What
is A Savannah Cat?
A
Savannah cat is a cross between an African Serval and a domestic
cat. The savannah ancestor, the African Serval is a tall, lanky
cat with large ears, bold black spots, a long neck, and a short
tail. The goal of a savannah breeder is to try and replicate the
African Serval as close as they can. They are one of the newest
and most exciting breeds of cats, currently being developed by a
select group of breeders from around the world. The Savannah, in
spite of its exotic heritage, is considered a domestic breed.
There are still relatively few Savannahs in existence compared
to other established breeds, and the demand for them is quite
high.
Do
Savannahs Get Along Well With Other Pets or Children?
Absolutely! If raised in a home with well behaved children and
pets, a Savannah kitten will thrive and are often seen sleeping
with those they own.
What
is a Savannah’s Temperament Like?
Savannah
Cats have very loving and outgoing personalities and are
commonly compared to dogs in their loyalty. They will follow
their owners around the house like a canine. They can also be
trained to walk on a leash, and even fetch.
They are
highly intelligent cats and learn quickly. A Savannah is
happiest being a family member that is involved in every
activity, rather than being just a usual house pet.
They
definitely love water and have surprised many an owner with a
spontaneous visit in the running shower.
How
Big Does A Savannah Get?
There are
a lot of variables when it comes to size in Savannah Cats. The
size depends much on the size and type of their parents and also
of the percentage of wild blood they have from the Serval. I
have an F2 female that is only 8 or 9 pounds. There is no
guarantee on size and it is nearly impossible to predict as the
same breeding can produce both large and smaller savannah
kittens in different litters.
The
biggest cats are F1 Savannahs and males of the F2 Generations.
They get about 1 to 2 ½ times larger than regular house cats,
with their weight ranging from 13 to 28 pounds. F3 males are
often still considerably bigger than a regular house cat but
many are the same size of a domestic cat.
F3
females and all cats of further generations decrease in size but
keep their long legs, big ears and the wild appearance.
Savannahs can take up to 3 years to reach their full size. After
the F3 generation, it is common for to see savannahs the same
size as domestic cats.
If you
absolutely must have a large cat you should choose an F1 or F2
male for sure. After that there are no guarantees that any
savannah will be a large cat. Some cats will fall outside these
numbers
Generation Height @ Shoulder Approx. Weight
F1 (50%)
16-20 inches 13-28 lbs
F2 (25% )
13-16 inches 11-25 lbs
F3 (12.5%
) 12-14.5 inches 9-16 lbs
F4 (6.25%
) 11-13 inches 7-15 lbs
F5 (3.12%
) domestic in size but a few have been known to get to 18 pounds
Diet &
Health Care
Savannahs
do very well on a high quality dry cat food supplemented with
canned wet food and some raw (or cooked) meat.
Stay away
from kibble with grains in it like soy, wheat, and corn. Please
try and stay away from grocery store brand dry cat foods as they
are all mostly fillers and very low quality.
Savannah
Breeders give the same vaccinations and veterinarian health care
to their savannah cats as the domestic cat gets. I prefer to use
“all killed” versus a “modified live” vaccination with my cats.
Of
course, all of our savannah kittens are fully litter box trained
and properly vaccinated before they go to their new owners.
How
Much Does A Savannah Cost?
The price
of a Savannah will vary depending on the quality of the
individual cat. Our Savannahs will be individually priced based
on gender, fertility, generation and type. Their cost will be
noted with their pictures.
Higher
percentage Savannahs (F1’s and F2’s) are rarer and often, very
difficult to breed. It takes many years and a lot of luck to
mate a Serval with a domestic cat. Only a few breeders worldwide
have had success.
Servals
are wild cats with special needs in terms of their caging
requirements, their diet and their health care. Caring for pure
Servals and mating them to domestic cats is costly, time
consuming and demanding.
Following
are average price ranges for PET kittens, breeders are priced
higher: I do not produce F1’s. Most breeders are in this price
range.
F2’s will range from $4500 –
$5500
F3’s will range from $3000 –
$4000
F4’s will range from $1500 –
$2500
F5’s will range from $1200 –
$2000
SBT will range from $1000 -$1500
Cats may
at times be out of the specified price range for various
reasons.
Understanding the generations
Most
people know what the generations are but here is a simple
explanation. All earlier (foundation) Savannahs have an F and a
number associated with it to indicate how many generations it is
from its Serval ancestor. The “F” stands for filial and the
number tells the generations away from the Serval. When breeding
the filial number drops down one from the lowest number.
F1 X F6 = F2
F4 X F7 = F5
F3 X F5 = F4 etc
F1 = one generation (50% Serval)
Has a Serval Parent
F2 = two generations (25% Serval)
Has a Serval Grandparent
F3 = three generations (12.5%
Serval) Has a Serval Great Grandparent etc.
As a
general rule, the lower the generation the closer to the size of
a domestic cat. Nothing is ever 100% but don’t get your hopes up
for a giant cat in the lower generations.
You will
terms like ‘high generation’ or ‘low generation’. ‘High
generation’ means that there is a higher Serval percentage and
includes the F1, F2, F3; and ‘low generation’ means that there
is a lower Serval percentage so F4, F5, F6, and so on.
The
basic TICA codes
Some of
the codes you will see may sound complicated but are actually
quite easy to understand. They will A, B, C and SBT.
A – One parent is a
(non-Savannah) domestic out cross
B – Both parents are Savannahs
C – Both parents and grandparents
are all Savannahs
SBT – Parents, grandparents, and
great-grandparents are all Savannahs.
It is the
SBT level that cats are eligible for showing within TICA (The
International Cat Association) and the level that Savannah Cats
are considered a true breed.
When
breeding the letters always drop down one from the lowest
letter. The progression to SBT is as follows:
A + A = B
B + B = C
C + C = SBT
A + B = B
B + SBT = C
A + C = B etc
I
won’t go into the rest of the TICA codes as it might get
confusing to understand. Brigitte Cowell Moyne has written a
great PDF explaining the TICA codes. You can see it
HERE
Gary
Fulgham
No
copying or using any of this material without permission from
Gary Fulgham
jungletouch@comcast.net
