Serval cats as pets
Do servals make good pets? They can be very attractive. Look at this photograph below of a young serval in someone's home sitting on the bed looking blissfully happy. What's wrong with that? It looks as though it worked out very well. But we don't know the back story. And I don't want to paint an incorrect or too negative a picture because it can work out quite well (rarely). Pet serval looking happy. Photo: Cats of Instagram But in my opinion having a serval as a pet is likely not to work out that well for various reasons. Firstly, they are a wild cat species. If they are raised from a new-born kitten by humans they might fit in quite well. But if they are adopted as a young animal then they will never be a true domestic cat. They might spray in the home to mark territory which is incredibly upsetting to the owner but very reassuring to the cat! This is a tamed serval at A1 Savannahs many years ago. I made the video. He was a quite small serval. Probably a subadult.
Quite often you will see comments on articles about how their cat has dog-like characteristics. “My cat is like a dog!" “My cat thinks he is a dog" “My cat plays fetch!" These sorts of comments are common and people express surprise when their cat behaves like a dog. I don't think it is surprising.
ReplyDeleteThere is an overlap between the behavioural characteristics of dogs and cats. In the video (which I like) one of the similarities referred to is that both a dog and a cat pant in order to cool down. I think that is to be expected because cats hardly sweat like people. The same I guess goes for dogs. Playing fetch is a form of hunting and both cats and dogs are predators so once again I would expect there to be a similarity there.
Coming on command can be trained into a cat fairly easily if you have the patience and inclination. Sometimes it takes no training at all to get a cat to come on command...just put down a bowl of his favourite cat treat!
I just don't think we should be that surprised that they are similar in some ways. It is good fun, though, to see it happen.