Moggieslegacy
Savannah Super Cat
As has been discussed at length in other threads, the kitten I talked about in my previous posts passed away when he was only 8 months old. His illness was most probably the dry version of FIP, and whatever it was, it was something internal gone awry and there is no reason to think it had anything to do with him being allowed out..
Moggie was really special and I was devastated. Below is a link to a short video showing some of my favourite clips of him including some of the best parts of his free roaming life. To make sure this is in context, it seemed best to share this here, in this thread...The first picture was taken after one of his early door dashes.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSu6NE-K59tQGgd619Tk8jKjvE9UCF3d/view?usp=sharing
I have been living with a new F7 SBT kitten (referred to here as HB) for the past few months and having learned some things about SVs from living with Moggie, there is some things I have decided to do differently.
I have had extensive conversations with 2 local vets about the risks of allowing a cat to be free roaming in this area, and both assured me the risks in my area are minimal and normally easily managed, and they both have free roaming cats themselves.
I personally think the idea that all cats should be indoor only, even in low risk areas, and the refusal to believe low risk places exist, is too extreme.... of course low risk is not no risk, but we allow our kids to ride bicycles and swim and do other unnecessary things that have some risks, because it improves the quality of their lives and the risks are small. I don’t see any good reason why cats should be different.
But like the OP I have had concerns there might be things in an SV personality that might put them more at risk than normal. The person I got HB from did not contradict the local vets, but sensibly pointed out that if I want what is best for him, it is best he never get a taste of a freedom if it may be a problem to allow him to continue. This makes sense to me, even in a situation that seems low risk, and is something I can completely agree with.
To make sure it was me making these decisions, I built a second door on an entry way to the back door and there has never been a door dash that ended in getting outside. And I have been really careful to always take my kitten out the door in a cat back pack. Which has been working really well. If he wants to go out he gets in the pack and meows. If I put the pack out of sight, he just accepts there is no way out. There is a cat flap leading to porches on all 3 sides of my house that are enclosed in heavy duty wire mesh and I need to open all the doors from latches installed on the inside so no surprise vistors can let the cat out. And the more civilized ground level area under the house is also part of the enclosure.
I think it is important for a cat to get to go outside, both for their mental development and to learn about the territory surrounding their home. Even with precautions it seems there is a substanial risk they will accidentally get out, and cats that have never gotten familiar with the lay of the land, and the dangers it contains and how to get home, are IMO much more vulnerable to getting lost and having panicked accidents. Which seems to be the main way tragedy happens when people have Savannah cats outdoors. So I think as long as it doesn’t lead to them trying to get out, (and that is a big if) taking a cat out for daily walks around their home is like vaccinating them in case they ever get out by accident.
Taking the new guy out on a leash has convinced me he is probably never going to be suitable to be an unsupervised outdoor cat.
Moggie had some kind of free roaming Dad and maybe he inherited some survival strategies from him which seem to have been mostly bred out of my more purebred cat. Moggie seemed to have a inborn caution and the first couple months being outside, the main thing he did was practice running back to the house from various points in the yard. From there he seemed to very slowly expand his territory cautiously getting familiar with it, but as far as I saw he was firmly attached to home and never ventured further than the next door neighbours yards. With HB a lot of his instinctive caution and a strategy to slowly establish a territory seems missing and he seems to have much more of a tendency to just go... Maybe this tendancy to have a looser attachment to home turf is what makes SVs more like a dog on a leash ? Anyways... I have the impression that initially, if I was not on the other end of the leash he would have ended up a couple miles away before it occurred to him he should have been making notes on how to get home. He is getting more sensible with expereince, but I really don’t want him roaming and he does seem he would be inclined.
Moggie’s ears always noticed everything and you could see him evaluating stuff even if his attention was focused else where. As other people mentioned here, SVs have a peculiar narrow focus, and I have noticed this too. When HB is absorbed in something else he often doesn’t seem to notice the sounds of cars or passerbys until the last minute.
Another problem is when something spooks him, whether it is a car or an passerby, his initial lack of caution quickly changes into full on panic and bolt mode, and he doesn’t seem to be making sensible decisions. It is easy to imagine him roaming to the other side of the road, and when the one car every 1/2 hour drives by, deciding to bolt in the direction of home at the last minute. Which would be really dangerous. Or if he was in the woods getting spooked and climbing a 100 foot tree where he might never be found.
Another part of my considerations is that HB seems much more compliant, domesticated and content being indoors or on a harness than Moggie was. Moggie had a serious “You are not the boss of me” attitude going... HB just occasionally flirts with this. I have been attaching his retractable leash and him in a secure walking jacket to a 100’ long heavy duty overhead wire I installed in the deer fenced garden while I work beside him hands free. Moggie totally panicked when I tried this, but HB loves hanging out down there, trying to catch bugs in the mulch and watching birds. And with a bit of practice, being on a harness doesn’t seem to bother him at all. I started getting him used to this by standing still in one spot and holding the leash for a few minutes every time we went for a walk. The slippery overhead wire and 15 foot retractable leash give him 3000 square feet to roam.
The main thing I learned from Moggie is that super playful streak SVs are known for can easily become a passion for hunting. Moggie’s caution and strong attachment to me seemed to keep him nearby, but HB is a lot more independent and if given his freedom, it is easy to imagine him ending up a couple miles away, living on rabbits for days or even weeks at a time. That is not an acceptable possibility for me...
So as long as I can keep him reasonably happy, even though IMO he won’t have the same quality of life Moggie enjoyed, and that does bother me, I much prefer always knowing where he is.
Sorry this is so long... making a decision as to what is best has been hard with a lot of factors to weigh.
Moggie was really special and I was devastated. Below is a link to a short video showing some of my favourite clips of him including some of the best parts of his free roaming life. To make sure this is in context, it seemed best to share this here, in this thread...The first picture was taken after one of his early door dashes.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSu6NE-K59tQGgd619Tk8jKjvE9UCF3d/view?usp=sharing
I have been living with a new F7 SBT kitten (referred to here as HB) for the past few months and having learned some things about SVs from living with Moggie, there is some things I have decided to do differently.
I have had extensive conversations with 2 local vets about the risks of allowing a cat to be free roaming in this area, and both assured me the risks in my area are minimal and normally easily managed, and they both have free roaming cats themselves.
I personally think the idea that all cats should be indoor only, even in low risk areas, and the refusal to believe low risk places exist, is too extreme.... of course low risk is not no risk, but we allow our kids to ride bicycles and swim and do other unnecessary things that have some risks, because it improves the quality of their lives and the risks are small. I don’t see any good reason why cats should be different.
But like the OP I have had concerns there might be things in an SV personality that might put them more at risk than normal. The person I got HB from did not contradict the local vets, but sensibly pointed out that if I want what is best for him, it is best he never get a taste of a freedom if it may be a problem to allow him to continue. This makes sense to me, even in a situation that seems low risk, and is something I can completely agree with.
To make sure it was me making these decisions, I built a second door on an entry way to the back door and there has never been a door dash that ended in getting outside. And I have been really careful to always take my kitten out the door in a cat back pack. Which has been working really well. If he wants to go out he gets in the pack and meows. If I put the pack out of sight, he just accepts there is no way out. There is a cat flap leading to porches on all 3 sides of my house that are enclosed in heavy duty wire mesh and I need to open all the doors from latches installed on the inside so no surprise vistors can let the cat out. And the more civilized ground level area under the house is also part of the enclosure.
I think it is important for a cat to get to go outside, both for their mental development and to learn about the territory surrounding their home. Even with precautions it seems there is a substanial risk they will accidentally get out, and cats that have never gotten familiar with the lay of the land, and the dangers it contains and how to get home, are IMO much more vulnerable to getting lost and having panicked accidents. Which seems to be the main way tragedy happens when people have Savannah cats outdoors. So I think as long as it doesn’t lead to them trying to get out, (and that is a big if) taking a cat out for daily walks around their home is like vaccinating them in case they ever get out by accident.
Taking the new guy out on a leash has convinced me he is probably never going to be suitable to be an unsupervised outdoor cat.
Moggie had some kind of free roaming Dad and maybe he inherited some survival strategies from him which seem to have been mostly bred out of my more purebred cat. Moggie seemed to have a inborn caution and the first couple months being outside, the main thing he did was practice running back to the house from various points in the yard. From there he seemed to very slowly expand his territory cautiously getting familiar with it, but as far as I saw he was firmly attached to home and never ventured further than the next door neighbours yards. With HB a lot of his instinctive caution and a strategy to slowly establish a territory seems missing and he seems to have much more of a tendency to just go... Maybe this tendancy to have a looser attachment to home turf is what makes SVs more like a dog on a leash ? Anyways... I have the impression that initially, if I was not on the other end of the leash he would have ended up a couple miles away before it occurred to him he should have been making notes on how to get home. He is getting more sensible with expereince, but I really don’t want him roaming and he does seem he would be inclined.
Moggie’s ears always noticed everything and you could see him evaluating stuff even if his attention was focused else where. As other people mentioned here, SVs have a peculiar narrow focus, and I have noticed this too. When HB is absorbed in something else he often doesn’t seem to notice the sounds of cars or passerbys until the last minute.
Another problem is when something spooks him, whether it is a car or an passerby, his initial lack of caution quickly changes into full on panic and bolt mode, and he doesn’t seem to be making sensible decisions. It is easy to imagine him roaming to the other side of the road, and when the one car every 1/2 hour drives by, deciding to bolt in the direction of home at the last minute. Which would be really dangerous. Or if he was in the woods getting spooked and climbing a 100 foot tree where he might never be found.
Another part of my considerations is that HB seems much more compliant, domesticated and content being indoors or on a harness than Moggie was. Moggie had a serious “You are not the boss of me” attitude going... HB just occasionally flirts with this. I have been attaching his retractable leash and him in a secure walking jacket to a 100’ long heavy duty overhead wire I installed in the deer fenced garden while I work beside him hands free. Moggie totally panicked when I tried this, but HB loves hanging out down there, trying to catch bugs in the mulch and watching birds. And with a bit of practice, being on a harness doesn’t seem to bother him at all. I started getting him used to this by standing still in one spot and holding the leash for a few minutes every time we went for a walk. The slippery overhead wire and 15 foot retractable leash give him 3000 square feet to roam.
The main thing I learned from Moggie is that super playful streak SVs are known for can easily become a passion for hunting. Moggie’s caution and strong attachment to me seemed to keep him nearby, but HB is a lot more independent and if given his freedom, it is easy to imagine him ending up a couple miles away, living on rabbits for days or even weeks at a time. That is not an acceptable possibility for me...
So as long as I can keep him reasonably happy, even though IMO he won’t have the same quality of life Moggie enjoyed, and that does bother me, I much prefer always knowing where he is.
Sorry this is so long... making a decision as to what is best has been hard with a lot of factors to weigh.
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