Big Cats

[Louie'sDad]

We are so fortunate to have Monkey, an F2 with more personality than most people I know She's an exceptionally beautiful and smart ten pound cat, and I suspect she will remain long legged and fairly petite.

Which is awesome - because I can still pick her up easily and it doesn't hurt when she steps on your stomach in the middle of the night Our outstanding 18 pound cat, Fletch, whom we love and adore, is HEAVY to lift and very tough to medicate - just try giving him a pill!

Either way, I love them both exactly as they are and wouldn't change a thing about either of them.

That said, when we adopted Monkey, size was not a factor for us - but if our breeder had been advertising "big cats here!" I probably would have steered clear. I'm much more interested in working with a breeder who talks about healthy, well-socialized cats and their personalities, than a breeder who is advertising cats based on size.

And since we ALL know there is no way to predict size, I'd be very nervous about working with someone who was guaranteeing 20 pound cats.
And P.S. - practical concerns like litter boxes are something to think about, too. With three cats, we appreciate the ease of using a Cat Genie and a Litter Robot - but if Fletch gains even another pound, we will be back to scooping a big old-fashioned box once again :/

When I talk about "size", I think most here understand that size must be true to type. So, a 20 pound F1 would be true to type (leggy with slender body and relatively small head in relation to body size) and so would have a shoulder height of more than (about) 17" or so and body length of (around) 22" .

 

[NikkiA]

There is nothing D likes more than jumping down from the book case and doing Cat on Mike's back while we go through a vinyasa.
Cracks the yoga instructor up

Jarvis and me:

Don't mind the bad hair or PJs

 

[SV Dad]

Wow Nikkia, that's a BIG boy! Looks very close to my son's beast.

 

[NikkiA]

Wow Nikkia, that's a BIG boy! Looks very close to my son's beast.

As I said, I feel tiny. I work out with a trainer, and went to college on an athletic scholarship, but on the rare occasions Jarvis is scared and wants to be carried, he gets HEAVY fast!

BTW size was not something we asked for when we bought him. We wanted spots (D is our first and he is melanistic) but we were NOT expecting 19 pounds of muscular SV.

 

[Louie'sDad]

I don't at all think that all breeders are as dishonest as you portray them. Maybe the very large-scale breeders that run "elite" lines might do that, I don't know.

But if a breeder has told you that you have first choice then I would think you do. I NEVER give first pick to anyone but me, personally there's no reason for me to produce a litter unless I can select the best kitten IF I want to. I don't keep a kitten from every litter but I always reserve my right to as breeder. That doesn't mean I then sell my choice but then I don't keep formal lists either. I prefer to match kittens to homes, the right personalities etc.

The issue to me is really that most breeders would prefer to have a litter sold earlier than you might be able to determine which kitten is going to be a large one. Generally you need to wait until maybe 8 weeks of age...so then you would be asking a breeder to hold off selling ANY kitten from a litter until then and it seems most breeders want their homes decided sooner. Some of us (me included) prefer to wait until that age to really decide whether a kitten is breeder or show quality so that would work for you also, but I don't breed F1s.

Now, THAT is what I would expect. If a litter produces an exceptional" cat that the breeder might want, then I'd be willing to pay extra for it, if the breeder edumenicated me on why it's exceptional.

 

[NikkiA]

Some reasons:

I'm a man.
I live alone at the present time.
Tigers have always been my favorite animal.
I read Life of Pi two years ago.l
I own the most beautiful, loyal, loving F1 who is (probably) much smaller than "average" (whatever that is?), but was expecting a cat somewhere between 17-22 pounds.
I am not afraid of being hurt/mauled.
I have given up total control of my home to Louie, and there's nothing left to protect.
I want Louie to have a constant companion when I can't be with him.
Louie is one tough SOB, and has a Napoleon complex.

Joe, how big is Louie?

Jarvis, the guy in my photos, isn't in charge. Diablo is. Jarvis was purchased to be his companion; D is so smart and so coordinated, we went up a couple of generations in an attempt to counter his energy and smarts (didn't work by the way) after our foster kitten who I miss horribly made it clear she would prefer a quieter home.

D may have a napoleonic complex, and my big F3 didn't solve it, my little guy F4 did. Mickey is the cat D can't intimidate, upset, or push around. Jarvis routinely comes running to Mommy (me) to rescue him from big bad Diablo -who is usually the aggressor and frequently being a jerk.

I'm right there with you re: the house is theirs now, and to be honest I'm not worried about being hurt/mauled either. I've survived much worse than a SV could do to me, not to mention the fact that I don't think they intentionally cause pain.

I'm just trying to understand what you think will be different about a larger SV- and I'm operating on the assumption that I have a pretty big F3 in my house. If I'm wrong re: size, just let me know, I won't take offense

 

[admin]

Uh...I don't think Louie is the one with a Napoleon complex

 

[Sue Armstrong]

After reading all through this thread I figured I would give some input. First of all I will say that IF you call enough breeders that raise the particular generation of kitten that you are looking for, you WILL be able to figure out who gives the most BS and who is telling the truth and telling it like it is! I get many many Thank You's from people when they talk to me about Savannahs in general and they realize so many of the lies they have been told. You can usually tell who the "car dealer breeders" are! I do not take deposits on kittens that are not born yet. I feel that it is unfair to the person wanting a kitten as it can be very iffy in producing F1's and I have talked to people that have had their money tied up for years waiting................... Never a good idea. If I know someone is truly interested in a kitten from me they are placed on a waiting list and informed of the birth of the kittens and the sexes within the first week. They are shown pictures and given the first right to purchase before I post the kittens at 3 weeks of age to my website. I can not and do not guarantee size in any way and when people want the measurements and size of the parents I tell them I do not do that! Sorry, but it really makes no difference the size of the parents anyway in producing any generation of Savannah kittens. I feel that each kitten is given different genes from each parent and some kittens just seem to get more Serval genes and some get more domestic genes. There is simply no way to tell. When Deb got Atticus from me he was a good size kitten but not abnormally large in any way. He was a normal F1 boy! I had no way to tell that he would get as big as he is getting!!! But, most of all, important to me as a breeder, is the temperament of my kittens of which I am well known for producing kittens with incredibly sweet demeanors. I try to tell people the truths but there are also people who are not listening and don't want to hear the truths. Some of them truly want to believe the BS. So be it! This thing you are referring to of breeders holding back their kittens, not showing you their best just makes no sense to me at all. Why would anyone do that unless they want to keep a male for stud or a female for breeding for themselves which is perfectly logical. Not gonna happen in the F1's though, at least not by me. The boys are all simply pets and I prefer to sell my girls as pets also. But then that is just me. If you ever want to talk "truth" feel free to give me a call.

 

[WitchyWoman]

When I talk about "size", I think most here understand that size must be true to type. So, a 20 pound F1 would be true to type (leggy with slender body and relatively small head in relation to body size) and so would have a shoulder height of more than (about) 17" or so and body length of (around) 22" .

Maliik, my F2A, is close to your standard. He is a bit over 16.25" at shoulder, 22 lbs, 23". When his head is factored into the body length, he's almost 3' long. So that may be something you want to factor in to your search. It doesn't have to be an F1 to be big and "F"ness seems to have less and less to do with size as the breed progresses. I'm seeing F3-F6 who are as large as or almost as large as Maliik.

 

[Louie'sDad]

Joe, how big is Louie?

Jarvis, the guy in my photos, isn't in charge. Diablo is. Jarvis was purchased to be his companion; D is so smart and so coordinated, we went up a couple of generations in an attempt to counter his energy and smarts (didn't work by the way) after our foster kitten who I miss horribly made it clear she would prefer a quieter home.

D may have a napoleonic complex, and my big F3 didn't solve it, my little guy F4 did. Mickey is the cat D can't intimidate, upset, or push around. Jarvis routinely comes running to Mommy (me) to rescue him from big bad Diablo -who is usually the aggressor and frequently being a jerk.

I'm right there with you re: the house is theirs now, and to be honest I'm not worried about being hurt/mauled either. I've survived much worse than a SV could do to me, not to mention the fact that I don't think they intentionally cause pain.

I'm just trying to understand what you think will be different about a larger SV- and I'm operating on the assumption that I have a pretty big F3 in my house. If I'm wrong re: size, just let me know, I won't take offense

The main reason that I'm thinking about another cat is because I love Louie so much, that I feel guilty sometimes that I'm not home enough to keep him occupied.