Vaccinations The Serval, as is common for ALL exotics, must be vaccinated with a KILLED virus, not with a "modified live" virus!!!

Anesthesia After a recent surgery, my Serval's Dr mentioned her liver would be considered "small" for an animal her size, so if this is common to all Servals, not a matter of variation in this one cat, that might go a long way toward explaining why Servals (or other exotic cats?) have a hard time with many medicines, since it is, after all, the liver that works to remove "toxins" from the blood, so a "small" liver would soon be "flooded" and that could quickly lead to a buildup/overdose of an otherwise common and safe medicine. The surgery, which consisted of about 2 hours of "out" time, was on Isoflurane gas, which is the "gas of choice" when a gas anesthesia is indicated by the age or condition of the patient.

The above is 1st hand information from my Serval's Doctor... a 2nd hand confirmation of the idea that at least SOME types of injectable anesthesia may be dangerous to a Serval (and possibly other exotic cats!) came to me from another Serval owner. She took her Serval to a different Dr, who gave an injection for anesthesia, and the cat later had an extremely difficult time "coming out" of the anesthesia... two injections of the "reversal" drug were needed, instead of the usual one, as well as "forcing fluid intake" to further dilute the medicine in the blood. This would seem to support the idea that a Serval's "small" liver is not able to efficiently metabolize toxins in the blood.

Talk to your cat's Dr, but MY choice is to make sure any cat I ever own is given nothing other than Isoflurane gas if it is at all possible for the particular process to be performed (there may be times when gas is not possible)

If you live in Vancouver WA (or in Portland OR and are willing to drive) my Serval's Doctor is Dr Elizabeth Grauer at 360-696-4673, located one block West of Andresen Road on 4th Plain Blvd, Business Hours Mon-Fri 7:30-6pm Sat 8:00-2pm

One additional note about anesthesia. Dr Grauer was, for about a dozen years, in charge of the Emergency Veterinary Service in Vancouver (360-694-3007 call ahead to find out if YOUR exotic animal is one they have the facilities to see) so she has extensive experience with trauma and "rush" operations. The ONLY gas anesthesia she uses is Isoflurane gas, with an array of other anesthesia used after a full review of the patient's history and medical needs.

Chewing The Serval will, along with most exotic cats, chew on ANYTHING (see mention above about surgery!) and will swallow items that are indigestible and subject to getting "stuck" in the intestine. Watch your cat, and it's surroundings, to make sure nothing that could cause an intestinal blockage is available to your cat... even behind closed cabinet doors is not always good enough! (Don't do like I did, and put child-proof latches on the cabinet doors AFTER the cat learns how to open doors!)

Send me a note about YOUR feline friends jtsmith@pacifier.com