Serval Diet

In the wild, servals have been observed eating a diet of about 100 different species of small prey including rodents, birds, fish and amphibians, as well as insects. They rarely hunt prey that is more then a few ounces in size, and so they need to hunt constantly to sustain themselves. They survive because they have an extremely high success rate, and catch nearly 50% of their prey- compared to other species more modest 10%. Their varied diet ensures that they obtain adequate nutrition, and do not suffer from specific nutrient deficiency.

In captivity, most servals are fed a constant diet. In an ideal world, this captive diet would consist of whole, small animals of various species. This would ensure that they had adequate sources of all necessary nutrients, and did not suffer nutrient deficiencies because of too constant a diet. This diet is rarely possible due to high cost, and so it is important to adequately plan out a diet. I will go over several potential diets:

• Commercially produced domestic cat food. I do not consider this a viable option, as it is not nutritionally sound. Dry diets have a propensity for causing bladder problems as well as allergies, and neither dry or canned domestic cat food are adequate sources of calcium or taurine. Deficiencies of these nutrients can lead to poor bone development and blindness, respectively. 
• Commercially produced dry and canned exotic cat food. This is a much better option for those people who are squeamish about feeding raw food. Mazuri and Zupreem  are two reputable brands that have been around the longest. A calcium supplement should still be provided during their critical growth periods, from infancy to about one year. 
• Commercially produced raw carnivore food. This is the best option for someone who does not have the time or the knowledge to properly prepare their own raw diet. These are typically well rounded diets prepared with whole rabbits, chicken, ducks, etc and include the whole animal ground up together and frozen into various portion sizes. These diets do tend to be quite expensive, but it are the healthiest "easy" option. 
• Home made raw food. This is my personal preference, but is not a good choice unless it is done safely. It is very easy to develop nutrient deficiencies if you are not thoroughly familiar with feline nutrition. For this reason, I will not supply a "recipe" because too many people would modify it to make it easier, which could make it nutritionally unbalanced. I will say that the majority of my diet consists of chicken quarters, with several supplements, and occasional whole rats, rabbits, and fish. I recommend that anyone considering this method of feeding buy a couple of books detailing feline nutrition to determine what the best method for them is.

Whatever method is used, it is important to feed a well balanced diet to avoid long term, expensive health problems.


As treats, my serval loves broccoli, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and cucumber slices. I never let him eat a lot of these, but they provide additional water and roughage to his diet.