The wildcat (including Felis silvestris and Felis lybica) is considered as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The species Felis lybica has not yet been separately assessed in the IUCN Red List. The status of the Afro-Asiatic wildcat is not very clear as it is a cryptic species and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish it from domestic cats. In The Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, it is listed as Least Concern.

The Afro-Asiatic wildcat has a very wide distribution, found throughout most of Africa, southwest and central Asia into India, China, and Mongolia. In Africa, the wildcat occurs in wide parts. It is present in all east and southern African countries. In West Africa, it is widely distributed from Mauritania to the Horn of Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia. In North Africa, they occur discontinuously from Morocco through Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya into Egypt.  The distribution of the wildcat continues around the periphery of the Arabian Peninsula. Recent new records from the interior parts of Saudi Arabia suggest that the wildcat may be found in most parts of the Peninsula, not just around the periphery.

In Morocco, the distribution of the wildcat has decreased over the last century. It was previously found on the Atlantic plains from where it has disappeared. It is still found in the mountainous areas in the north of the country, the northern fringes of the Sahara and along the coastal areas of central and southern Morocco.

The wildcat has a very broad habitat tolerance and is found from deserts, semi deserts, savannahs, scrub grassland to open forests in hilly and rocky terrain as well as in mixed forests. It requires some cover in the form of bushes, shrubs, tall grass, rocky hillsides, burrows created by aardvarks or other species, or agricultural crops such as maize. The wildcat seems to be absent only from tropical rainforest. In the Nubian, Saharan and Arabian deserts, it seems to be restricted to mountains and dry watercourses. In Kenya, Ethiopia and Algeria, the wildcat has been recorded at over 3,000 m elevation. 

The wildcat is a solitary species but can, as the feral domestic cats sometimes do, form temporary large groups comprised of a female with her offspring from several consecutive litters. It is mainly nocturnal, especially in very hot environments or in proximity to settled areas but it can also be active in early mornings or late afternoons.

The wildcat hunts primarily on the ground but it is an excellent climber. It gets its prey by stalking followed by a quick attack.

The wildcat is territorial and uses scent marks for communication. In the United Arab Emirates, the home range of one female was quite large at 52.7 km². In South Africa, female home ranges of 6-10 km² were recorded in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. In the southern Kalahari, home ranges of females reached 3.5 km² and of males 7.7 km². The home range of one male wildcat near the Nakuru in Kenya was 4.3 km².

The birth season in southern Africa is from September to March. In the northern Sahara, breeding takes place from January to March. Gestation lasts for 56-68 days and at 9-12 months the wildcat reaches its sexual maturity. When the female is in heat, it only allows one male to be in its territory. 

The main prey species of the wildcat are rodents such as rats, mice and voles. It also hunts insectivores, hares, rabbits, birds, insects, frogs, lizards, fish and occasionally martens, weasels, polecats, and poultry. The wildcat can also prey on young antelopes and small livestock (lambs, goat kits). It is also known to be a scavenger. In a study of 80 stomach contents, 44 contained exclusively Muridae. A camera trap picture from Saudi Arabia shows a wildcat dragging a dead Blandford’s fox. It is assumed that the fox was killed by the cat, but it is unclear whether the cat actually consumed the fox or whether this was the result of non-consumptive interspecific competition.

The wildcat is included in Appendix II of CITES but it is not protected over most of its range in Africa. Hunting is prohibited in Algeria, Israel, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia. In Angola, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania and Togo, hunting is regulated. There is no legal protection in Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Oman, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Zaïre, Zambia and Zimbabwe. No information is available for Burundi, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Qatar, Syria, Western Sahara and Yemen.

The wildcat can live also in agricultural or cultivated landscapes dominated by humans if enough rodents are available. However, such habitats are also where hybridization takes place and spreads. Therefore, it is important to identify genetically pure wildcats and assure their protection to prevent hybridization or disease spread from domestic cats. The differentiation between wild and domestic cat is however complicated and difficult to do. An International Studbook aims to record the captive individuals of the subspecies distributed in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the Gordon’s wildcat (F. s. gordoni), which is threatened via hybridisation and human encroachment of the desert environment.