Don't wear musk perfumes or anything derived from animal oils, or strange scents, including make up.

Don't wear wool sweaters or materials because lamb is a great meal for most cats.

Don't wear real fur coats, for lots of good reasons, but in this chapter so that you are not mistaken for prey. Did you know that it takes 15 Bobcats to make one coat or 8 Canadian Lynx?

Don't wear anything in your hair that you don't want jerked out from behind. I often wear my hair in a braid, but have been jerked nearly off my feet, because a cat thought it looked like a rope toy. A volunteer spent the night in the hospital after a very tame Cougar managed to get behind her. The two hundred pound cat lunged to grab a ribbon out of her hair and just the impact of his teeth ripped her skull open and could have killed her.

Choose your jewelry wisely. Hoop earrings are especially inviting to a wildcat and you sternly saying no will probably not keep you from having your ears ripped open.

Felines have heightened senses and may be very much aware of other things you have touched today, including other animals or food. A woman should not approach a cat within twenty four hours before or after her menstrual period.

Leather belts, shoes, wallets and purses are worthy of knocking the closet door down to an exotic cat. Many tennis shoes have leather trim and a cat will make a flying tackle for your ankles.

Much of what you can do to protect yourself is behavioural. You should never turn your back on a wild cat, no matter how tame he is. This has never been a problem with Lynx and smaller, except for Ocelots, Geoffrey Cats and Margays. To be jumped from behind by one of these smaller cats is startling, but not life threatening. Even our tame Leopards, Tigers and Cougars have taken the opportunity to jump us from behind. When they play with each other, they bite the back of the neck and tackle to the ground. They have never meant to hurt us but that doesn’t lessen the pain, nor the danger. By living with a big cat you will find yourself more cat-like. You will always be aware of "who" is in the room and always ready for attack.

All wild cats have a spot of white on the back of their ears, called an eye spot. In the wild they hunt at night and the moonlight reflecting from this eye spot will fool predators into thinking that the cat is looking in their direction. Most predators prefer to sneak up from behind and will not attach the "face" of the cat. Our primary zookeeper, Robert, always wears military camouflage clothing and cap. The pattern resembles the stripes and spots of another big cat and there are light spots all over that could be confused as being eyes. I believe that mostly it is his mannerisms with the cats that keep him safe, but the choice of clothing hasn’t hurt.

You should never allow a big cat to loom over you, nor should you lay down in their presence. We do not recommend kissing or nuzzling the face of a big cat. Exotic cats love to give "kitty kisses" which is a nip to the nose or chin. They don’t bite hard, but people usually jerk away and risk ripping a nostril or a lip.

In any drug store you can buy a personal safety device that can be held in the palm of your hand. It emits an ear shattering blast of sound at just a touch. We have not used such a thing, but are going to make it standard equipment for anyone entering a pen. It should never be used, except in the case of dire emergency, because it would really scare a cat. Some people keep a fire extinguisher near their pens to break up a fight to the death, but I would not feel comfortable spraying a chemical all over my cat.