Tempered Savannah Cat

[GSGunde10]

Hello,

Im Stacie, heres a little bit about our problem child...

In January I got the hubby (a cat lover) his dream kitty. He is a male, f2 savannah, and is now 7 mths old. Problem is that he still is pretty tempered sometimes. He will still hiss and growl and do his "im gonna eat you" look to try and scare us. Which now Ive become accustomed to it so it doesn't bother us and his behavior gets ignored!

I've done so much research the past few months and no where does anyone talk about a mean savannah. Is there something we're doing wrong? He has gotten a little better, maybe it's just a slow process but all the owner testimonials I see talk about how they love their owners, always want to be around them, purr, come when called, playful, etc. WHERE IS THIS CAT??? I love ours to death, he has quite the personality, but I really want him to like us more than what he does!!

ALSO- Do savannahs get lighter before they get darker. When we got him he had little black spots, as time has went on, they are getting lighter?? weird...

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give us. We are learning each day that he is def not like our other domestic cat....a handful at times, but we love him anyway!!!

 

[Trish Allearz]

Well- here is the thing... Is he being mean or is he just talking? Hissing is pretty typical Serval language- it doesn't have to mean, "I hate you". It can mean just about any excited emotion under the sun. So now you need to tell us- is he being aggressive when he's hissing or is he just hissing? My F1 females can be hissy quite a bit- I just talk right back to them when they hiss at me. Now, if they were hunkered down, ears back, tail lashing, hissing- I'd take that as an angry/agitated kitty. If they are standing upright, ears up and hissing at me- I take that as (usually) something has caught their attention, they are telling me about it and I respond and we go about our business.

In regard to spots- I think some tend to lighten up. They may be very dark at first, but as they grow, they can lighten a bit.

 

[GSGunde10]

Thanks, well when he hisses I tend to talk back to him too. Problem is 90% of the time, he is hunkered down, ears back sort of hiss. Im glad to know though that even nice ones hiss alot, but unfortunately, ours is hissing because he's aggitated....He used to hiss and run away everytime we tried to get close to him, but for the past couple weeks he has gotten better in that he will sit with us occasionally for quite a while, and that is a great improvement....but he still doesn't like us like our other cat does.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

HI Stacie,

I'm so sorry you are having issues with your Savannah, but no they in general are NOT mean cats!

So your boy (name?) was hissy and growly from the start? Did the breeder describe any behavioral issues with him before you purchased him? Did you go visit the breeder or pick up in person? If he was shipped, did you give him a quiet space to acclimate before trying to approach him?

How have you tried to make friends with him over these months? Have you found a treat he loves? A wand toy that drives him crazy? These are ways to make him see you as GOOD things...

Something to avoid is MAKING them be around you, always trying to grab them to pick up, and staring at them (a sign of aggression to a cat). We had a situation in Rescue where a kitty was completely ruined by inappropriate handling. It arrived as an energetic kitten with a little shyness but still quite friendly, but by the guy's friends and family forcing it to be held and chased down in his apartment she ended up a very hissy upset cat. She's slowly coming around in a new home but their misguided attention to her really backfired.

www.thecatcoach.com is something to consider, Marilyn is a feline behavioral therapist, she owns Bengals and a Savannah so understands their energy and playfulness, and has a lot of strategies to offer that would be tailored to your specific situation. A consultation is not terribly expensive, and might make a big difference in your lives...

 

[GSGunde10]

And although we went to the breeder's house to pick him up and everything was clean and proper. She had a lot of cats and he did come home with giardia. He handled me giving him medicine very well though, better than our other cat. So the first few days we had him he was sick...Could that have a lasting impression on him??

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Oh forgot about the spots lightening question...I think it is more common for a cat's spots to lighten and fade as they grow than for them to get darker. When you see pics of adult Savannahs with very faded spots if you looked at their baby pics they'd have absolutely black spots... so most start out with the very dark spotting, but a lot fade with age. It seems generally true that the warmer-toned ones can be more susceptible to fading than the very dark cool-toned ones...look to your kitten's parents' pics to get an idea of what he might end up with that way...

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

And although we went to the breeder's house to pick him up and everything was clean and proper. She had a lot of cats and he did come home with giardia. He handled me giving him medicine very well though, better than our other cat. So the first few days we had him he was sick...Could that have a lasting impression on him??

When you saw him at the breeder's place, was he hissy and growly there? Did you meet the mom and dad of your kitten?

You say that he didn't seem to mind the medicine so much, so I doubt that has had a bad effect...if he was acting like you were trying to kill him every time you approached with it, I guess that may not have helped make friends. With Giardia, it would have been simpler to give you fenbendazole (Panacur) which in the powdered form can be mixed into food and they usually don't even notice it...

 

[GSGunde10]

Oh I forgot, his name is Ajani btw. Just so we know who we're talking about... Yes, the breeder told us about making sure he got time to become used to the place....And we tried really leaving him alone the first few weeks, after that I guess we started trying to pick him up a little more. Could possible made him a lil aggitated.

Oddly, he doesn't like to play that much. He just kinda sits and chills, which I always thought was odd too. I just always worry that he is sick just because of the problem we had in the beginning.... But thanks for the therapist tip, def going to look into that!!!

 

[GSGunde10]

We did get to meet the mom and dad. And yes he was hissing when we first got there too. But she told us that was normal because he didn't know us (made sense). But also he was a pretty sick little kitten, so Im sure being so scared, sick, was the cause for the initial growling?

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

You could spend a little time and money looking for the right toys too... I have no idea HOW many toys you've tried. I say this as over the years I've had cats with very definite toy needs and not one toy works for ALL of them the same.

Some love feathers on a stick, my F2 boy loves me to throw those and he fetches it back to me. A feather bunch on it's own is not attractive to him though!

Some want those feathers to be on a string on a stick, Da Bird is one of the faves for that although our very own Lori of Hyendry Pet products makes great versions of feathers on strings on sticks...

Some like the little mousie fishing lure on a string on a wand toy... and some love the chirpy mouse on a string wand toy.

Then how you play with that wand toy can also be different cat to cat. Some want the feathers or toy flying through the air, some want it slowly pulled along the ground to be pounced on, some want it swished crazily on the ground to get them all excited about pouncing on it. So you may need some patience and time to really work out what attracts him.

And what he didn't like when you first got him and he was all unsure and unsettled may not be true now that he knows the house a bit more...

I've even had one Savannah that turned her nose up at practically every toy. Until one day I noticed how avidly she was watching me unthread my belt from my jeans...aha! She LOVED the belt wiggled on the ground like a snake and it made her go crazy! I have since found a rope on a wand toy that works similarly for her...