by Shona Klocke

Created on: January 30, 2008   Last Updated: February 02, 2010

"No darling, you cannot have a pet shark"

"Sweetheart, you know I hate snakes"

"A leopard? Where would you keep it?"

These are some real comments that have been made in my household. My husband loves animals, the more exotic the better, and so far I've vetoed almost every pet proposal he's had (I did agree to the falcon, but not to his suggestion of hunting neighbourhood cats with it). That was, until my dad found an article on the Ashera. A domesticated, trainable big cat? I immediately knew my husband would fall in love with it.

We did some research, and also found the Toyger (which we passed over as being just a regular cat with a new hairstyle), and the Savannah. The Savannah is a breed similar in looks and origins to the Ashera, but bred rather than genetically engineered. They're much cheaper, at a few thousand dollars for a more leopard-like first or second generation (written as f1 or f2), to a few hundred for a more cat-like sixth generation (f6), though we added a few thousand dollars extra for the cost of importing one from overseas.

The main thing that kept bringing us back to the Ashera was the "improved" allergy-free version. I am allergic to cats in a big way, to the point where I can't even visit friends who have cats. A few thousand dollars, versus losing your wife? Decisions, decisions.

It's all theoretical right now anyway. We live in a tiny apartment which doesn't have room for a goldfish, yet alone a cat. But even in my short years I've seen that fortunes change, and time may yet bring us to the point where we can afford both a pet and a house big enough to keep it in.

This would not be a status symbol for us. For reasons best discussed elsewhere, we have chosen not to have children and a pet, whether it be leopard, dog, or parrot, is something we both want to be central to our lives. Most of all though, owning a big cat has been my husband's dream. I dream of taking a world cruise - $22k wouldn't even scratch the surface on that. So whilst it's not for everyone, if that's what it takes for my beloved to live out his dream I'm hardly going to quibble over the cost.

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