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RSS FeedThe Ashera: Would you pay $22,000 for a cat?
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| No | 92% | 1822 votes | Total: 1981 votes | |
| Yes | 8% | 159 votes |
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Add to FavoritesAbout the Ashera Cat, it's actually nothing more than a poorly bred Savannah marketed by a hooligan who has moved from state to state as he is caught in his many schemes and rip offs. The first real FICTION is that the Ashera is a breed at all.
FACT; A Savannah is ANY cat that has a Serval ancestor, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I am a Savannah breeder and am proudly owned by an African Serval. Servals used in American breeding programs are not captured from the wild but bred domestically. Pure bred Servals do not make good housepets as we Americans term housepets. There are licenses to acquire and special habitats to build. Some states outright ban their ownership (thanks to PETA and HSUS). The Savannah was developed for the millions of people like me who dreamed of having a beautiful, exotic cat as part of my family.
FACT; It is incredible rare to find a thirty plus pound Savannah, let's look at it logically. An animal gets half of its genes theoretically from each parent. A male Serval ranges in weight from 36-42 lbs. (18.0 19.1 kilos), as a rule. Most female domestics are well under 15 lbs. (6.84 kilos), more likely 9 - 12 (4.1 5.47 kilos), or less. Using just the unlikely maximums we get 28.5 lbs. (13.0 kilos), for a male hybrid, female Servals are close to 25% smaller than the male and it holds true for the female Savannah. I have bred the incredibly rare HP (high percentage) Savannah that is 75% Serval; using my largest F1 (50%) female and maximum weight on these adult males reported to date is around 28 lbs. (12.8 kilos), some lighter. There are exceptions and possible variances of course but to routinely achieve this massive weight in a hybrid mix as they claim of Serval, Bengal, Geoffrey's Cat (smaller than a Bengal) sounds a little far fetched to me.
FACT; Bio-engineered? FICTION; Bunk, pure and simple, this hooligan and his agents contact Savannah breeders regularly looking for first generation females (50% Serval), for their program, they use many different ruses and guises but seldom trick us into selling our cats to them. There are a couple of large Savannah breeders who like Ashera would sell their cats to Satan if the price was right and this is where Ashera gets their cats from. Are they expecting you to believe that these are test tube created cats with genetically altered eggs or spermatozoa? Are you silly enough to believe it? FACT; they are Savannah cats bred the old fashioned way just using different outcross cats.
FACT; The International Cat Association aka TICA when accepting our Savannah cats for preliminary registration decided not to allow for more than one wild cat strain be used in any hybrid breed. One of the main concerns would be for genetic stability, along with reliable personality. The Serval is a flight rather than fight cat, but if you breed in the Bengal (out of the Asian Leopard Cat), a shy, nocturnal animal that does not domesticate easily and the Geoffrey's Cat a somewhat nasty dispositional cat who can be aggressive by nature. Wow, how would you predict personality? No wonder the Ashera comes with a coupon for Animal Behaviorist services.
FACT; NO Ashera Cat or Savannah is hypoallergenic, my Serval sheds like most other cats, trust me, I vacuum it up daily from his room, rake it up from his outside enclosure. If the Ashera is as large as they claim, it would have to be an F1 or 50% Serval and it will shed. The closest cat to being allergen free is the Bengal and that's only if it's a dander caused allergy and not a saliva or glandular excretion allergy. When you cross a Serval with a Bengal is a few cases you could get reduced shedding but I would never refer to them as hypoallergenic.
FACT; Most knowledgeable consumers know, paying more does not always mean better quality. An Ashera cat is not a recognized breed of cat by any nationally known cat registry, nor will they ever be because of their flagrant disregard of good breeding practices.
FACT; A well bred Savannah handled and raised by a good breeder, arrives to your home as a healthy, energetic kitten ready to love and be loved. It's extreme intelligence with amaze you, it's clownish somewhat dog like personality will entertain you, it's undying love and loyalty to you and your family will win your heart over.
FACT; When we refer to F1, F2 and so forth, this is what we mean; An F1 is the first or foundation cross of the Serval to a domestic, it is 50% Serval and 50% domestic. The F2 results from breeding an F1 female to a domestic cat or a fertile Savannah male. This cat is 25% Serval. F3 would be 12.5 percent Serval and so forth. At F5 and F6 we start seeing fertility in the males. At F6 we still have an exotically beautiful cat bearing many of the Serval traits, but in a very manageable size for families in apartments, houses as well as singles in penthouses.
FACT; While the early generation cats can be a bit pricey because of their rarity, but they normally range in price from $4500 to $8000 for breeding rights on a female. Higher generation cats F4, F5 can start as low as $800 depending on several factors. I would be highly suspect of any breeder asking $10,000 or more for a Savannah.
FACT; Always ask for email verifiable references not just letters printed on a website.
Learn more about this author, Marjorie.
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Yes
Before considering it you would have to be very good with cats, if you were thinking about getting your first cat, or pet altogether, a cat like this would probably not be a proper choice, but later on I don't see why not. Another thing to consider would be whether or not you could take care of it but, if you have an extra $22,000 to pay for the cat, you probably have enough money to pay for it's food, other necessities, and some toys.
To answer the question "Would you pay $22,000 for the ashera cat?" If I had the money, absolutely. This hybrid between house cat and serval and leopard cat has to the most beautiful kind of cat in the world, and it's domestic! I've always been a cat-person and adored tigers and leopards, and this cat looks like both of them in one. One thing you need to remember is that money is nothing more than an object, one that will never bring you the same happiness as a living being, whereas this cat would be a companion for years and years. You can't put a price on life. Now I understand why so many people would say no, there are too many economic problems right now for anyone with a low budget to buy even an average house cat, and I certainly don't have the money, though I wish I did because, as I said at the beginning, I would most definitely get one.
My current house cats (All six of them) and simply wonderful to have around, whenever I have a bad day my cats never fail to cheer me up, they always have but especially now. I wouldn't call it researching, but I've been paying attention to how every cat I come in contact with acts and they all have these eccentric, self righteous, and, more often than not, very social behaviors, so it would be interesting to see if this kind of cat would act the same way. I've never been much of a dog-person, but the one thing I like about them is that they don't crawl under the bed and stay there for hours and hours at a time, and from what I've read these ashera cats are about dog-sized. I don't see how a cat that big could fit under my bed when my little cats hardly can anyway.
Last part, let's have $60,000 and went to a car dealership to get a car and there are two to choose from. One is $40,000, looks rather ugly, and one is $60,000, looks awesome, both are in perfect condition and can get you from point A to point B for the next 15 years. Would you get the $60,000 one? I bet you would, and to think you would have been able to get an awesome cat for that extra $20,000.
Learn more about this author, Brennen Proffit.
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