The Serval Cat

    The Servals are exotic cats with a near domestic personality. They originate from the Savannahs (grasslands) in Africa. Their long legs and large ears aid them in hunting in tall grasses, hearing the smallest insect or rodent, and the ability to jump 10 feet straight up to catch a bird in flight. The cheetah look allows them to be hidden in the tall grasses.

In a home, they are interesting pets, although large. They get up to 35 pounds. They can jump on your highest appliance, and use it as a perch to watch the goings on in your household. They are very curious and you must cat proof your house if you are going to have one. No open China cabinets!  They love to pounce on anyone's toes that might wiggle under the covers at night. They get active in the evenings and at bedtime for us humans. They tend to be one person animals, favoring whoever has given them the most attention when they were being raised.

They can be litter-box trained if you begin early. Doing this is easiest if you can put them in a large cage or small room with a big litter box. We use large Tupperware blanket boxes for ours. We keep them in the utility room with the box and they eventually learn to use it. If they start early, it is easy to do. Begin with a large dog carrier and a small litter box inside it when they are kittens.

One guy told us that he toilet trained his cat. He did this by putting burlap and cheesecloth over the toilet. After the cat used it for a few months, he took the cloth off and it just stood on the rim and used it. We have not tried this.

You can also leash train them with a harness type leash. My sister's cat will come and sit next to her until she puts the harness on it. It loves to go out in the back yard and go near the pond. It is fascinated with the ducks. (I bet) But it does not want to go back inside at times, so it has been known to twist and turn and get very hissy at the idea of having to go back inside. So my sister just grabs it by the scruff of the neck and carries her inside, albeit a quite unhappy cat. But once she is inside, she is purring and fine again. It is just an 'at the moment' tantrum. The cat has never bitten, nor clawed her.

The collar type leashes are not liked very much by my cats. They will turn and twist like a fish out of water to get out of the collar. If they are trained with the harness type when young, they will do fine. You must start by just letting the kitten wear it, then put the leash on and let it be dragged around by the kitten. Later you can let the cat lead you and go places around the house, or outside. Don't wait until it is older, or it will not be as easy. Another person took his cat out in the country for romps. He said he attached 200 pound test fishing line to its harness and let it run and play. He would then real it up if it got too far, or real towards it. It loved the freedom and got used to the routine.

Eventually, you will be able to lead the cat on walks. Be sure there are no large dogs or strange new things that might scare the cat. A 35 pound scared cat is stronger than you can imagine. If it escapes you will have a cat that any Bubba will be glad to shoot for a trophy, not knowing it is your precious pet.

You may consider a large 10 x 10 outside pen with a build in jungle gym and igloo type shelter for the cat(s). We put plenty of hay in their house in the winter. It gets in the teens and twenties where I live. Ours started in the house but we put them in a 10 x 20 chain link pen which is also 8 ft. tall. It has a cover because the cats can climb over it in a flash if it were open. The pairs stay together unless the female is about to have her kittens. When it is about a few weeks or so before she is due, we will put the male in another pen, but replacing him about a week after we have pulled the kittens from the mother. The kittens are pulled at about 4 days. That way they get mother's colostrum. They are fed about every two hours at that age. At ten days, you can do a hour shift.

Our cats stay outside all the time, now. We can still go into the pens and play with the cats. They have toys, such as balls and things to roll around with. Even the female was having her babies and we were able to enter the cage, take the kittens, put them back, and she would lick us as we are inspecting her kittens. But the male must be kept out of her breeding cage or he may eat the babies, just as he would in the wild. Our original female died, and we acquired another "bottle fed" adult female. She was a terror on claws! But with consistency and patience, she now lets us pet her. She will never be tame like the other one, but she has never attacked us, or tried to bite or scratch. She just growls and tries to look mean. Well, let me backtrack a bit. When she had her kittens, she did try to protect them and come at us with her claws, but did not actually hit us. So we had to trick her and get the kittens away. After that she was back to her old self. She has not been declawed.

If you believe in declawing, you might want to read the information available on this very informative site. www.AfricanServal.com It also contains many other very useful articles of interest. We have declawed before, but now realize it was only for our convenience, and not the cat's well-being. It is basically a very painful and unnecessary way of preparing your cat for house living. There really are other ways. Our cats with claws have never scratched us or torn up anything that we deemed holy. Declawing a cat is basic amputation of the last digit of the toe, and is not necessary, and more often detrimental to the psychology and well being of the kitten.

They should be neutered or spayed if you are keeping a pet. Some people say they may spray even if neutered, but we have never had this experience. This has been only second hand information we have intercepted. We had ours in the house for two years, fully intact, and never had either one marked territory. However, in the outside pen, the spray is so acidic that it will eventually eat away even metal siding. Both the males and females mark territory.

Most places require a permit for exotic pets. Each local is different in their requirements. Some require permits to breed, others just to own, and some have no requirements. Certain places make it easy as a phone call and visit by the USDA to inspect your facilities. Others have very stringent requirements, often mandating hours of training in order to get a permit, such as the case in Florida. At any rate, you must have a secure place for the animal to live, whether it be inside you home, or out in a large caged and fenced area. There must be a top on the cage.

Now, there are a few place that we know of that require a permit for those who have kittens from a Serval that has been crossed with another cat. The hybrid that results from the cross is called a Savannah. They are around twice as expensive as the Serval, but often look almost identical to a pure Serval. The size will not be as large and the disposition is calmer and more domestic. However, that is not to say that a Serval has a wild disposition. The ones that have been treated kindly and bottle raised from a few days old have wonderful dispositions, as far as a wild, exotic cat can have. They are nothing like a bobcat. We believe that they take on the temperament that they are raised with.
To discipline them you never hit or hurt them. It is simple to make them mind by the spray bottle method. Get a spray bottle and put 1 part vinegar and 4 parts water. Just spray it at the animal when it is doing something wrong. At the same time say NO! The vinegar has a bad taste and unpleasant odor. This is an easy and humane way to teach your cat to mind.

The vet you use should be familiar with exotic felines or not be afraid to call Texas A & M University, or other exotic specialists and get the information they need. A sick kitten should be taken to the vet immediately. There have been some cats killed by misdiagnosis, treatment, and incorrect medications by vets who thought that they knew what they were doing. These cats are NOT just large domestic cats. Even the vaccinations must be special, such as the rabies must be a vaccine called a kill virus. A live one may give the cat the disease. They can have allergic reactions to other vaccines.

There are a few problems that these cats may have, and you need to be aware of this. Sometimes they are born with heart murmurs. We have had this with some of our kittens, but everyone of them has outgrown this. It is not uncommon, and not a big problem. As I said, ours have always outgrown this. Another is that they may have week bones due to calcium deficiency. It is important to feed them a proper diet, and add calcium supplements, just as you would a growing puppy, but they will need more since they are much faster growing and have a big demand for calcium. These cats have long, fast growing bones. Additionally, they must be on a worming program. Our vet recommends Strongent and Panacure wormer. We had a kitten which was having grand maul seizures and discovered that the perfectly healthy cat had a worm larva traveling through its system, hitting a nerve and causing the seizures. The worming program put a stop to this.

At first, the kittens may be difficult to get started nursing. Don't put them on their backs. Put them on their stomach.You may need to hold their heads and stick the nipple inside their mouth, and gently squeeze a few drops of milk in. As kittens, the best milk is KMR, kitten milk replacer. It comes in economical powder, by PetAg. Mix it with a 2 parts KMR powder and 3 parts water. Do this about every 4 hours, then after 3 weeks of age, you can let them sleep through the night. Heat the milk the same for your baby. Give with a small nursery bottle, then you can graduate to the larger baby nipple. As they get older they may fight to get the nipple and bite it, or pull it out of the bottle. so ready. It could get messy. You may want to wear gloves, or use a towel to keep them from scratching you. We have had to wrap them straight jacket style in a towel to feed them as they get older and fiesty. We always put a towel on our lap before we feed. But once they start getting the milk, they will nurse regularly. Don't cut too large a hole in the end of the nipple or they may get milk in their lungs, but allow enough milk to come through so you see, or hear a steady stream of tiny bubbles going up into the bottle as they nurse. Some people have used Esbilac puppy replacer. If you use that you must add Taurine to the milk. If a kitten does not receive this, there is a chance that they will develop eye problems later on in life. We have used both formulas, and like the KMR best.

The kittens will not drink cool milk, or will fight the feeding if they cannot get any milk out. I always hum to them as I am feeding them. By doing this they feel your body vibrate and it calms them down, and they eventually begin to purr when you pick them up. They are content when they do this.

After feeding this next step is very important. When they are young and nursing, you need to stimulate them to go to the bathroom. When mother is the caretaker,she licks them and keeps them clean, and this stimulates the kittens to urinate, or defecate while she is doing this. You must do this with a soft towel, or tissue each time you feed them. Moisten the towel with warm water. They will get sick and may die if you don't. When they are tiny babies, this is a must. You can get a moist warm towel and gently touch their genital area and they will go in the towel. It will soak up the urine, and clean up the stool. If you cannot stomach this, then wait until the kitten is going on its own to purchase it. In fact, it should be able to go on its own, and in a litter box by the time you buy from a breeder, but you need to ask. If you stimulate it as it gets older, and put it on the litter so it can feel the fine grains of the litter, that may make litter box training easier for you. Be sure to give it lots of praise and love.

After about a month, start mixing pureed cat food in the milk. Gradually you will put either dry cat food with milk sprinkled on it, or meat type foods, such as finely chopped turkey or chicken. What you start them on will be what they will like to eat. Mazuri (made by Purina) pelleted feed can be used, but its hard to get them on these pellets if they have had any meat products. It is hard to get them to eat dry foods if they have had meat. Zupreem Feline canned diet is easy, and we have use it for the kittens. But we prefer raw meats of different kinds, ie chicken, fish, beef, squirrel, and deer. They also will eat certain veggies and fruits.

They must have supplements such as calcium and vitamins. Don't go cheap on these. These cats are exotics and have special needs which domestic cats don't have. The domestic cat foods do not have the nutrition you need for your cat. Ours get the calcium powder on their food, and powdered vitamins almost every day. They also may get chicken necks, pounded to break all the bones. You don't have to cook the chicken necks. Give them a variety of things just as they would have in the wild.

When worming them, you can cook a chicken leg and put the wormer paste on the meat, or mix it with the canned cat food. That way they will eat it and you will not have to force it down their mouth. Your vet should be able to tell you what's available as a wormer and supplements for your cat. You can also give it the cat flea repellent, or liquid that you put the drops on the skin. Ask your vet.

Finally, and most importantly, treat your cat with respect and love,. Give it good nutrition and a good place with lots of room to run and play. You will have a pet for a long time. They may live for 30 years.

And finally, if you have kids, or are planning a family, but love the exotic, Serval look, for the animal's sake, as well as your childrens' sake, consider a Savannah or Bengal, and NOT a Serval. The Servals do not understand, nor react to the mentality nor behaviors of children. As a general rule, Servals do fine with adults, not teenagers or children. And after more than ten years of raising these beautiful and exotic cats, that is my opinion.

Thank you.

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