Help me with my Sbt Savannah. Please?

[NikkiA]

We have hard wood floors with oriental rugs. The boys do fine on both.
We have 12 foot ceilings on our first floor, and ten foot ceilings on the second floor. Seeing a kitty balanced on the banister (22 feet from the floor) gave me heart palpitations, but "diablo, down!" worked just the way Martin said it would, and followed by scruffing and "diablo, no!", that was the end of that. He never tried it again, and he is the only one that likes heights.

Does she do ok with a leash and harness? D and Mickey both walk well on Aleah's, that may be a good way to introduce her to other areas of our home. When we let our kitties have free range, we found that they became much happier- there is something to be said for sitting on a different windowsill every day I guess

Our boys like to be with us every moment we are home. When I close the bathroom door, if I don't latch it, I have visitors. If it is closed the whole way, I have paws under it and crying- even from Jarvis, and I am not his person, mike is. Do you let her come spend time with you when you are in other rooms of your home? Have you thought about brining her down in her carrier, giving her treats, and then letting her explore a little more each night? For us, Jarvis was the kitty we had a more difficult time bonding with and socializing, and today he is a very happy cat. Does he like to be carried? No. But that does not mean he does not want to be with us. It is just that he is more comfortable moving around the house with us on his own four paws.
One other thing to consider: our boys loooovvveee to get in bed with us. Bed, for them, is snuggle time, on their terms, and it is a reward for good behavior, and they know it.

You may also want to talk to Martin again. Having badgered the heck out of he and his wife when we brought our boys home (we had never had a cat before), I am pretty sure he wants nothing more than to help you too be happy.

 

[Coolcat]

I see your point.... Maybe you can post a picture of it and solicit some ideas on how to make that safe. i know CoolCat is good at stuff like that.

Post a pic ya never know.

 

[Kristin]

My F4 Zeddie used to scoop poo out of her box and make it a toy (despite the 10 000 toys she has lying around)...I just got a really deep bin and made that her litter box

 

[shelby]

I hope you figure out a way to allow her free roam of the entire house Spending time in the upstairs is going to make her comfortable. Being allowed for just a bit is not going to work. To her it is like entering the upstairs for the first time...since she never gets comfortable before it is time for her to go back to her room again. I also would suggest that you make sure she either has a radio or a tv on during the day when she is alone. Complete silence is not a good thing.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I agree with Shelby, I think that only having the one room means she may always view the rest of the house as not hers... and hence never be comfortable and relaxed in it.

I also wonder whether you might consider a companion kitty for her as that may also help. The playing with poo, the inability to settle...all you have described may be symptoms of a general anxiety where having a playmate may help her calm and enjoy you. Just a thought...

 

[Per Lausund]

I hate to be a spoilsport, but it sounds like perfectly normal behaviour from a fairly young Savannah left alone for long periods in one room. As for the "foot attack", all ours do that and think it´s fun, and very rarely do we feel a claw. Some SVs are cuddly, some are not, but they are not what I would call aggressive, and neither is yours from the description you give. You two need to become friends, and you need to either get her company or let her roam the house (most of it). At the moment we have six (I think?) savvies running around, and they love surprising us (as we love surprising them when they sleep the sleep of the unjust) by suddenly appearing for a quick hug or jumping through a newspaper you´re reading. They are cats, and a lot of cat, and they need time and socialisation. They mean well!

 

[Per Lausund]

Oh, and the playing with poo? A hard lump of poo gives a very satisfying thump and jump when you hit it and make it skitter across the room. Give her golf- or squash balls to play with, and train her to fetch!

 

[SV Dad]

I hate to be a spoilsport, but it sounds like perfectly normal behaviour from a fairly young Savannah left alone for long periods in one room. As for the "foot attack", all ours do that and think it´s fun, and very rarely do we feel a claw. Some SVs are cuddly, some are not, but they are not what I would call aggressive, and neither is yours from the description you give. You two need to become friends, and you need to either get her company or let her roam the house (most of it). At the moment we have six (I think?) savvies running around, and they love surprising us (as we love surprising them when they sleep the sleep of the unjust) by suddenly appearing for a quick hug or jumping through a newspaper you´re reading. They are cats, and a lot of cat, and they need time and socialisation. They mean well!

Well said, Per! You have articulated a lot of what I feel.
Foot attack. I scream ouch each time the boys do that to me. Rascal has learned to keep his claws in and only nip lightly. Mayhem, needs some work on this........
Jumping up on a bannister 12 feet from the floor. Mayhem drives me nuts doing this quite frequently. I get very nervous when he does this. He has yet to fall and I hope he never does. But I do know he has survived a 12 foot leap out the upstairs window with his brother Rascal, neither of which it seemed to bother in any way.
I like the idea of covering the cables and power lines. Great remedy. To me, that is a sign of boredom when attacking the cables.
If you can, give the cat the run of the house. It seems to me nothing annoys a SV like a closed door.
Another boredom fighting idea. If possible, purchase a suction cup bird feeder, place it on a window where the cat can easily sit next to, put in some bird food, and attract the birds. This really plays hell on their hunting instinct and keeps ALL of the cats in the house mentally stimulated.
And lastly.......Suck it up, and get another SV!

 

[Brandy DW]

NikkiA - I don't have a leash and harness for her. She can't really go outside here because of the neighbors dog (they have a german shepherd that's about a year old) she's outside almost all the time and they don't have a fence and they don't leash her. We're more or less out in the country, but inside city limits, it's a new housing development so soon there will be more houses around when they're built. - Also I've read a lot of stories from owners who walked there cats or let them play outside on a leash and then all the cat ever wanted to be was outside (pawing at the windows, doors etc.). I don't want to give her something (brief freedom outside) if I can't give it to her all the time, I don't think it would be fair to her. --- As for talking to Martin again I'm not sure what I would say in concise wording. You've seen my posts on here I write a book, they're not going to want to read that...

CoolCat - Okay I measured the thing from the floor to the top and it's a little over 12 feet. From the perch to the other landing is about 4 feet. It's a split foyer house, this picture is part of the foyer. Here's a pic.

Kristin - I may do that if it continues. But I did the enzyme cleaner two days ago to her full room and she hasn't don't it since. *Fingers crossed* that she won't.

Shelby - I'll try. As for the tv or radio, every time I tried that when I first got home I'd come home to her room being completely in disarray. I swear she tried to move everything. So I tried it once without the tv or radio and I came home and it was fine. So I tested it for an hour with the tv on downstairs (without me in the room) and she tried to move everything again. I took that as her not liking the sound. She doesn't like visitors so my guess is that maybe she thinks the tv or the radio is someone else in the home... When I'm downstairs and the tv is on she seems fine though so I don't know.

Brigitte - Okay she does get more than one room when I'm with her, she get's the whole basement (well not the laundry/furnace room) but yeah. For the record it is a finished basement with vinyl flooring, not a concrete basement. As for another kitty, my vet recommends that I don't get another one. Before Sabriel I had Neka (also from A1savannahs), the whole time I had Neka she seemed to have a virus (coughing, sneezing etc.), I ended up having to put her down at a year and half because with x-ray it was shown that she had pleural effusion in her chest cavity. At first they thought it was Effusive FIP, but then through tests told me it was lymphoma, I kept her alive for 10 days after I found out, the day I put her down her pupils were different dilations and they told me it was very likely that the cancer had spread to her brain. Anyway to get back to the point, I've had tests done on Sabriel to make sure she doesn't have fiv or FeLV, but there aren't tests for everything. Right now I KNOW that I have a healthy cat, but if I bring in another cat (even with quarantine) I can't guarantee that one won't give a virus to the other or something down the line. I'm not taking any chances after what I went through last year... it was too hard.. it hurt too much! I'm fine with one kitty and as the vet told me "cats are not always gregarious" - his words not mine. But at this point I'm not sure if she would like a companion...

Per Lausund - You may be right, but within the past two days she's quit knocking her poo out. As for the wrapping her paws around my ankles, I'm starting to wonder if that was because she had long claws, her long claws would get stuck on my clothes and then she'd be trying to get them away but they'd be stuck. So then she'd get frustrated, and maybe it was the frustration. I got her claws trimmed at the vet yesterday and the play times went much more smoothly last night and this morning.

Per Lausund - She does have balls in her room. She does fetch, we use a catnip filled little mouse. I throw it and she'll get it, play with it for a bit and then bring it back. At times she'll put it in my hand and other times she'll put it right in front of me. Then when she starts getting bored of it she'll just lay in front of me with it under her paw and lick it.

Rascalda d - She's only foot attacked me twice, both times not really scratching or biting. It's not a behavior I want to encourage. I'm hoping by my saying ouch and no the two times that will be the end of it. It was the beginning of this past week that she did it and she hasn't done it since. --- To me the cables seem like string or a pole toy that they are going after. Sabriel also likes the pole of her pole toy and will treat it like a dog treats a wooden stick... I'll think about the bird feeder thing, the window she has, has a very deep window sill so she can easily sit up there. As I posted to Brigitte I will not be getting another cat, maybe I should "suck it up" as you say... but I'm not there yet... I won't be there for a long time..

 

[SV Dad]

Brandy, my son has a F3 and it knocks everything possible off shelves and counters and furniture. Annoying, and just the way he is.This cat wants to be the center of attention all the time. All the time.
The foot attack. I don't encourage it, it's the cat's sign he is bored and wants to play.
I understand your reluctance to bring in another animal with the risk of infection introduction. I worry each and every time a new cat is brought home. It did help to know I had a breeder who understood this and makes every effort to ensure no diseases are introduced into the cattery and kittens.