How was your experience...

[Alisha H]

I would have to say that my experience has been very nerve wracking! It’s difficult to make a very large purchase for a pet… over the internet. My husband and I collectively decided an SV would be our next cat IF we decided to get a cat again. We had lost our Siamese almost 4 ½ years ago now, he was six and we had him since he was born… literally. It was a big loss for us and so it made the having another cat a difficult discussion to talk about. It wasn’t until we saw Cats 101 and fell in love Savannahs!

Probably over the last 6 months I was getting kitten fever and wanted on SO badly! I fell in love with a beautiful F2 male, but hadn’t really saved enough money yet for an F2. I then decided on an Ocicat, but later talked myself out of it. If I was going to be spending $900 on kitten plus $350 shipping, I was going to get what I truly wanted!

I emailed SO many breeders! Mainly on the West Coast, since it would be easier to drive if I choose too. I think I emailed every one of them who didn’t have pics and prices on their site! (Trish, I’m pretty sure we conversed!) I think it was harder to email everyone else back stating I found a breeder! The breeder I ended up purchasing from has been great! She even told me to call her with any questions even if I didn’t end up purchasing from her and she’d be glad to answer them for me or if I wanted to get a second opinion to a question I asked. She let me put a very small deposit down on my kitten and gave me the option to make payments up to the full deposit amount. She emailed me pics about every 2 weeks and gave me updates on how he was doing.

The hard part was finding out of someone’s poor experience AFTER I had already paid of my kitten and was just waiting for him to come home. I’m still nervous, but he checked out great with my vet and has adjusted very well to his new home.

I’m very thankful for this chat and the group on Facebook. I’ve met so many breeders now, that I think it will be difficult to choose who to get my next SV from!

 

[Trish Allearz]

Alisha- there's a good chance we have I love chatting about these spotted kids of ours and don't mind chatting about available kittens or just random breed stuff!

I love breeders who are willing to help out people who own SVs- regardless of where they come from. I do have issues with breeders who refuse to assist rescue (even if it's just with a donation- if you breed- you need to help somehow- donate, foster, transport, etc) and I have issues with breeders who refuse to help newcomers to the breed out because they didn't purchase from THEM. Make sense?

 

[Wyldthingz]

Honestly, I felt sick. It was a lot of money to me. I know now it was buyers remorse. I didn't know if it was a good idea after I paid the money. I had a 3 year old and a baby who were good with dogs and my hubby thought he was allergic to cats (never believe your mother in law). I agreed to keep her in the spare room at night so he wouldn't have issues. I had 4 dogs that were good with cats....but....I just dove in. I loved the cat on site and knew she was a good start to a small program. The breeder allowed me to do a breeding with his stud for her first litter. I kind of knew that this was the start of something so I had to decide if this was the point of no return, and it was!
Sometimes I regret getting into breeding but I never regret getting my first Savannah.

 

[Trish Allearz]

This is fun! I've never heard how some of you ladies brought home your first SVs! So it's a lot of fun hearing these stories!

 

[Anne]

Our experience was great - we didn't have to wait for our little guy to arrive, but we did have to wait for the breeder to arrive home from her vacation I think she got home in the very early hours of the morning, but she still told us to come down to see her that evening ... She sat and talked with us about everything to do with the kittens and even stuff that had nothing to do with cats She really made me feel welcome ... and by the way, that was the longest day at work looking at the clock waiting for it to say "5" !!

 

[Breheart]

My experience was very sudden. I knew what Savannahs were from my sister Kronos/Alisha doing her research and wanting one and talking about them for the past year or more. I had seen pictures, but I had kept the thought of owning one as a distant dream. I had NO idea how the generations worked and I assumed the high price were the only ones out there!

Once Alisha started seriously looking, she took me along with her for tag along field trips to local breeders. After meeting a Serval, and many of the other cats in the breeding programs at 2 different local breeders, I fell in love once I saw little Keljin. I like going for the underdog, and I wanted him to grow up and strive and he had the boldest most remarkable spots, but something about no one wanting him made me want him even more! I put my deposit down the day I met him

From my experience, what I loved was being able to meet the parent cats of my new addition, and hearing stories and building a relationship with the breeder in a welcoming and supportive environment. I was too scared to shop online, because I didn't want to bother with flying a cat and paying more, but now I have changed my mind and see that as acceptable where before I would have absolutely refused.

I just think its funny because I put a deposit down on my kitten before my sister found hers.. and SHE was the one looking, not me! It was an impulsive buy, and I gave into Keljin, no regrets <3

 

[Marissa]

Well me and Julie are in a similar boat. We also got my two blue girls from the same breeder. I'm not going into much detail because it's pretty similar to Julie in terms of the contact and nuttiness of the breeder. Her personal life really did not need to interfer with her business. I will say I ended up with a fantastic f5 from her, and my f2 azul would have been such a better cat if I had been able to get her 6 months prior to when I did get her at the age of 1. I got a fantastic price on the cats and the breeder really did have nice looking cats, which I based off her photos and miracle and whip. So needless to say I was not thrilled with how my first purchase went for my first two.

When we got ascari it was a lot nicer expirence. I can get ahold of the breeder and keep her updated or ask questions and not have to worry about ignored calls/emails or trying to google a person search just to get in contact with someone.

Either way at this point I'm still thankful I went through what I had to so I could have tegra. She's like the love of my life!

With my Bengal breeder I always enjoyed getting photos and an update on the boys. When we're excited for our new family members I don't think even a hundred pictures could have made me any more patient for them to be able to go home.

 

[Kristine]

My first experience was easy, there were only about 10 breeders and I emailed or called each of them looking for an F2 male. There was one snow and one BST available from different breeders. I chose the BST, the breeder sent me a contract, I wired her a deposit and mailed back the contract, she shipped my kitten and I never looked back. I will say I asked a lot of questions about how a Savannah would do with my Abys and Bengal and toddler daughter and the breeder I purchased my kitten from was the best at answering my questions as well, very patient and very precise answers. Now there are so many breeders and so many lovely, lovely kittens, it would be much more difficult.

 

[Charley]

The breeder I used I would use again if she had any kittens available that we wanted. We are in research stage now (rather I am) about we would really like in our next kitten. I know we want an earlier generation and a kitten that will likely get really big (for the bf.) I think an F7 was a good place to start because he's basically a big, spotted house cat and that's easier for us to learn than a cat that is closer to a serval - when we hadn't had a cat in years muchless a hybrid

Interestingly enough, after having gotten Jengo and getting him adjusted I can honestly say I don't care what he ends up looking like or how big he gets he's just the greatest kitty I've ever had.

 

[admin]

That is how I felt when I got Taj... I would never again be without a Savannah!