Servals and other small wild cats are kept as exotic pets and in roadside attractions with welfare needs far exceeding typical domestic cat care.
Servals in private ownership experience welfare deficits from the inability to express their natural high-activity hunting behaviors. They are powerful animals capable of serious injury to owners and visitors. Their territorial marking with urine is incompatible with household living. Confinement causes frustration and chronic stress. Veterinary care is difficult to find for exotic cats. Despite appearing manageable as juveniles, adult servals are genuinely wild animals whose welfare cannot be met in a domestic setting.