When I was in college, I got a chance to spend an hour playing alone with a 3 month old mountain lion cub. It was about the size of a domestic house cat. It was NOT a domestic house cat. It was incredibly powerful, and while it wasn’t angry with me, it played ROUGH. At the end of the hour, I had blood streaming in rivulets down my forearms.
Sure, it was painful as heck to play with him. But who ever gets to play with a mountain lion cub? I stayed in the room for an hour. It was worth the pain.
I played with a lion cub when I was about 20. After a while, it bit the cuff of my jeans, and flopped on its side. Then it rolled over, cutting off the circulation to my foot. Very painful.