Mellenee
Savannah Teenager
I'm a new poster but not new to this forum as I've used it as reference material anytime I am looking for direction. First I want to thank the dedicated people who created it, and those who donate their time and expertise as moderators. The Savannah world is a special place because of you.
Now about me...I can tend to be wordy so will try to recap 58 years as briefly as possible! I grew up in TN and am a lifelong lover of cats. Some of my earliest memories of struggles with my parents stemmed from my insistence upon having cats - I brought home strays from age 4 up and absolutely threw a fit if they weren't allowed full family membership. Other than the continuing cat issue I was a good kid so my parents tolerated my quirky cat habit. It made great fodder for conversation at any family gathering, my parents regaling with tales of my crazy cat addiction.
After high school a friend and I started a shelter in rural TN, an uphill battle in 1975. That shelter is thriving now as a no-kill shelter. Makes me proud!
Fast forward many cats and many years, two marriages, two sons, and many moves across the country. I now live in the Cincinnati area. In 2007 I lost my sister followed by the death of my mom in 2009. I was caretaker for both and was overwhelmed with the loss. The best therapy for me is CATS so I decided to do something I had never done by purchasing my dream cat, an Abyssinian. I struggled with the guilt of purchase vs rescue but finally decided to go for it. The hunt began. I found a beautiful Aby at Kayman Katz in Cleveland, fell in love and put a deposit on her that day. Surprise! She was an F4 Savannah cross! Her mom was a very large F3 from Select Exotics. I wasn't familiar with SV, but I had no desire to show or breed so that was 'acceptable'. Oh boy!
My entire family fell in love, even my cat hating husband! We fell so hard we purchased breeding rights and our SV boy Thor (from Darlynne Downey's Lowplaces) and fell even further into love of this wonderful breed.
We currently are owned by Savannah, the F4 Aby/SV cross, Thor the Wonderboy, and several of their offspring: Niri and Cheerio, current queens; beautiful servalines Cthulu (Lu) and Aro, and baby boy Chima. My family has caught my cat fever and we all love laughing at the antics and basking in the love of these crazy animals. Even the family dog is rarely without a cat snuggle buddy.
That's our story, and I'm sticking to it!
Now about me...I can tend to be wordy so will try to recap 58 years as briefly as possible! I grew up in TN and am a lifelong lover of cats. Some of my earliest memories of struggles with my parents stemmed from my insistence upon having cats - I brought home strays from age 4 up and absolutely threw a fit if they weren't allowed full family membership. Other than the continuing cat issue I was a good kid so my parents tolerated my quirky cat habit. It made great fodder for conversation at any family gathering, my parents regaling with tales of my crazy cat addiction.
After high school a friend and I started a shelter in rural TN, an uphill battle in 1975. That shelter is thriving now as a no-kill shelter. Makes me proud!
Fast forward many cats and many years, two marriages, two sons, and many moves across the country. I now live in the Cincinnati area. In 2007 I lost my sister followed by the death of my mom in 2009. I was caretaker for both and was overwhelmed with the loss. The best therapy for me is CATS so I decided to do something I had never done by purchasing my dream cat, an Abyssinian. I struggled with the guilt of purchase vs rescue but finally decided to go for it. The hunt began. I found a beautiful Aby at Kayman Katz in Cleveland, fell in love and put a deposit on her that day. Surprise! She was an F4 Savannah cross! Her mom was a very large F3 from Select Exotics. I wasn't familiar with SV, but I had no desire to show or breed so that was 'acceptable'. Oh boy!
My entire family fell in love, even my cat hating husband! We fell so hard we purchased breeding rights and our SV boy Thor (from Darlynne Downey's Lowplaces) and fell even further into love of this wonderful breed.
We currently are owned by Savannah, the F4 Aby/SV cross, Thor the Wonderboy, and several of their offspring: Niri and Cheerio, current queens; beautiful servalines Cthulu (Lu) and Aro, and baby boy Chima. My family has caught my cat fever and we all love laughing at the antics and basking in the love of these crazy animals. Even the family dog is rarely without a cat snuggle buddy.
That's our story, and I'm sticking to it!
That is some story! 
