African Wild Cats In the Basement!
UPDATE: Well, gee whiz! Who would have ever thought that my posting these photos of the cats in my sister-in-law's basement on my blog could cause such a stir! I have heard from several people both in the comments here and through my email that these cats are not all Servals as I had thought. If I understand it right, my sister-in-law is not breeding Servals.
According to one person who emailed me, she is actually "breeding Savannahs, which are a cross between a Serval and a domestic cat. Savannahs rarely get anywhere near the size/weight of their Serval parent/grandparent. It looks from these pictures as though she is using a Bengal female, which is a cross between an Asian leopard cat and a domestic cat, which is a common breeding practice. Servals are not by nature aggressive cats, they would rather run from confrontation, so do not pose the same threat as the larger exotic cats can, when owned/handled by an experienced person. They can make wonderful pets...for the right person."
The emailer then went on to say, "They will not likely look at your poodle as an afternoon snack, if they have been raised around small animals, but for caution sake, they should not be left alone together only because they can get over-zealous in their play. From the look of the Serval in these photos, I would bet he is not full-grown yet. He still looks pretty young, and they don't fully mature until they reach 3 years."
Thank you to all those who wrote to provide me with this information and with links to follow.
A while back I did a post about the Serval cat, an African wild cat that is sometimes raised by breeders and sold as a pet here in the United States. I personally would not care for a wild cat as a household pet. I would not feel that I could trust such an animal to be living in my house.
However, I recently found out that my sister-in-law (my husband's sister) has begun her own Serval cat breeding business! I would definitely not be brave enough to run this type of business from my home, but she is obviously cut from a different cloth than I am.
Here are a few photos of the Serval cats that she has living in her basement!
My older son holds one of the newest kittens.
Mama and her babies.
Sure this is a beautiful animal and the kittens are cute, BUT the kittens grow up to be this size!
Some young cats not to full size yet.
My brother-in-law playing with the Serval.
Cat Nap.
I think I will just stick with having my toy poodle Max as a pet. (I'm afraid one of these wild cats might eat poor little Max for lunch!)
According to one person who emailed me, she is actually "breeding Savannahs, which are a cross between a Serval and a domestic cat. Savannahs rarely get anywhere near the size/weight of their Serval parent/grandparent. It looks from these pictures as though she is using a Bengal female, which is a cross between an Asian leopard cat and a domestic cat, which is a common breeding practice. Servals are not by nature aggressive cats, they would rather run from confrontation, so do not pose the same threat as the larger exotic cats can, when owned/handled by an experienced person. They can make wonderful pets...for the right person."
The emailer then went on to say, "They will not likely look at your poodle as an afternoon snack, if they have been raised around small animals, but for caution sake, they should not be left alone together only because they can get over-zealous in their play. From the look of the Serval in these photos, I would bet he is not full-grown yet. He still looks pretty young, and they don't fully mature until they reach 3 years."
Thank you to all those who wrote to provide me with this information and with links to follow.
A while back I did a post about the Serval cat, an African wild cat that is sometimes raised by breeders and sold as a pet here in the United States. I personally would not care for a wild cat as a household pet. I would not feel that I could trust such an animal to be living in my house.
However, I recently found out that my sister-in-law (my husband's sister) has begun her own Serval cat breeding business! I would definitely not be brave enough to run this type of business from my home, but she is obviously cut from a different cloth than I am.
Here are a few photos of the Serval cats that she has living in her basement!
My older son holds one of the newest kittens.
Mama and her babies.
Sure this is a beautiful animal and the kittens are cute, BUT the kittens grow up to be this size!
Some young cats not to full size yet.
My brother-in-law playing with the Serval.
Cat Nap.
I think I will just stick with having my toy poodle Max as a pet. (I'm afraid one of these wild cats might eat poor little Max for lunch!)
