I have had calls from families asking me how much my kittens are. When I tell them they can't hang up fast enough. The funniest thing that anyone has ever said was "well I can buy a serval for half that cost." Yes absolutely you can. But what are you buying? Certainly NOT a family pet.

I am going to point out a few important differences.

1) A serval is in fact a wild animal. Yes you may have bottle raised it but, it has natural instincts that you can't change, no matter what you might think. It's kind of like a fish naturally knowing to swim away from a cat.
Savannahs can be a handful sometimes (depending on the generation) but for the most part you can make an F2 and down nice family pets.

2) Many states require permits or have even made them illegal to own.
Savannahs are not considered exotics so they are pretty much welcome anywhere. (But check with your locals to make sure)

3) The servals need raw meat in their diet. I have heard the stories about foods but lets be honest they are wild and need their diet they would have in the wild. Just the thought of touching that makes me sick to my stomach.
The Savannahs do pretty well on a good well balanced cat food. Not things like friskies of course but there are many good cat foods out there for them.

4) I have seen more servals turn to the mean side than I have seen Savannahs. The older they get the more risk you take.
Savannahs usually bond with their families and keep the same attitude.

5) When you get tired of a serval which many times people do. They think they're cool for about a year or 2 then they find they can be destructive. They can bite hard, they can scratch hard, they can act wild (go figure) You can't just dump them into a shelter somewhere like too many people do animals they have promised to love for life. So what happens to it? A rescue? If you can find one to take it. A vet's office to be put to sleep? Why? How unfair is that? Give it to someone else that doesn't realize what they are getting into? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO IT?
At least a Savannah can be placed into another loving home much easier.

Now, back to the cost of a savannah. Yes they are expensive. It is against every law of nature to breed a serval with a domesticated cat. The serval can easily and quickly kill the female and you will do nothing to stop it. The domesticated cat has her babies much earlier than a serval so she must again go against nature and not deliver too early. The breeders must stay with the kittens 100% of the time. It is a non stop job for the breeders. The kittens are a little different, they must be handled very early and hand raised to assure they love humans. Most of the time the kittens will be very sweet. Once in a while a kitten will be nasty no matter what you do.

Then there is the food costs. The F1's can pack away more food and any average cat. Our food costs are very high. As I said they eat a normal cat food but it has to be a good one. I feed Taste of the Wild, Solid Gold and Wellness.  Pick up a can of Taste of the Wild and see it is 1.00 for only 3oz. Just 1 of my F1's will eat 4 to 5 cans of that a day, plus her dry food plus her vitamins. As I said on my about page, I am waiting for the so called boat load of money to come in as everyone thinks.

I have so much respect for the breeders breeding F1 kittens. I always tell people I will leave the serval breeding up to the professionals. I would love to have my own male serval for my own breeding program and I am sure when the right situation comes along, I will. But for now, I ask people to think seriously about purchasing servals as family pets especially with small children. I know the Savannahs cost more, but they truly do make a better pet. If you consider the cost divided out over 15 or 20 years it comes out to not much difference in price.

All views and post on my blogs are my opinions. I don't mean to upset or offend anyone about any of them. Everyone has to be responsible for their own decisions.