What made you decide to get a Savannah ?

[Dandylions]

This may have been covered before but I wondered what was it that made you end up with a Savannah as a breed .... As an owner I can see lots of reasons why you would want one but what was it in the first place that made you decide on getting a Savannah ?

My story and this is possibly fairly familiar ... we had a mouse in the utility room ... This little mouse had chewed through the heating pipes and caused us to have leaks and cost £'s ... Ok so we sorted out the problem with pest control but I figured I didn't want any more mice in the house and we should get a cat.

A bit more of the background to this is Steve my other half wasn't much of a cat person ( he is now fully converted ), but knowing I like all things cute and fluffy had recorded a programme called 'too cute' which had these amazing Savannah kittens, the comment was if I had to have a cat that's what I want ! did a bit of 'just out of curiosity' research and found out more about them and their personalities, I had grew up with a Siamese cat so the lean talkative smart cat appealed, and I think once that has happened that was it.

Fast forward to the mouse incident ... and once again the image of these amazing savannah cats came to mind ... 'just out of interest' we went to visit a breeder to meet some savannahs in real life ... once that had happened it was a case of waiting and keeping fingers crossed to get a kitten ... and of course you can't just have one ...

 

[Niels]

I've been a huge cat lover as long as i can remember.

I also got a passion for all the big wild cats, so i couldn't resist to get the Savannah that stands the most close to that.

 

[John Popp]

Great Topic!

We had always had cats growing up. I can remember most of them and they were all indoor/outdoor cats until I was in my teens. One cat in particular, Teka, was just crazed chasing large dogs, squirrels and other cats and would always come home with injuries. He had stayed with my Mom for a number of years while my sister and I were away at college and starting our professional lives. My sister then had an issue where she had to give her cats up, sent it packing to my Mom's and when the two really didn't get along I picked up Teka for the rest of his years.

When Teka passed, about 6 weeks later I picked up Jester and Kebu. Both black cats as was Teka, and I would stop by the shelter weekly looking for the cat with his tail on fire. Jester, as the techs had named him, was all his name connotes, came home with me along with his partner in crime Kebu. Just so happened to be a few days before my wife Trish's birthday and the pair made an awesome gift. Also, just a side note, I definitely don't think black cats are all wrapped right and seemingly have much bigger personalities than their counterparts.

A few years later we had met our first Savannah named Mars. Probably late 90s or early 2000s and he was the first cat I ever met that could keep pace with what I had come to expect from Teka and Jester. A very large Savannah, and when we watched him play fetch with a basketball sized stuffed animal I was sold. Some casual research over the next 10 years, beginning when there wasn't a lot of information and I knew a Savannah was in our future.

Jester passes away a year ago and I was absolutely devastated. For the next 10 weeks I spent nearly every moment of my spare time in tears or on the quest to find the perfect Savannah. We were really looking for a melanistic SV, although personality was our priority. Finally found what looked to be the right one, and when I visited the breeder it was pretty clear that the personality traits we were looking for had been placed in a spotted wrapper as opposed to the melanistic kitten that sent us down this path.

Anyway, Chongo comes home with me and the rest is pretty much history. He's certainly not as crazed as Jester was as a kitten, but he is capable of wreaking havoc on much larger objects. We're definitely over the hump of him being totally out of control which seems to me to be the perfect time to add the second Savannah. Definitely big shoes to keep pace, although I'm sure with the only prerequisite for a new kitten being the tail on fire personality disorder, we won't have a hard time finding him.

 

[Kristin]

I am a huge lover of big cats, and African animals. My mom saw one on Youtube and told me to look it up (haha mom, you should know better) and I couldn't believe it. I googled it and researched and begged and pleaded with my parents until they give in.
I joke that I have an African theme: an African Grey parrot, and a Savannah. If I have kids, I'm adopting from Africa

 

[John Popp]

I also forgot to mention that by having a larger cat, that hopefully we can keep these guys out of the neighborhood and tearing up the streets in their rat rod.

 

[Dandylions]

Great replies guys )

 

[Becki]

I am an animal person, no doubt. Growing up, we always had cats as my mom is a cat person to the hilt. They were rescues, except one, the most loveable lug of a Maine Coon. When my rescue passed away (Critter), I was so upset. It took me awhile to be ready for another kitty and when I was, I thought seriously about a Maine Coon. Googling that and following links, I fell upon a SV site. I couldn't believe just how exotic they looked with those ears and spots! I, like many, also thought it would be cool to have a super big cat. Now that I have one and have learned so much more, I understand their stature might not be huge, but their personality certainly is! My husband, not a cat person, was on the floor with Nyah in his lap and I overheard him saying he loved her. That is testimony to just how special this breed is! Now we wait for the perfect little boy kitty for our family to appear!

 

[SV Dad]

tail on fire personality disorder

Bingo! That's the diagnosis! Couldn't put my finger on it, and I think it will show up in DSM-V!

My wife and I have always had rescue cats. Many over the years. She mentions that one day she would like a purebred cat just to see the difference. She like the spots idea and was looking at Ocicats and then Bengals. But with the kids in college the funds were draining in that direction.

When the kids knocked off the college binge, we take a road trip to look at a bengal. The bengal kitten just didn't seem right, so the breeder brings out this other kitten. Which played a bit, then jumps up on my wife's lap and takes a nap. This was that infamous fluffy SV kitten routine.............

 

[scorpius]

Good question. Before this I had a Persian, great cat, but very complacent. He died of FIP in December.

So I started looking for another cat. First, thought Bobcat! Wow, what a 180 deg change. But not legal as a pet in AZ. So next, hybrid cat searches. Then I saw these things called Savannah's. Immediate gravitation to their height, leanness, generally golden color and spots. That sealed the deal with me. But the personality is the hidden secret and hence my many post getting Savannah posts these days!!! I don't think I'd ever do anything but a Savannah anymore...and who knows I might just get a third one down the road. Will it ever end?!!! dj

 

[WitchyWoman]

I was 2 yrs away from retirement, my DSHs were elderly and I knew they would soon travel to the Rainbow Bridge, so I thought it would be a great time to get a dog. I belong to a large jewelry forum and a member has a picture of a gorgeous spotted cat as her avatar. I asked her if it was a Bengal and she told me about savannahs. Off I went to do research. What attracted me most was the description of their personalities and behaviors as "dog like". What could be better than a cat (which is my preferred companion animal) who acts like a dog. I was excited that I wouldn't have to potty train a puppy and go through obedience class or deal with whatever issues came along with a rescued adult dog.

Soooooooo I got my first F2, few months later I got an F6, few months after that I got another F2 and I would love a 4th SV but haven't been able to convince DH that it's a good idea.