One Large House Cat

This does not look like a good idea. Messi the cougar lives with Alexandr and Mariya Dmitriev in their apartment in Penza, Russia. He has health issues and is half the size of a normal cougar. He came from a petting zoo, which makes me wonder what other animals you'll find in a Russian petting zoo. It seems to me that a sanctuary or a proper zoo would be a safer way to raise a cougar that couldn't survive in the wild, and give him a chance to be around other cougars. Messi is well-loved and appears to be happy, so we can just keep our fingers crossed that his wild instincts don't suddenly kick in and lead to disaster someday. You can see more of Messi at his YouTube channel, or at Instagram. (via reddit)