Enrichment

A serval without enough stimulation is a pretty sad serval. They are intelligent, active creatures and without enough stuff to do, they can get pretty destructive- such as chewing on things you don't want them to, crying incessantly, and stealing your things. I've always been pretty careful to keep Kyprioth entertained, but every once in a while I slack up and he lets me know right away. Here are some of the things I have done to keep him happy:

• An outdoor pool- He has a small kiddie pool about 3 1/2' across and 6" deep. He loves this pond, and will entertain himself with his normal toys, such as his tennis balls. Whenever I want to spice up his entertainment, often I will use his pool. I can put in a couple of feeder goldfish, or I can add a couple of "blood" icicles or a frozen piece tidbit of meat. I can throw in a sinking "frisbee" that was originally a dog toy.  
• The hose game- The hose game is something that I discovered accidentally. While I was cleaning his pool out, I was spraying it down to get all of the sand out and he hopped in and started "biting" the water. He now loves this game, and will play in the hose so long as it is a stream and not a shower. He especially likes attacking the water when I spray the grass. This is also how I get him to take baths- I simply play the hose game with him until he is wet, lather him up with shampoo, and play the hose game again until all the soap is off. 
• Dog toys- Dog toys made for large dogs or tough chewers are oftentimes great toys for servals. Be careful that they don't chew pieces off of the toy, because they can swallow them- which causes huge medical problems. Kong is a great brand that I have found Kyprioth to really like. Be careful not to use their treats though, because it is mostly corn syrup and flavorings, which I don't want my cat eating. 
• Unusual foods- Giving Kyprioth something new to try will sometimes entertain him for hours. Even if it doesn't really have food value, so long as it isn't toxic it's great fun. He will spend tons of time destroying a sweet potato, or a pumpkin. Dried pumpkins even float in his pool. A head of lettuce is also great fun. He eats the whole thing- there will be a couple of leaf bits left on the floor, but thats it. 
• New foods- a whole rabbit usually weighs several pounds. It will take him all day to finish it, and usually he isn't interested in food for a day or two after he eats one- that's normal, don't worry. Or, you can do new things with the food. Sometimes I hide it in a long pvc pipe so he has to fish it out, or tie it to the top of the cage. I even gave him a christmas tree shortly after christmas, and used it to hide his food.
• Lastly, a nylon horse whip. I got one for $9 at a ranch supply store, and have never had to replace it. It is purely interactive, and he loves it to death. I make my own "ends" out of feathers or denim, or cucumber slices, and use it as a giant version of the "fishing" games made for regular cats. Don't bother with those, they won't last three minutes.   

                                                                                                                                 

• Cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls. Anything you forget to put away. They are somewhat like children in that they will get into something they want even if they know they shouldn't- especially if they don't have toys. Keep that in mind.

Basic Info

So, I guess I should have put this as my first post, but I didn't yet know I couldn't rearrange these. I am making this blog as an informative site and it will have information about servals, focusing on what I have learned for and from my pet serval, Kyprioth. There will be a post each about Diet (already up), Enrichment, Containment, Training, Legalities, and Biology. I will include others as I come up with them, but that will be the backbone.

Once that is done, I will continue to update with the various things that Kyprioth has been up to- like the time I was putting away groceries and he stole a whole sweet potato.

 I used to have a much more brief page for him elsewhere, but they changed the layout and the new one is not user friendly. So, here is the marvelous new one!

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.