Pets Information Channel:       Pet News, Pet Care, Pet Training, Pet Supplies, cat pictures, dog pictures, pet pictures More free online ebooks tips articles: Advertising | Affiliate revenue sharing  |  Auctions  |   Best Tips and Home Remedies   |  Blogging  |  Crafts & Hobbies  |  Currency Trading  |  mesothelioma lung cancer and asbestos |  Mortgage and refinance |  Pets  |  Web Site design  We would like to thank the local libraries, schools, and universities for recommending students to visit us when doing research on any of our information topics.  Please check back frequently as new topics are added and current topics are updated daily.
Pet Information Channel DIRECTORY OF TOPICS & ARTICLES

Living With a Pet Serval

Some sources seem to indicate that living with a serval is no more challenging than feeding your pet goldfish. At the other end of the extreme spectrum, many sanctuaries and animal rights activists paint servals and other exotic cats as unmanageable creatures that no ordinary mortal could hope to deal with successfully. As is usually the case, the truth lies in a rational world between the two extremes.

Servals are much more challenging and time consuming to raise than a domestic cat. In order to end up with a tame, safe, and loving serval that can live in your house, you are going to have to spend a lot of time socializing, training, and housebreaking him. These things don't happen automatically with a serval.

There will be problems to overcome. In order to do so you will need a solid understanding of how animals learn and how to humanely modify their behavior. This is not an animal for an inexperienced pet owner, or even for an experienced pet owner who has only had "easy" animals!

A Serval kitten is like a domestic kitten on speed! If you have ever raised a kitten you know how playful (and sometimes destructive) they are. Then imagine kittens the size of a full-grown domestic cat, with way more energy! Prepare to be playfully tackled, bitten, clawed, climbed, and otherwise wrestled with by a huge kitten, and make sure you have the training experience to teach your little fireball to be gentle with humans and your house.

However, if you have the knowledge of training and you put in the time, you will be rewarded with a wonderful, loving companion who is fun to live with and easy and safe to handle. A well-raised serval really is incredibly sweet and amazing. To me it is worth every bit of the time and effort.

Sirocco has an incredibly loud purr, and when he's feeling affectionate he looks at me with complete adoration written on his face, purrs, and licks me. When I get home from work he greets me with purrs and ankle rubs, and it is clear that he is very strongly bonded to me. I have had very affectionate domestic cats, but Sirocco makes his love known more intensely then any domestic cat I've ever had. However, he spends a lot less time overall hanging out purring and cuddling than a domestic cat (that high-energy thing). This may change, as I notice he gets more affectionate the older he gets. I have to say he seems really happy as a pet cat. He is very high energy and spends a lot of time on the go.

As a result of lots of early socialization, he is very tame and will let even large groups of people pet him. However, I have seen him purr only once for a stranger; he seems to reserve true affection for his family.

Living with a serval means having your sandal stolen from beneath your foot and carried out into the enclosure in the rain at 11:00 p.m.?. Then being forced to go outside to get it lest he ingest portions of it.

Sirocco had been playing out in his enclosure one evening, uninterested in being petted. When I got to bed I found myself sobbing away a heart-wrenching day's work. As I lay there, I felt a soft nose in my ear, followed by a thundering purr. When I didn't respond, he gently butted my face over and over until I said hi to him. When I spoke, he licked my cheek, then started rubbing his forehead against my face. He continued to lick my tears and "pet" me until I stopped crying. Once satisfied that I was okay, he lay down beside me, squeezing his body tightly against mine as we fell asleep.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed pulling on socks one morning, having finished petting Sirocco?. Or so I thought! Approaching from behind, he laid his head on my shoulder and commenced purring loudly into my ear, paws kneading on the bed beside me. Needless to say I abandoned my socks.

Shoes and sandals have been banned from serval-occupied regions of the house ever since he ate part of one and nearly had to have it surgically removed. In response, Sirocco has developed military-strength sandal-detecting powers. Sometimes my mother will be naive enough to enter my bedroom at night to watch a movie wearing the precious contraband. Relaxing in her chair, she unthinkingly slips off her sandals as Sirocco lingers nearby with feigned indifference. He strolls casually past, then seizes the prize on his teeth and bolts cheetah-like onto the dresser and out the door to his lair, having learned long ago that thieving humans can't follow. Even if one of us is lucky enough to cut off his escape route, he will not surrender. Jaws locked on, he closes his eyes contentedly and growls as we make futile attempts to pry, pull, twist, and coax the now tooth-marked sandal from his grasp.

Pouncing on the faces of sleeping humans and nibbling (that's putting it kindly) on their toes are also favorite nighttime activities.

I have a deliciously slothful habit of flopping down on my bed to eat dinner. This has a great deal to do with the fact that the bed is one of the few comfortable spots in the house, and it's within Sirocco's domain so I get to enjoy his company. One afternoon I neglected to prepare a portion (tomatoes, cheese, and refried beans) for Sirocco before I crashed with a plate of Mexican food. He came up to me and pushed his nose towards the plate a few times. When I blocked him, he lay down beside me purring, drooled a little, and stretched his head out close to my elbow, chin resting on the bed. I relented and shared a couple of tomato pieces. That wasn't good enough, so he got up again only to be blocked by my hand. He did what any sensible serval would do: he snaked out his paw and smacked my tortillas!

One night Sirocco had been awakening me with a karate-pounce every half-hour. I finally scooped up my rowdy serval and began to carry him out to the crate in my living room: the one now reserved for servals that won't let their humans get a wink of sleep. Trouble struck when my mother's Rottweiler mistook me for an interloper as I exited my bedroom door and charged out of the dark with a snarl. Exit serval. He was out of my arms, over my head, and back in the bedroom before the dog could take two steps. Enter bandages. I had a nice bloody welt across my jaw, and the gash in my neck caused people at work the next day to ask what I'd done to provoke Louie the Knife.

Before Sirocco arrived, I'd been adamant: no litter boxes in my bedroom. Now, I'm just content when he actually uses the giant box that so gracefully adorns the floor by my entertainment center rather than peeing on my bed.

One evening I came home from work to find the blankets dragged from my bed, one of them lying elegantly by the entrance to the litter box. As a thoughtful decorative touch, he'd also removed a German Shepherd figurine from my bookshelf and placed it in the litter box with one ear poking out.

I think I'm going to recommend servals to interior designers. They can sell or rent them to clients, on the condition that the designer is called in every time the serval "redecorates" the house. What a way to build repeat business!

One thing I'm quite proud of is the fact that Sirocco isn't very destructive indoors with his claws. For instance, he doesn't claw the curtains. He just yanks the curtain rod loose from the wall and drags the curtains under the bed. Good serval.

For more information on responsible ownership of wild and exotic felines, please visit my website, http://www.exoticcatz.com.

MORE PETS INFORMATION RESOURCES

The Animal Rescue Site needs your clicks to help support their endeavors
 visiting just one sponsor per day feeds an animal for one day. Thank you!

Get on board the TrafficTrain visit and join each ad offer to include your ad on the TrafficTrain

RELATED PET ARTICLES FROM THE PET INFORMATION CHANNEL:: Glow Light Tetra - A Lovely and Peaceful Member of Your Community Tank Brings life to your community tanks. Many freshwater fish-keepers have a warm spot in their heart for a little fish with a big name, the 1 ½-inch hemigrammus erythrozonus? or mush easier to say, the glowlight tetra. Like its little cousin, the neon tetra, the glowlight is an easy fish to keep in a community tank. Facts You Need To Know About Adopting A Dog Mum, dad, can we get a puppy? Its a plea that may parents will know only too well. How do you go about adopting a dog to make sure that the dog is happy and there isn't too much upheaval in your home? If you are thinking of adding a dog to your family, consider adopting your new best friend from an animal shelter or humane society. Keeping Gars - A Short Review If you take a quick look at this species they don't seem like aquarium fishes. They are large and highly predatory. How To Set Up A Quarantine Tank For Tropical Fish Do I Need A Quarantine Tank? Ah, yes, the often dismissed but very necessary part of the tropical fish hobby, the infamous quarantine tank. Do you really need one to be successful in this hobby? For freshwater fish you may be able to get by without having one. Here's a Way To Make Your Dog Love Its Dog Crate! A dog crate is a necessity for your dog, through his puppy days and for his whole life. Your dog's ancestor, the wolf, had a den to call home, a place of safety. Lets Get Clear On Proper Dog Care Whether you're a new dog owner or have had dogs around you for many years, learning about proper dog care is essential if you're to give your dog the greatest possible chance to enjoy a long and healthy life. The most basic area of dog care is feeding. What's the Real Deal on Pet Insurance? Even if you haven't had a run-in involving your pet of late, pet insurance has probably crossed your mind. And if you have, the bill for any non-routine care may have cost you anywhere from a cool couple hundred to nearly a grand. How to Protect Your Dog and Family from Roundworms Nearly every puppy in the world is born with roundworms. This is because the roundworm's larvae are transmitted from the mother to the puppy while it is still in the womb. Good Dog Care Is Vital Dog careAccepting responsibility of your new pet friend is truly serious business. Caring for your new best pet friend is rewarding with that I feel good feeling. Does Your Dog Miss You Too Much? Your dog seems to be driving you up the wall lately, exhibiting serious behavior problems -- and no amount of verbal correction seems to work. She chews the furniture, gnaws on shoes, turns over the trash cans, howls and barks when you're not around, or even seems really depressed when you come home. Dog Pile - Please Pick It Up I really do not hope your are eating something, but did you know that you can get a fake dog pile in long or round bits for a joke. My younger son had initiated this research of mine, by asking why I pick up the dog's business, even though he had done it on the grass. Goldfish Outdoors How do you build a goldfish pond outdoors?The tools you will need are a shovel, pond liner and underlayment, a long enough rope, coping stones and decorations, plants, a pump (you will need a pump to run a filter, fountain, or waterfall and it will keep the water circulating and the plants healthy), a filter system and some cooperative friends or family members. Now you can get started. Breeding Piranhas Piranhas are unique creatures that have gained popularity not just because of their appearance, but also due to the many myths that are told about them. Unfortunately only a few species of piranha have been bred, including Serrasalmus nattereri, S. Your Dogs Health Is At Risk! Dogs should be living to age 20 or more. That's their natural lifespan. How to Litter Train a Cat For most cat owners, training their cat to use the litter is a relatively painless process. It is among a cat's natural instincts to eliminate in an area that they can cover their feces in. Saving Ginger From Being Put To Sleep - Part 2 The Story Continues.. 10 Greatest Puppy Training Tips of All Time The 10 Greatest Puppy Training Tips of All Time According to Dog Training Experts10) When trying to settle a puppy into a new home, providing them with a warm hot water bottle and placing a ticking clock in the room where they sleep will help to replicate the body heat and heartbeat of their litter mates and can really help them to relax in their new environment.9) When taking your puppy to the Vet for its first inoculations, health checks etc, it is good practice to sit with your puppy on your lap and not have him or her on the floor. Housebreaking Your Dog-Potty Training Canine Style Puppies are a bundle of newfound joy. You've prepared the house, and even bought him a new rubber chew toy. The Fun of Do It Yourself Snake and other Reptile Cages Are you nuts? You think banging your finger with a hammer is fun? No, I don't. But building your own snake and other reptile cages can be a fun and rewarding experience. Reincarnating Pets It is always sad when a beloved animal family member leaves their body and goes into spirit. We call this death, but truly, no one dies.

HOME | SITE MAP © 2012 - 2023 All Rights Reserved Improve your web site pagerank  automaticaly with HitsSurfer