Pics of my new kiddo

[Purrrfect9]

Back from another 'break' from the forums, I thought some of you would enjoy some pics of the newest fuzzy addition to the family. Attached is a pic of Keyba, at the time of pics a 6 week old serval kitten (he is 7 1/2 weeks now). He's extremely spoiled, and -very- very smart. He has learned lay down and sit within a week, and we are working on stay. He absolutely loves going for walks on his harness and leash.
Keyba stalking his toys from under the bed

He tackled his sheep and loves to wrestle with it

"Okay. I is tiredz now"

He loves his mommy

On his bed, aka other really big fluffy thing to wrestle with

Aaaaand he's out


-Disclaimer- I do have a USDA breeder/exhibitor license, have been working with all big cats with the exception of cheetah's and jaguars for a few years, and have attended and passed numerous big cat handler/ husbandry courses. This serval was not taken from the wild, and has come from a breeding stock that has been inside the US for over 30 years.

[GoingPostal]

He's stunning! Will he be kept like a regular house cat or in an outdoor type of thing? Don't know much about exotic cats. Those ears look huge!

[joepythons]

He is cool looking

[illini4x4]

Love those ears!!

[Purrrfect9]

Keyba will be raised inside until he reaches sexual maturity (18-24 months). Then he will have an outdoor enclosure with a heated den. The plan is to find him an unrelated girlfriend, and we will breed them in the future to keep the bloodline strong, since AZA zoo's unfortunately allow very little space in their facilities to maintain strong bloodlines in captivity without any bottle-necking going on.
He is so much fun though. He acts and plays just like a dog, but definitely has the cat tendencies.

And his ears will get even bigger than that, lol. Servals weight ranges from 25-50 lbs (females 25-35 lbs; males 40-50 lbs), and they will get knee height at their shoulder. So big enough to be a 'challenge' but not big enough to do a large amount of damage

[Ophidiophile]

Beautiful little baby!

I've had the pleasure of working with one of these incredible cats that was brought into the clinic I used to work for. Needless to say, as he'd been brought in twice before for ingesting a toy and needing it removed, he was not happy to be there. This made sedating him interesting.

Evidently his breeder had him declawed as a kitten. From what I've read, this is a practice that keeps captive servals easier to handle and to keep. Honestly, if this serval had been fully loaded, it would have been a lot more difficult to sedate him, so I can see the point...Also in captivity, fights between servals would undoubtedly surface with less injuries, I'd imagine...

BUT, another doctor pointed out that a declawed wild animal will fight harder as half it's defenses have been taken away. Part of me sees some reason in this, but from observing cats--both declawed and loaded--they do not seem to notice whether or not they have claws, they swat and fight all the same. LoL I've noticed the same with cats missing a limb...they still try and swat with the missing limb.

Just curious as to your experienced thoughts on the matter?

[BuddhaLuv]

What a handsome baby!!!!!!!!!!! I work at an Exotic Animal Hosp. and am just so happy to see that you don't partake in monkeys LOL.

[aybe.sea]

sooo nice. aww. are they similar/related to savannah cats in any way?

[Purrrfect9]

Actually yes! Savannah cats are hybrid cats between the serval and domestic cats!

[Purrrfect9]

Beautiful little baby!

I've had the pleasure of working with one of these incredible cats that was brought into the clinic I used to work for. Needless to say, as he'd been brought in twice before for ingesting a toy and needing it removed, he was not happy to be there. This made sedating him interesting.

Evidently his breeder had him declawed as a kitten. From what I've read, this is a practice that keeps captive servals easier to handle and to keep. Honestly, if this serval had been fully loaded, it would have been a lot more difficult to sedate him, so I can see the point...Also in captivity, fights between servals would undoubtedly surface with less injuries, I'd imagine...

BUT, another doctor pointed out that a declawed wild animal will fight harder as half it's defenses have been taken away. Part of me sees some reason in this, but from observing cats--both declawed and loaded--they do not seem to notice whether or not they have claws, they swat and fight all the same. LoL I've noticed the same with cats missing a limb...they still try and swat with the missing limb.

Just curious as to your experienced thoughts on the matter?

I've seen many many exotic cat that have been declawed, and I can honestly count on one hand (actually only one individual) that had a negative result from declawing. It's a geriatric leopard, 18 years old, and was declawed using the 'old method'. I've already gotten in one fight with him over putting his harness on in his territory, and honestly, he only used his claws at the very end when he was extremely pissed. Needless to say, my hands looked like hamburger meat after our fight, and this was with a 4 lb kitten. Servals, even when hunting, rarely use their claws. They rely more on their body weight to slam down on and stun their prey. Then they will play with their food, which often doesn't even resemble the mice/rat that it once was, lol. If he was JUST going to be my house pet, and would not have any public contact at all, then I would keep him intact. I'm really on the fence about declawing him. I have seen and assisted with the laser declaw's, and although the results have always been good, after seeing how much cats actually use their claws, it makes me a bit uncomfortable. On the other hand, with all of the ban's on every kind of exotics now days, and with people being very high strung on animals hurting their kids, I view it as it's better to declaw him on his front feet, than have him put to sleep. It only takes one kid to reach out and do something stupid, no matter how short of a leash I keep him on. That's also why I always bring a toy with Keyba anywhere I go. If he starts getting too excited over something, I shove his stuffed animal in his face to distract him and have him play/wrestle with it. Right now I am trimming his nails, but even with the "kitten burrito" method, I still end up bleeding in the end.
But if you want to have a serval in your house, I suggest either only allowing the serval into certain rooms, or completely serval proofing the house, with no exposed chords, no leather couches, very little plants, and you better be prepared for the spraying, lol.