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Almost everyone has heard of the amazing Savannah cat. Because they are a new and somewhat rare breed, there is a ton of misinformation about this breed. I have been breeding Savannahs since 2001 and I'd love to repute some of these myths.

This is a truly made in the USA breed. It's only been in the last few years that these cats have been bred abroad. It is a hybrid achieved by breeding an African Serval to a domestic. The normal F1 (or Foundation generation) kitten is 50% Serval and 50% outcross cat. Subsequent generations are produced by breeding the F1 female to an F5 or F6 Savannah male and producing kittens that are theoretically 25% Serval and 75% outcross cat. As the generations proceed away from the Serval, each generation is reduced by one half of the mother cat or dam's percentage and the father cat's or sire's percentage theoretically.

MYTH Savannah Cats weigh between 38 and 40 lbs. (17.2 and 18.2Kg.). An African Serval male weighs between 38 and 48 Lbs. (17.2 and 21.8 Kg.) depending on sub-species so breeding it to a normal 8-15 lb. domestic female cannot result in a cat that weighs as much as the larger parent. That said, we do see males weighing 28-30 lbs. (12.7 to 13.6Kg.), but these weights are rare even at the F1 generation.

I encourage callers to compare a Cheetah Cat to a Lion, similar height but vastly different in weight and a Serval is built like the Cheetah so therefore there is a lot of cat per pound or kilo. An example would be my F1 50% female Savannah Gihadi, standing on her hind legs her head is 39 inches above the ground, she weighs 18 pounds (8.17Kg.) unless pregnant.

The diminishing percentage of Serval blood results in a smaller cat, still exotically beautiful, but in a smaller to lap sized version. At the fourth generation of Savannah to Savannah breedings the cats reach SBT or (Stud Book Tradition) and when approved to compete, they will be eligible to earn Championship status with TICA (The International Cat Association), a world wide and highly respected genetic cat registry. At this time our cats cannot compete for titles. TICA has rigid requirements regarding the number of cats produced at this level before we can complete. We are hoping to gain this status within the next two years. At fifth and sixth generations removed from the Serval, the males become fertile.

In all generations expect beautifully spotted cats with striping that starts at the top of the head and spreads out at the shoulder blades and down

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