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When I saw this cat's picture my first thought was that I'd be afraid to go to sleep with it in the house. LOL. For $22K that cat better clean it's own litterbox. LOL.
For $22 K, that cat better clean the whole house!!!
WOW.. lol I agree the cat best clean liter box and the house for that price.. very pretty kitty but just couldn't see paying that much for a cat. Wow..I am stund at the price..$22k
Poor animals is all I can say. I hope the people that buy them treat them as they deserve to be treated. I have never been a fan of putting a wild animal in domestic settings, I think its too much for them. If they are wild, they deserve to be free in a place where they are safe.
I was given an orphaned racoon when I was in high school. I raised him up to a point and then handed him over to a nature center at a summer camp. They used him to educate the children about wild animals and trained him to live on his own in the wild and slowly re-introduced him to the wild. He later found a wife and had babies in the big woods of Arkansas.
Here is some interesting information on The Savannah. I got Max from Joyce as mentioned in the article and I had to wait about 8 months for him - that was about 4 1/2 years ago. My baby is an F3 meaning his Great Grand Mother was a Serval and his other part is Egyptian Maui - he is small not big - but he is very different from other cats and he is a nut! - Oh and I think he cost me about $2,400
Sorry for the long length - the link wouldn't work....
Savannahs are considered one of the larger breeds of domesticated cats. Their tall and slim build gives Savannahs the appearance of greater size than their actual weight. [1]F1 hybrid and F2 hybrids are usually the largest, due to the stronger genetic influence of the African Serval ancestor. Male Savannahs tend to be larger than females. On average, early generation Savannahs may weigh 10 to 25 lbs. Average size is also very dependent on generation and sex, with F1 male cats usually being the largest. Later generation Savannahs are usually between 8-17 lbs. Because of the random factors in Savannah hybrid genetics, there can be significant variation in size, even in one litter. Some breeders report Savannahs in excess of 30 pounds, with at least one breeder claiming an over 40 pound male.[citation needed]
The coat of a Savannah depends a lot on the Hybridized-breed of cat used for the domestic cross. Early generations have some form of dark spotting on a lighter coat, and many breeders employ "wild"-looking spotted breeds such as the Bengal and Egyptian Mau for the cross to preserve these markings in later generations. The Savannah has a tan coat with black or brownish spots, or a silver coat with dark spots, a marble (also called classic) pattern, and many other patterns and colors, although The International Cat Association (TICA) breed standard calls for black, brown spotted tabby, silver spotted tabby and black smoke types only.[2]
The overall look of an individual Savannah depends greatly on generation, with higher-percentage Savannah cats often having a more "wild" look. Almost all Savannah breeders use a Bengal for the domestic parentage, but if a different domestic breed was used, it will affect appearance as well. A Savannah's wild look is often due to the presence of many distinguishing Serval characteristics. Most prominent of these include the various color markings and tall, erect ears. The bodies of Savannahs are long and leggy—when a Savannah is standing, their hind-end is often higher than their shoulders. The head is taller than wide, and they have a long slender neck.[3] The back of each ear has a light band borded by black stripes, which are called ocelli. The short tail has black rings, with a solid black tip that extends Several inches. The eyes are blue as a kitten, and usually green as an adult. Black "tear-streak" markings run from the corner of the eyes down the sides of the nose to the whiskers, much like a cheetah's. The black tear marks help reduce glare from sunlight, which aid the Savannah's vision during hunting.
Most F1 generation Savannahs will possess many or all of these traits, while their presence often diminishes in later generations. Being a hybridized-breed of cats, appearance can vary far more than cat owners may be used to. Photos of different generations can be found at the Savannah Cat Club and SIMBA websites.
As Savannahs are produced by crossbreeding Servals and domestic cats, each generation of Savannahs is marked with a filial number. For example, the cats produced directly from a Serval/domestic Cat cross are the F1 generation, and they are typically 50% serval (although if a F1 Savannah is used as the domestic parent, the percentage of Serval blood can jump to 75%). The F2 generation, which has a Serval grandparent and is the offspring of the F1 generation, is 25% Serval. The F3 generation has a Serval great grandparent, and is 12.5% Serval. Earlier generation Savannahs are typically more expensive to purchase due to scarcity. A Savannah/Savannah cross may also be referred to by breeders as SVxSV (SV is the TICA code for the Savannah breed), in addition to the filial number.
Being Hybrids, Savannahs typically exhibit some characteristics of hybrid inviability. Because the male Savannah is the heterozygous sex, they are most commonly affected, in accordance with Haldane's rule. Male Savannahs are typically larger in size and sterile until the F5 generation or so, although the females are fertile from the F1 generation and so on. As a result, females are usually more expensive than males, especially when sold for the explicit purpose of breeding.
Savannahs have been described as friendly, assertive, active, playful and interested in dogs and children.[4] They are commonly compared to dogs in their loyalty, and they will follow their owners around the house like a canine. They can also be trained to walk on a leash like a dog, and even fetch.[5]
Savannahs often greet people with head-butts, or an unexpected pounce. Some Savannahs are reported as being very social and friendly with other cats and dogs, while others may run and hide or revert to hissing and growling when seeing a stranger. Exposure to other people and pets is most likely the key factor in sociability as the Savannah kitten grows up.
Owners of Savannahs say that they are very impressed with the intelligence of this breed of cat.[citation needed] An often noted trait of the Savannah is its jumping ability. Savannahs are known to jump up on top of doors, refrigerators and high cabinets. Savannahs have been known to get into all sorts of things; they often learn how to open doors and cupboards, and anyone buying a Savannah will likely need to take special precautions to prevent the cat from getting into things.
Water isn't a fear of the Savannah cat; many will play or even immerse themselves in water.[4] Presenting a water bowl to a Savannah may also prove a challenge, as some will promptly begin to "bat" all the water out of the bowl until it is empty, using their front paws.
Vocally, Savannahs may either chirp like their Serval father, meow like their domestic mother, or do both, sometimes producing sounds which are a mixture of the two. Chirping, when present, is usually observed more often in earlier generations. Savannahs may also "hiss"—a Serval-like hiss is quite different from a domestic cat's hiss, sounding more like a very loud snake hiss, and can be alarming to humans not acquainted to such a sound coming from a cat. Hissing, and even aggressive behavior which involves hissing, is usually more frequent in F1 or occasionally F2 generations, and may subside or disappear as the cat is socialized.
Because this hybridized-breed of cats is an emerging one and different individuals contain different amounts of Serval and of other domestic cat breeds, if there are particular health issues that will be common in the Savannah breed, they are not yet known.
Savannah cats have no known special care or food requirements.
Savannah cats do not require a special diet, although some breeders and owners recommend premium cat foods. Others recommend a partial or complete raw food diet,[6] with at least 32% protein and no by-products. Some will also recommend a calcium supplement, while others consider it unnecessary, or even harmful.[3] Issues of Savannah diet are not without controversy, and again, it is best to seek the advice of a veterinarian or exotic cat specialist before feeding a Savannah cat any non-standard diet.
Laws governing ownership of Savannah cats in the United States vary according to state. Most notably, hybrid cats—defined as a domestic / wild species' cross—such as the Savannah are illegal to own as pets in the state of New York as of 2005.[7] The majority of states, however, follow federal and USDAcode, which define wild / domesticated Hybrid crosses as domesticated.
Other states known to have laws restricting hybrid cat ownership include but are not necessarily limited to: HI, MA, and GA. Savannahs more than 5 generations from the Serval are allowed to be owned in NY state, but not in the city of New York.
Bengal breeder Judee Frank managed to crossbreed a Serval and domestic cat, producing the first Savannah (named Savannah) on April 7, 1986.[8]Judee Frank’s Savannah attracted the interest of Patrick Kelley, who had been interested in exotic looking domestic cats for many years and purchased one of Savannah's kittens in 1989. Patrick Kelley’s enthusiasm and vision for establishing a new domestic breed based on the Serval / domestic Cat cross prompted him to research what steps would be needed to be recognized and accepted by an official feline registry. Armed with that information, obtained from Leslie Bowers at TICA , Patrick approached numerous breeders of Servals and encouraged them to attempt the development of this new breed. Initially, no breeders were interested. [9]But Patrick persisted and finally convinced one breeder, Joyce Sroufe, to join him in founding the Savannah breed.[10]
In 1996, Patrick Kelley and Joyce Sroufe wrote the original version of the Savannah breed standard, and presented it to the TICA board. However, in that same year, TICA had placed a moratorium on new breeds. It was not until 2000, that the standard, with input from other breeders, was accepted by TICA in a narrow 7-to-6 vote. At that same time, the Savannah International Member & Breeder Association (SIMBA) was formed, and reported just over 100 registered savannahs.[3] As of 2001, the population of Savannahs was estimated to be over 200.[11]
Last edited by Frangi914; 12-18-2007 at 06:26 AM..
I will have to add a pet that I used to own but gave to my grandmother. On a visit to a shelter - a woman was trying to give them an Ocicat because it was no longer the "fashion" with her group. However, because of its wild nature (this one had actual ocelot in it, despite the norm being not so) they couldn't accept it.
Long story short, I got my dad to talk the woman into giving us the cat directly.
Very beautiful cat... but we gave her to my grandmother who needed a personal companion.
However, because of its wild nature (this one had actual ocelot in it, despite the norm being not so) they couldn't accept it.
Ocicats actually have no wild blood in them unlike the bengal. They were selectively bred to look wild. They are accepted by the CFA which will not accept any hybrids. Also, everyone is trying hybrids with many different breeds but the ocelot has been left alone because they can smell really bad. Ocicats were used in the early hybrids with the Asian Leopard Cat to make the bengal, however ocicats have some vertical flow to their stripes while bengals have horizontal flow and are the only breed to carry that gene (besides newer hybrids).
Even though I own a Savannah (F4) and love her to pieces, I am no longer as fond of the breed because of some of the breeding practices. I won't go into details but some things that go on completely turned me off. But I do adore my baby and she makes a wonderful pet. She is not very representative of the breed due to looking much more domestic than wild and lacks the big ears, you can definitely see the egyptian mau in her though:
Meeka (F3 Bengal):
Akeem (F4 Bengal):
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- Oh and I think he cost me about $2,400
