Savannah Cat Chat - THE Place for Savannah Cat Talk

Welcome to the Savannah Cat Chat Forum! Our forum has been in existence since 2012 and is the only one of its kind. We were here, serving the savannah cat community before Facebook and Instagram! Register for a free account today to become a member! Please use an email program other than Hotmail, since Hotmail accounts are blacklisted by many servers and ISP's. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site in some of the forums by adding your own topics and posts. But in order to take advantage of the full features, such as a private inbox as well as connect with other members ad access some of the larger topics, a donation of $2.99/mo or $25/yr is requested. This will allow us to continue running this forum!

Any Tips For An Upcoming Savannah Owner??

MasternMargo

Savannah Super Cat
Go ahead and replace all door handles to door knobs, but even then you are not safe. My Master opens door knobs and even unlocks them. At 1st I thought it was an accident, but no...Cabinets with chemicals, toilet paper, paper towels should be locked. We put a thick hose over most of the wires in the house so they can't chew through them. We lost lots of glasses, until switched them all to plastic cups. If you are planning on feeding your cat raw be prepared that every time you go to a vet they will blame everything on raw chicken.
 
Does anyone have any tips for me that they wish they had been told when they first received their kitten/cat? Any heads ups, or recommendations =)?
Hello! I as well am fairly new to owning 2 Savannahs. I see there is always issues with their diet and somewhere posted there were issues with rectal bleeding.
From my little experience I found our Savannahs really love "Blue Wilderness" brand wild cat food and have had no issues with their diet and we do supplement with raw meat (wild game, not store bought) another thing I noticed is the rectal bleeding it was like every other day or once a week and I thougth it to be odd, but since I have put them on the blue wilderness it has been fine along with also the litter I was using, the breeder told us that we should not buy the ones like fresh step and so forth as it burns there butt and makes them bleed, so we change between either the crystals or the wood chips and that seems to help alot. I really think there may be some validity on the litter as well, but if still bleeding then they need to be taken to the vets and make sure they know about wild cats.
Hope I helped in some small way and I would love feedback from anyone on the type of litter and if they feel this is true with the savannah breed?
thanks
christina
 

Jen T

Savannah Child
We use Feline Pine litter for our indoor cats and cedar wood bedding chips for our outdoor cats. We haven't had any issues with rectal bleeding.

Jen
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
Hello! I as well am fairly new to owning 2 Savannahs. I see there is always issues with their diet and somewhere posted there were issues with rectal bleeding.
From my little experience I found our Savannahs really love "Blue Wilderness" brand wild cat food and have had no issues with their diet and we do supplement with raw meat (wild game, not store bought) another thing I noticed is the rectal bleeding it was like every other day or once a week and I thougth it to be odd, but since I have put them on the blue wilderness it has been fine along with also the litter I was using, the breeder told us that we should not buy the ones like fresh step and so forth as it burns there butt and makes them bleed, so we change between either the crystals or the wood chips and that seems to help alot. I really think there may be some validity on the litter as well, but if still bleeding then they need to be taken to the vets and make sure they know about wild cats.
Hope I helped in some small way and I would love feedback from anyone on the type of litter and if they feel this is true with the savannah breed?
thanks
christina

Hi Christina,

First - savannah cats are NOT WILD CATS!!! They can go to a regular veterinarian...I don't know where you are getting your info from as far as food and litter, but it is misguided at best.

There are NOT always issues with savannah cat diets, so not sure why you are saying that. The issues often come in when they are fed inappropriately, just as with any cat. If you feed just raw, supplementation is a necessity...if you feed whole prey, it often is not. If you feed canned, no worries about supplementation.

Savannah Cats are no different than most cats when it comes right down to it, unless an F1. Each cat is an individual...you will read about problems on this forum because people come here for help, but most savannah cats have no issues at all...and if there are issues, often it is related to the individual cat, not the breed. You simply cannot generalize about an entire breed of cat.

As for Blue Wilderness, I don't and have never used it. we feed raw, canned and freeze-dried raw as well as RC dry with no problem...so forget that food myth...as for litter, we use World's best, Feline Pine Pellets and Nature's Miracle - no problem...many breeders use the clay litters or other clumping litters with NO problem...again, your info seems to be a bit misguided.

Sometimes kittens do have a bit of bleeding with their stools for one reason or another and it goes away. There are no known health issues with savannah cats...usually it is a people issue that is the problem.
 
Yes apparently I have been misguided thanks for pointing all this out. As I stated in my posting with my little experience and newly acquired savannahs this is and has been my experience so far and what has best worked for us and our cats and was requesting others opinions or experiences with feeding and litter. As far as litter information about burning thier butts and can cause bleeding I got that information directly from the breeder with her experiences and something the vet told her. As far as the vets yes I do believe if the vet has not had any experience with a kitten that is breed domestic and wild cat then find one who has a bit more experience as with my experience thus far in my area it is not something they are use to dealing with. If these cats are not a distinct breed of their own then I guess they would not cost so much and all cats would run about the same cost. I do believe there may be other issues not yet known or experienced when you mix certain domestic breeds with any wild breed to come up with a newer breed. It would take time, I'm sure it is not perfected.
Again thanks for your posting and advice.
Christina
 

Patti

Admin
Staff member
Hi Christina, I think Paige is right about our perception of there being issues with Savannahs. It does seem that people post a lot about their problems here, but if you realize that there are almost 1000 members on this forum, and many come specifically because they have an issue and are seeking advice, the percentage of issues vs. perfectly happy and healthy Savannahs is pretty low.

As for the litter issue - I have never heard of that before, and am not quite piecing together how a particular litter can cause problems with burning butts, when the butt never touches the litter. I would like to hear more about this, if your breeder is able to give you more details.

As for being a distinct breed, I'm not clear what you are saying there either, the Savannah is a distinct breed recognized by TICA, and the kittens are often priced the same as any purebred kitten, although those foundation cats with higher Serval TWiG (theoretical wild gene) are often priced higher. This breed has been around now for over 25 years and is the fourth most popular breed with TICA, meaning there have been literally tens of thousands of Savannahs registered, and probably many more that have not. In spite of this, we have not yet identified any breed specific health problems, which is I think a good sign, although as you say something can always turn up in the future.

Again, the Savannah is a domestic cat with an exotic heritage, it should be treated just like any other domestic cat, with very few (if any) exceptions, so it really shouldn't matter whether your vet has experience with exotics or not. I think it's more a comfort level for vets if they have never handled a cat that has an exotic ancestry before, but our reassurances that he can handle the cat just like any other (active) domestic can should reassure him/her.
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
It really IS important to realize that what drives many owners to come to a forum like this AND post a question are problems! So seeing issues posted does not necessarily mean that there is a breed issue. If you went to any general cat forum you would likely see the SAME issues posted.

I (along with some other members of this forum) run Savannah Rescue and have done for years. We do NOT have a propensity for kitties with digestive issues being surrendered. I don't remember the last time someone surrendered a cat that had any specific dietary needs. We do get cats surrendered for litterbox issues but that is the Number One reason ALL cats are surrendered to shelters. And in almost every case the issues are resolvable. Sometimes our fosters/adopters never even see the issue that was reported as a change of household and a clean litterbox seem to be the answer.

Like the others, I have never heard of a particular litter causing burning butts. Do your cats plonk their butts down in the litter then?
 

DB in RR

Savannah Adult
Sleeved chained mail with gloves. They don't mean to mark you into the Order of Scarred Owner, at least on purpose. But should you attempt to control them, in anyway other than their way, well they test the sharpness of their claws. And if you do get marked - wear your SCARS with honor.

David
 
Top