Concerns before purchasing kitten

[kokogal]

Hello al! I have been lurking around for several weeks. I have been interested in the savannah breed for years. Until recently I haven't been able to convince my husband that they are not wild animals, but instead wonderful and lovable companions - once I showed him all of the info posted on this site. So first of all, thank you for being so informative!

As badly as I want a kitten, I don't want to jump into anything rashly. I want to make sure that we will be good candidates for a savannah cat so that he/she will be happy. I also want to make sure that this will enrich rather than disrupt the lives of my 2 domestic cats.

Here are my biggest concerns:
1. My cats will not get along with the new kitten. I have 2 cats, ozzy (tuxedo boy) and lily (diva princess calico). Lily, I think will be annoyed at first that any attention is being taken from her because she is an attention fiend. However, based on her response to my in laws cats I believe she will adjust and be OK after a few weeks. My biggest concern is my boy Ozzy. This could either go really well or really really bad.

Ozzy is part of the reason why savannahs interest us so much as he shares many of the savannah qualities. He's incredibly smart and has figured out how to open every trashcan, cupboard, and door. He has managed to get to the bread even with child locks. He's very talkative, mischievous and loyal. He may take to the new kitten really well. He's a bigger cat (about 12lbs and very long and lean) and is active. He wants to play with his sister more but because he is so much bigger it's not really a fair fight and she gets upset after a few minutes. Having another cat around that he can rough house with may be just what he needs. However, he has a huge ego and he will NOT stand for another cat challenging his alpha status. This is primarily why we want a kitten, but I'm nervous that ozzy will see the kitten as a threat.

2. Leaving the cats alone. Is it possible to leave a savannah cat without supervision for the weekend if we cat proof the house? If not, what do you normally do?

3. Feeding. We have to have an automatic cat food feeder because it is not possible for us to leave food in a bowl. Lily with literally eat until she pukes and then will continue eating. Is it possible to just buy another automatic cat feeder? I just want to make sure the kitten will be able to get enough food when my husband and I are not around. I'm a little afraid the other 2 cats will just eat his food. Am I paranoid or has anyone else had this fear?

Wow that's a lot longer than I thought it would be. If you've made it to this point without your eyes bleeding any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

How do you think that Lily will deal with an exuberant kitten that doesn't take no for an answer? The thing is, the kitten is not going to decide "oh, Ozzy will play with me so I will just leave Lily alone"... he will think he needs to try harder to make Lily play too. This may mean you would do better considering a later generation kitten as they may be less determined about this.

If we go away for more than half a day we have a friend that comes in and petsits for us. We pay him the same as we would a petsitter, and he takes the responsibility seriously. In our case, it is because we have a dog that requires medication twice daily. but I think I am also more comfortable knowing that they've been checked on that often, as I can only imagine what trouble they might get into totally unsupervised! Yikes!

I can't see why you can't buy another cat feeder...but the issue might be when the kitten is young enough that you won't be able to control who eats what food. There is a feeding system involving a collar that can grant access to one cat and not others that aren't wearing the special tag on the collar... I know that Paige has the link... I can't remember the name of it. Maybe it would help. If Lily is on the chubby side you might be able (at least while the kitten is very small) be able to rig up some sort of opening the kitten can easily fit through to get to the food bowl, while Lily won't be able to?

 

[Rafiki]

Hi Kokogal. Welcome to the forum. How old are your current cats? Did you get them at the same time?

 

[kokogal]

Thanks for your input Bridgett!
Ozzy and Lily are litter mates and we did get them at the same time. I still call them babies but they are 5 years old now.

They have been around my in-laws cats and dogs. One was a very energetic kitten. Lily likes to play but on her own terms. She let the kitten and their boston terroir know that when she doesn't want to play she is not kidding. After a couple days there wasn't an issue again. I'm hoping that if we give her enough places to get away when she's being pestered too much she will be ok, but I think you are probably right about getting a latter generation.

 

[NikkiA]

Hi Kokogal,
We have three SV boys, F3 Jarvis, F4 Mickey, and F5 Diablo. Later generation SVs come with plenty of personality, I would recommend one
Ask your breeder about personality before you bring your kitten home. The breeder should be able to give you a lot of insight into the kittens personality.

 

[Patti]

Hi and welcome to the forum! There are several threads about how to introduce a new kitten into the family, you can do a search from the home page. For the most part it is easier to introduce a new kitten into a family, but introductions take time, and this is one of the reasons (amongst several) why a two week quarantine is recommended for the new kitten, so that the other cats in the house have time to get used to having a new resident in their home.

As for the eating issue, in the past I have rigged a very small carrier with an opening just large enough to allow the kittens through so that the adults can't get to the food. If this doesn't work for you I would feed the kitten in a separate room at least twice a day so that you know he/she is getting enough nutrition (kittens can eat a LOT)!

As for leaving the cats alone - if the house is not Savannah-proofed it won't take a weekend to figure it out. If you have figured out a feeding regimen that works for all the cats then you can probably get away for a weekend, however you might have more peace of mind if you have someone check in on them once or twice a day.