Thank you all for conveying your sympathies. I struggled with posting my experience as it exposes my ignorance. As a newcomer to the cat world, I simply looked on line, found different breeds of cats, asked a few questions to some friends who owned cats and read some available, albeit superficial information on Savannahs. Our family had suffered some recent tragic losses and my intention was to bring some happiness to our home. The kids were extremely excited with anticipation. I found a local breeder on line. Most breeders were out of state, this breeder was within close driving distance.
As an outsider, I found there is not much readily available information on Savannahs and it wasn't easy doing my due diligence. I pretty much felt I trusted what I read, picked out a kitten, sent in a deposit and as Brigitte said, I jumped in before I realized I'd been had. I found the Savannah Cat Chat site well after I sent in my deposit, and at that point, having read some relevant posts, I could only hope for the best. Unfortunately as Jaz said, I became one of those horror stories. Needless to say aside from the costs incurred, the grief and real life horror, it is also humiliating. My only hope is that my story will be read by another prospective pet owner and save them from such a heart wrenching experience.