessive gene for solid black.

Hybrids between male European Wildcats and Female domestic cats have been reliably reported on several occasions. In 1964 and 1965, hybrids were born at Warsaw Zoo. HB Peters (1932) wrote of young hybrids that were heavier in build than domestic cats of the same age. They resembled the European Wild Cat in appearance and temperament (they spat even before they could crawl properly). The hybrids died aged 3.5 months of an unidentified disease (distemper and cat flu were common in captive cats as well as in domestic pets).

The various subspecies of F libyca also interbreed freely. A male European wildcat (F libyca silvestris) mated to a Libyan cat (F libyca ocreata) produced 3 hybrid kittens that resembled a mackerel tabby domestic cat. 2 kittens were killed and eaten by the mother. The third was removed and reared by a domestic cat foster mother. It was 9 weeks old when reported. SS Flower (1929), RI Pocock (1907), S Zuckerman (1953). F libyca also breeds with other other wild species and with other hybrids. The F chaus/domestic cat hybrid Chausie has also been crossed with F silvestris to produce the Euro-Chausie. The similarly named Euro-Chaus, a European Wildcat x Jungle Cat hybrid, is considered an exotic, rather than a domestic, pet.

First generation hybrids from domestic cats and the generally untameable Scottish Wildcat inherit the Wildcat temperament. Later generations (F1 x F1) exhibit throwbacks to both Wildcat and domestic grandparents. Between 1873 and 1904, the Scottish Wildcat was experimentally crossed with various domestic breeds and hybrids were exhibited at early British cat shows. In 1939, Frances Pitt wrote in "Wild Animals in Britain" that Wildcat hybrids are "nervous and queer-tempered" and tended to revert to wild type. Pitt attempted to tame a male wildcat kitten she named Satan. Although ferocious with humans, Satan was all gentleness and devotion to a domestic female kitten that had been provided as company for him. In due course they mated and their offspring resembled typical wildcats. One of these, "Imp of Satan", became partly tame. The hybrids mated among themselves and some of their offspring resembled wildcats while others resembled domestic cats. According to Guggisberg, domestic cats were rare in England up until the tenth century and some interbreeding with native wildcats almost certainly occurred.

Excerpt from The Wild Cat - A Highland Gentleman

From “The Romance of Nature” (1937ish) by Frances Pitt

Then Satan arrived. He was but a wee scrap of yellow-grey-tabby fur, as small a kitten as I could desire; but his name was bestowed on sight and never changed. It remained appropriate until the day, six years and nine months later, that an epidemic of “ cat influenza” claimed him. Yet, though there was no reason to change his designation, I believe Satan became more nearly tame than any previous wild cat. With a view to reconciling him to his lot, I obtained a tiny domestic kitten, a longhaired female, whose coat was of the blotched tabby pattern, and put this baby with the wild kitten. Although he spat fiercely at all of us, the stranger accepted the tame kitten as a friend at once, and was ever afterwards deeply attached to her. It was only so long as he was weak and small that I could handle Satan. He grew fast, and with increasing strength fought like a fury, going into paroxysms of spitting and scratching when I tried to pick him up. He was soon untouchable, but with his increase of stature he gained in knowledge and confidence.

He learnt to know the members of the family and the staff, would come to the side of his cage to get food, take it from the hand and spit savagely at the same time. He became tamer than, I believe, any wild cat had been before, but not in the least less ferocious ; yet to Beauty, the kitten brought up with him, he was all gentleness and devotion. It is said that the wild cat, unlike the domestic cat, is monogamous, and mates for life. Satan’s behaviour supports this supposition. Not only was he most affectionate to Beauty, but when I introduced other female cats into his quarters he instantly attacked them. One day I brought a nice, meek little lady, and put her on the top of the old gentleman’s sleeping-quarters. In an instant Satan, glaring anger, sprang at her and knocked her off, sending her tumbling head-over-heels. Beauty was sometimes let out of the wild cat’s place, to take exercise and pay a visit to the house, but this distressed him sorely. He rent the air with harsh cries, for his voice, though loud, was not lovely. It was similar to, but worse than, that of a domestic tom-cat.

Satan became a huge cat. Beauty also flourished, and their alliance was blessed with many offspring, all of which resembled their sire in appearance, and in many traits of character. Hybrids between the wild and domestic cats have been bred on several occasions, notably by the late Mr. A. H. Cocks and Sir Claud Alexander; and in every case the wild type has been completely dominant. Satan and Beauty had six litters, all the kittens of which were exactly like “the old man.” They should have numbered eight litters, but Beauty, alas! had no notions of constancy to a spouse, and there were two families that would have provided Satan with ample grounds for a suit for divorce.

The domestic tom-cat is not always the best of fathers ; he will even, at times, attack small kittens ; so in the case of the early litters, Beauty had been permitted to rear them apart from Satan. When the kittens of unknown parentage arrived, I allowed one to survive, and let Beauty keep it in Satan’s quarters. Though no offspring of his, he treated it delightfully, and was ever gentle and considerate to it. From that time forward she reared her families in Satan’s place, and he was always good to the kittens. Satan might be savage towards human-beings, but he was a true Highland gentleman, and his conduct gave me a great respect for his species - he was a devoted and faithful spouse, also a gentle father.

The question whether hybrids between the wild and domestic cats occur naturally is a difficult one to answer; but I think it is doubtful, at the most a rare happening. The tendency of the wild cat to mate for life precludes stray alliances, and we have the character of the offspring to consider. I have no hesitation in saying that any cat sired by a bona fide wild tom would soon be off to the woods.

The first litter of kittens that Beauty produced were brought up as house pets, but soon proved of queer character. By the way, they were three females, and my mother, remembering that their sire was Satan and their dam Beauty, named them “the World, the Flesh, and the Devil ! The second kitten, burdened with such a name, came to an untimely end. The others flourished, and soon began to display strange traits. They were for ever climbing. They spent much of their time in the creepers upon the house, and upon the house-top. Although friendly with us, they were timid with strangers, and would spit on the slightest provocation.

They early began to take an interest in other livestock, particularly the tame wild ducks (my father’s pets) and the peafowl. Even as tiny kittens they studied the latter with care, but it was not until we found one of them with a duck - the duck being minus its head - that we realized how fully they had inherited the wild cat’s too sporting disposition. They had no idea where to stop, and were equally ready to hunt and kill everything that moved, from a mouse to a peacock ! Poultry they regarded a fair game.” The young cats had to be domiciled in wire pen, lately a pheasant aviary; as had subsequent kittens. Not one of them could be left free after it was half-grown.

Out of the next litter I kept a tom kitten. He was named the “Imp of Satan.” He grew into a very fine cat. Had one met him on a Highland mountain-side, one would never have doubted that he was a magnificent example of the true wild cat, and he was as sporting as the rest of the breed; but he had his mother’s charming manners. The Imp would follow me like a dog. We often went for walks together, and we rarely failed to bring a rabbit home with us; but one evening he ran off after a bunny and vanished into the wood. It was growing dark, and I could not find him. In vain did I call his name into the deepening twilight : no cat emerged from the shadows beneath the trees, and I had to leave him out for the night to enjoy himself wandering through the woods and getting into who knows what mischief. In the morning came a report of poultry killed at a neighbouring cottage. I went at once to the place, and found my cat, likewise three fowls without heads. After that I refrained from taking the Imp of Satan out for walks.

The hybrids in their turn produced kittens, some of which looked pure wild cats, and some throw-backs to the domestic side of their ancestry. Unfortunately it is not easy to keep a number of cats under experimental conditions and make investigations into their genetics, but the indications were that coat-colour, pattern, and length of fur, were inherited on simple Mendelian lines, and, possibly, also temperament. One kitten seemed as savage as any wild cat. With regard to differences between the wild and domestic cats, it appears that the former is much more susceptible to what we may term civilized diseases. Wild cats rarely survive long in Zoological Gardens, quickly succumbing to pneumonia, or some similar complaint ; and hybrids are nearly as liable to infection. I gave sundry crossbred kittens to the Edinburgh Gardens, hut not one survived for long ; yet under isolated conditions they are long-lived healthy cats.

Studies indicate that continued interbreeding of Scottish Wildcats with domestics causes Wildcat type to degenerate. In "Reproduction in the Scottish Wildcat", 1941 Harrison Matthews stated that hybrids tend to be smaller. As far back as 1896, naturalist Edward Hamilton had suggested that the true Wildcat was being supplanted by hybrid "mongrel" Wildcats. In areas where they regularly interbreed, descendants become closer in type to domestic cats. In "Wildcats", naturalist Mike Tomkies reported that modern Wildcats exhibit progressively more domestic cat traits including smaller size, tapered tail with fused black banding and white markings. Conversely, in areas where the Wildcat predominates, the domestic influence will be diluted. The "Kellas Cat" may be a complex domestic x F. silvestris hybrid with Wildcat blood predominating. Some researchers believe the Scottish Wildcat is now so mongrelised that it cannot be conserved as a pure-bred species.

The Scottish Wildcat once had a far wider distribution in the British Isles and some out-of-place Wildcats do occur. Photographs of the "Tonmawr Cub", a supposed ABC cub seen in Wales ("Cat Country", Di Francis) show it to be an adult Scottish Wildcat, while sightings of Wildcats in Surrey may result from an escaped hand-reared Wildcat and his progeny ("Claws and Purrs", Peter Neville), though wildcat genes from that single individual will eventually have been swamped by domestic cat genes.

In spite of modern hype, hybrid cat breeds are nothing new. At the first cat show in July 1871, the Duke of Sutherland exhibited a British (i.e. Scottish) Wild Cat which had lost its right front paw (no doubt in a trap). Hybrid wildcats were also exhibited at early shows; the Crystal Palace show of 1875 included a class for "Wild or Hybrid between Wild and Domestic Cats" (won by an ocelot). Between 1873 and 1904, the Scottish Wildcat was experimentally crossed with various domestic breeds, including the Siamese, and some of these hybrids were exhibited at early British cat shows. At the turn of the 20th century, Champion Southampton Red Rust, Claude Alexander's exceptional Abyssinian was apparently mated to an "Imported African Wild Cat" and the female offspring, Goldtick, registered as an Abyssinian. Goldtick was mated to a red self called Ras Brouke and produced Tim the Harvester.

Bred in Belgium, the Punjabi is a hybrid of Indian Desert Cat (F lybica supspecies) and resembles the desert cat with ticked ivory or ticked pale sandy colours with grey-black and chocolate spots respectively. It is included here because domestic cats, of which the Bengal is one in spite of hybrid origins, will readily interbreed with F lybica.

There is a misconception by some credulous cryptozoologists that the Norwegian Forest Cat (another naturally occurring longhaired breed) is a cross between domesticated longhairs and Scottish Wildcats. Firstly, the Norwegian Forest Cat comes from Norway and would have to swim a long way to meet up with Scottish Wildcats! Secondly, the long haired trait is recessive and crosses between domestic longhairs and European Wildcats (the mainland relative of the Scottish Wildcat) will produce shorthaired offspring (such as the Kellas Cat).