Savannah Shopping

[FrankM9521]

Hi all,

This is a great forum filled with great advice. My girlfriend and I fell in love with the Savannah after watching a show on them on the animal planet. We both are former cat owners and currently have 4 small dogs.
My first question is which Savannah is right for us? From reading it sounds like the F3 is right, but I would love to get input from actual.owners. We do want an exotic look, and a Savannah that is much larger than the average housecat, but also want a social pet that will get along well with the dogs.

We have been looking at both breeders and private parties, but it has been a tough experience. Last weekend I contacted a party with a Savannah for sale on felines 4 us, and they replied that they would send it to me free from Cameroon if I sent them the money for shipping. Yeah, right. I found this forum by searching on another Savannah website that turned out to be listed in the scams thread of this forum. It's a bit shocking that over half of the people I have talked too have been scammers. I am also talking with another breeder from a site called Savannah Pride in Ohio. She seems to be legitimate and will have f3 cubs available in April.

 

[Lori Greer]

If you check this forum's Breeder listing you will see a number of catteries represented here, and you can also look at Savannahcat.com I would avoid Felines4Us. There have been a number of scams going on there.

Good luck in your search!

 

[MK Anderson]

Yep, lots of scams be-careful. I have a f-3 and I know he would love to have a dog, but the other 2 cats would not like it. I will tell you he is NOT much larger and I find that too be a big hype. Yes, some do get larger, but don't set your sites on that. He is a little bigger than the other 2, but his personality is HUGE and I love that about him. He is more dog like, sweet, sweet boy.

Talk and get to know breeders there are many on the forum board as Lori point out.

 

[FrankM9521]

Thanks Lori and Marye Kae,

Yes, I've seen a lot of conflicting claims about the size of an f3 on the web. We were talking with a breeder last week about an f3 *kitten, but unfortunately (for us) someone else put a deposit on him. She told us the *kitten would most likely be large because his parents are. But is that even accurate? The *kitten would still be a generation removed from her mother.

 

[MK Anderson]

Okay, first(not being mean, just saying, LOL) they're Kittens(not cubs). Dont know why some breeders use that term.
No that is NOT accurate. I know people that have gotten bigger Kittens from smaller parents. Lucky of the draw in my opinion. I've seen small f-2 and bigger f-5.
Hopefully other breeders here will post to this their opinion on this.

 

[admin]

Hi Frank,

I have an F4 and F6 - both SBT's...my F6 is a big boy and my F4 is much smaller in length but as tall as my F6 because of her long legs, so generation really doesn't matter, unless we are talking F1's IMO. My F6 boy is larger than many F2's and F3's.

Size does not matter to me, but I realize it does matter to many people...just know there are no guarantees...

Take a look at our pages on F1, F2, F3, F4, etc.., under savannah cat photos...you will see some awesome pictures. And then as Lori suggested, we have a breeder directory and it is growing slowly but surely as we are only a bit over a month old here. And come this weekend, I will be putting up a breeder testimonial page, where you may be able to get an idea about savannahs and dogs from owners, although many of the breeders and owners here have savannahs and dogs - they seem to go well together.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lori Greer]

Hi Frank,

We have a bunch of dogs... but not all get to run with the cats based on their behavior and temperament. What is important is that the dogs respect the cat and don't harass it in to hiding or harm it. What breed(s) are your dogs?

 

[FrankM9521]

Cubs just sounds cooler

3 of the dogs are poodle mixes. The smallest, a poodle bichon mix is only one year old and pretty aggressive although too small to cause any real trouble. The 4th is a Wheaton Terrier, but he is absolutely the sweetest dog on earth.

 

[Wyldthingz]

We try to avoid the term "cubs". Yeah, sounds cool but Savannahs are cats and we want them to be viewed as such otherwise, they get banned, outlawed, and treated as exotics. They already do!

I have an F3 litter that produce 20# boys on average, the girls are smaller, as well as 4 dogs that share our home with the cats so lots of dog exposure. I just don't know if I have boys or not as they are still in the "oven".

Be careful of "large cat" propaganda as well because some just use that to sell cats.
Has your Wheaten been around kittens? You may want to see what she will do? Terriers are Terriers and you have to be a bit more careful with them as they are bred to hunt small prey. I would love a Border Terrier but I just couldn't take the risk with small kittens about.

 

[Trish Allearz]

Here is my new spiel on size...

If you want a kitten based on size and a breeder is guaranteeing you a certain size, then hey- why not ask them to PUT IT IN WRITING? The thing is- you can't guarantee size. In humans- for example- my Father-in-law is six foot, six inches, and had four kids. Out of four kids, how many do you think were near six foot, six? None. They are all about six foot (the boys), but that's nowhere near 6 foot 6!

And yes, you need to be careful with the scammers- they are everywhere. Remember- if it seems to be too good to be real, it probably is. Always get a contract- no matter who you go through- and shop smart :D

Good luck!