Savannah cat - anyone got one of those?

Fridaycat

They are nice cats, but huge! I will stick to Bengals, much more manageable :rotfl:

gettingready

they kind of related though....

georgeous.... hmmmmm

(looking around seeing if she can squeeze one more into this flat)

picklepick

They cost £1000's to buy. Also, am I the only person who's concerened that they're bred from wild cats who are kept as pets? Why? How? For what purpose?

MagicCats

picklepick wrote: »

They cost £1000's to buy. Also, am I the only person who's concerened that they're bred from wild cats who are kept as pets? Why? How? For what purpose?

This is how Bengals started, and many breeders still do the same. The original purpose was to find a 'cure' for disease (Leukaemia) as Asian Leopard Cats are immune. A breeder named Jean Mill started a program to try and pass the gene that resisted the disease onto the offspring which would be 'breed out' to domestic cats. Basically a Bengal F1 is an Asian Leopard Cat x Bengal = F1, and Savannah is a Serval x Savannah = F1.

If you look on https://www.gayzette-bengals.co.uk you can see their breeding programs including a Serval and F1 Savannah. The Savannahs that come up on You Tube and such like tend to be in the U.S and many come from A1 Savannahs where you can pay up to $25000 or more for one........

You need a DWA license for a F1 cat, or a Serval or Asian Leopard Cat. F2 onwards it's fair game for anyone to own. They are very hard work though...... even a Stud Book Tradition (SBT) Bengal can be a pest

FridayCat on the forum is your person for Bengals. I have one as well.

Hope the info helps

Fridaycat

MagicCats wrote: »

This is how Bengals started, and many breeders still do the same. The original purpose was to find a 'cure' for disease (Leukaemia) as Asian Leopard Cats are immune. A breeder named Jean Mill started a program to try and pass the gene that resisted the disease onto the offspring which would be 'breed out' to domestic cats. Basically a Bengal F1 is an Asian Leopard Cat x Bengal = F1, and Savannah is a Serval x Savannah = F1.

If you look on https://www.gayzette-bengals.co.uk you can see their breeding programs including a Serval and F1 Savannah. The Savannahs that come up on You Tube and such like tend to be in the U.S and many come from A1 Savannahs where you can pay up to $25000 or more for one........

You need a DWA license for a F1 cat, or a Serval or Asian Leopard Cat. F2 onwards it's fair game for anyone to own. They are very hard work though...... even a Stud Book Tradition (SBT) Bengal can be a pest

FridayCat on the forum is your person for Bengals. I have one as well.

Hope the info helps

Great info, MagicCats :T

ohmochraich

I have 2 savannahs - both boys and both 1 yr old. They are fantastic cats - huge purrsonalities and total stunners tolook at. Mine are F6 (I would need a lotto win in order to buy F1's or F2's). They are from the Bengal school of 'conversation' and they come equipped with a megaphone - you can't ignore these boys when they chat. These are not by nature lap-cats - but my boys did not get that memo and spend a lot of time sleeping on my lap, underneath me, around me, beside me or in front of me.

They have very distinct purrsonalities and if they do not want to be held - you cannot hold them (super, super squirmy). They jump very high and love to be above head height (especially on doortops). They are amazingly fast a catching flies, mice etc. They are also prone to being a little on the hungry-horace side (mine would easily convince you that they were being starved despite being overfed). One of mine goes nuts for anything sweet and is not averse to stealing cakes and biscuits (despite me repeatedly telling him chocolate is poisonous to him!).

You know as soon as you see/feel their teeth and claws as kittens that they have wild blood in them - and YES it really does hurt when they scratch.

They are really intelligent animals and they are super confident cats - they even walk (strut) like a wild animal.

To hear them when they are defending raw meat (or fluffy things - they are both obsessed with fluffy things) is quite scary - they really snarl and growl - but they are unbelievably loving and incredibly goofy.

I have Maine coons as well and my Savvys totally 'own' them despite being a lot smaller.

These are not 'self-service' kind of cats - these DEMAND your attention - and don't give up until they are sure its undivided. They are (like any pedigree) quite expensive (and I did beat myself up over how many strays and rescue cats I could help with that money, but as every cat I have owned had been rescued and a large chunk of my wages goes out to cat rescue I gave in to them calling) - they are worth every penny.

picklepick

Hmmm ok, so what is the purpose of breeding a Serval with a domestic cat? Other than to produce a nice pet?

ohmochraich

does there have to be any other reason than producing a nice pet? :beer:
Even if there is no 'altruistic' reason (ie health, breeding out bad genes, defects etc) - the savannahs produced are fantastic, loving cats that are pretty bullet proof health wise (no known breed specific issues yet known). Im pretty sure that most 'breeds' of animal - including moggys don't need to have any other reason for being bred other than being nice pets.

from what I have read on the breed - the very first one was produced when someones domestic was impregnated by a serval (which although 'wildcats' are the tamest of the wildcats - and kept as pets by some of the locals) - she kept the kitten and someone who was given one of her kittens kitten (f3) decided to try to move the breed forward by breeding only savannah x savannah.

There are 'ethical' arguments and altruism arguments about every type of 'breed' and you could debate all the ins and outs to try to justify why they should/shouldn't be bred - suffice to say - Savannahs are a beautiful breed of cats and however they came about - I wouldn't be without my two who I love and who love me to bits.:)

picklepick

ohmochraich wrote: »

does there have to be any other reason than producing a nice pet? :beer:
Even if there is no 'altruistic' reason (ie health, breeding out bad genes, defects etc) - the savannahs produced are fantastic, loving cats that are pretty bullet proof health wise (no known breed specific issues yet known). Im pretty sure that most 'breeds' of animal - including moggys don't need to have any other reason for being bred other than being nice pets.

I suppose it depends why the wild animal is being kept in captivity in the first place. I had read that Servals are not threatened with extinction but that may be the case unless trade is closely controlled.
Moggys are obviously bred for being nice pets but they are not bred from captive wild animals. I'm sure there are lots of wild animals that you could breed with domesticated relatives to make nice pets, that doesn't mean that you should do it.
I don't doubt that your cats are lovely, an they do look and sound lovely, but I'm not sure I approve morally, sorry.

ohmochraich

Don't apologise for having a view - :beer:
I suppose that I would probably see it as more of an issue if the 'wild' cats involved were 'true' wildcats - i.e. endangered animals - snow leopards, cheetahs, panthers etc rather than wild 'backyard' cats (i.e servals, asian leopard cats etc). Apparently Servals are the closest wildcat to being domestics - which is why they are naturally kept in Africa by some as pets and so easy to 'domesticate'.

I don't see any difference between bengals and savannahs in respect of keeping their wild ancestors captive (although the fact my partners grampa had a Scottish wildcat that used to come and stay in his house 50 -odd yrs ago - without it causing major issues to him or the cat may give me a 'rosier' view of domesticating/semi domesticating wild animals).

I have not come across any breeders that have loads of servals as 'captive' wildcats (most have one 'captive bred' serval and lots only breed 1 generation down from the serval and then do savannah x savannah (to get SBT savannahs). I don't think its a massive industry (or likely to become one) taking servals into captivity to breed from them (resulting in them dying out).

I personally have more moral objections to lab rats being bred solely for experimentation and beagles being used in the beauty industry than I do to an easy to domesticate 'naturally wild' cat being a great, great, great, great, grampa of my boys. And I would hope that the breeders who keep the servals captive give them a safer, cushier life than if they were out in someones yard in africa. Even historically - the egyptians didn't see it as a problem when they tamed them (way back when) enough to use them as mousers guarding for their grain (incidentally -one of my boys looks exactly like the Bast(et) bust).

I don't personally agree with breeding cats with known severe defects (like the so-called 'twisty cats' and I don't like munchkin type cats or those whose breed defects cause them real problems with breathing etc) but I do know that other people do love them. I love servals too but I probably wouldn't keep one as a pet (I certainly wouldn't inflict the British weather on the poor souls):rotfl: :beer: