2008.11.17
Salem family walks a little on the wild side
Life at the Hylton house is pretty routine, but mom, Patty, is just a little more careful while she's cutting up her raw meats at the kitchen counter. Their new family friend leaps higher than most house cats and walks on a leash like any dog (which results in lots of funny looks from folks in their neighborhood and at rest stops), but he's just as at home and as adapted with the family as any pet.
Kyan is an fourth generation Savannah cat-meaning he is about six percent of the African Serval Cat. The serval is a medium-sized, rodent and bird eating, savanna-dwelling wild cat. According to various websites, breeders began crossing domestics with small wild cats in the 1980s.
At eight months old, Kyan can already jump five feet high from a sitting position and he weighs 12 pounds. He's not afraid of dogs or other animals, but he does cuddle with his 15-year-old Himalayan brother, Colby, at night.
"We call him the pest," Paul Hylton laughed. Kyan's customary greeting to his feline siblings is a small pounce, and he is just a little more jealous when they get attention, pushing his way through to get to his human siblings, Sara and Landon. (He stops playing with Colby and SPCA sister, Princess if they give him a small hiss.) But do they ever see the wild side?
When Paul Hylton dove hunts, he brings back a few birds, one for each cat and the dog. Upon leaving them out in the yard and each animal to its own, they came back a few minutes later.
"He was crouched down over them," Hylton said that he let out a low growl, and "that's whenever we can really see the wild coming out of him."
Photo, from left: Paul, Landon, Kyan, Sara, and Patty Hylton.
