Will a F1 destroy my house??

[Wyldthingz]

All the stick ornaments and plants will be gone- that is for sure. It is a pretty place. I think if you are going to be worried about your stuff being wrecked, any Savannah is not a good idea! Even my F7 would be up on everything at any given moment.

 

[xumi's mom]

Welcome, Dan! You have a lovely home. I can't advise you on what an F1 might do, but I can say that my six month old F2 would love to visit your house

She has firm ideas about interior decorating, what "works" and what doesn't, and she is very adept at quickly rearranging things to the correct style.

I have a pretty good idea of what she would recommend:

The branches need to be horizontal, not vertical. Scattered on the floor is best. The mantle, shelves, and kitchen counters need to be free of objects. All that stuff would look better on the floor anyway, particularly anything that would make a lovely shattering noise as it hits the floor. Those horizontal wooden blinds would make fun ladders. They also make a very entertaining noise as they get batted about in the window frame. That bannister looks like it would make an excellent slide. Whee! That standing lamp behind the couch is meant to swing into the wall, right? Or is it meant to provide access to the wall decorations? Are those plants real? How thoughtful of you to provide a readily available source of fiber. The fireplace is fine as is, because there's no apparent barrier to entry. The vertical blinds in the dining area can easily be shortened by chewing on the bottoms. And what kind of fancy kitchen faucet is that? One that turns on by touch or motion sensor? Excellent!

Seriously, what I see is tons of potential to provide lots of appropriate vertical cat furniture and other distractions. It could be made to match your decor.

 

[Breheart]

Welcome Dan, and congrats on your move from apt to house, it looks very nice. I think it should be fine, of course there is "savannah proofing" needing to be done at any home, regardless of what generation. Your house already looks very modern/minimalism style, I like it! It makes less clutter in the way for a Savannah to get into trouble with

With that aside, there is for sure still some Savannah proofing that will need to be done with any generation. There is always some variance within each generation of what the cat may be like personality wise, so its hard to forsee what it may try until the cat is actually there. For one I see that staggered shelf bookcase, and all the platforms on the stair well being an open invitation waiting to become a cat jungle gym! Learning things like what kinds of curtains, where to hide your TP may or may not be things to do as well depending on he cat again. I think a lot of damage control can be done with training the cat, as long as you have the time and patience to devote to your new forever family member Good luck with your search!

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Honestly, I don't think an F1 is any more likely to destroy your house than another cat...main reason I say that is that I have had Savannahs for years, including F1s...yet the cat that has chewed more furniture in my house is the British Shorthair we got a few years back. He's terrible!

I think F1s are intense and energetic so agree that the things like pictures on walls and twig arrangements etc might be lost... but an enterprising F2 or F3 etc might be just as likely to do those in...

 

[waitingforgeorge]

A lovely attractive house for any generation savannah I think! What is your comfort level with a cat being high up on your furniture? The loft to bannister to counter leap then racing over the mantle up the stairs to do it again and again and again......if it won't bother you it will be great entertainment. The open top kitchen cabinets will be a great place for hanging about as long as they stay out of the cabinet (some do, some don't). The main issue mine would have would be with the tree on the wall and all the hanging fixtures. He is really attracted to ours, they are just too high for him, with nothing close enough to launch off of. Often he will sit under them making these please I really want you noises. Really the house looks wonderful for any Savannah, but they will live in your house and use your house as their own much as you do or for us as a child does. They are not unobtrusive, so not sure how that works with the guest part of your question. George dosn't smell or shed any more than our other cat and its my resposibility to keep litter fresh and odor free. My only suggestion would be to make sure that you are willing to adapt the house to the cat and be comfortable with the cat using the house in normal cat fashion (not always predictable) and not be unhappy with your decision to get a Savannah, no matter what generation, if they don't conform to living in your house the way you imagine them to.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I think you just cannot be too "precious" with your belongings if you wish to share your home with a high energy cat breed like the Savannah... if you care too much for your furniture and knick-knacks then a Savannah may not be the breed for you. Just because they can be careless...and some come with much curiosity in the gravity thing. I have had Savannahs whose favorite thing to do is push things off heights just to hang over the edge and watch what happens. There is no shelf too high, you can't put things out of reach.

But if you love watching an athletic cat leap after a wand toy, and admire their problem-solving skills etc, then you will enjoy a Savannah. It just depends on what you want. A Savannah most definitely is NOT a pretty ornament for a house, they look really cool but the looks also come with a very interactive investigative personality.

 

[Glamouresque]

I heard twice stories about rehoming a F2 mâle neurtured and "marking" in the house. Maybe it's exceptional or very stressed cats ??

 

[Marissa]

Wow great someone has a great insight for interior decorating, currently my f2 is more domestic than anything, I don't worry about her ruining anything, at the same time all SVs are different so show knows. I agree the tree/branchy things could be tempting to certain kitties

 

[Breheart]

I heard twice stories about rehoming a F2 mâle neurtured and "marking" in the house. Maybe it's exceptional or very stressed cats ??

The only time I have heard of neutered males marking, would be if they were neutered too late after the habit was already introduced. If they are done usually before 6months old that is avoided, or not around other spraying cats that they could learn it from, especially if they are territorial.

 

[barbja]

About the furniture: from the photos, you cannot tell what kind of fabric they are made of. After over 25 years of cat ownership I've come up with a pretty good system of telling if a cat will destroy your fabric (or carpet or whatever). Take a dental pick and pick at it. If you get pulls I the fabric, not good. Draw the pick over the fabric (not Really hard). If you get scratches in the fabric, not good.

When I was changing out my furniture a couple of years ago, my designer was getting absolutely exasperated with me because of the number of her wonderful fabrics she had chosen that i rejected and why. Over the years, my worst performers were a matelasse and a tapestry fabric. Both are heavy durable fabrics, but destroyed in places by the cats.

What's been the best for me? Suede I have on the back of a couple of chairs. Who'da thought? I thought it would be BAD, but it was so pretty... Upholstery velvet; it always rocks. They just can't get purchase.

In another 'it's so pretty' moment, the ginormous sofa in our family room ended up being some H&M semi-protected aniline dyed leather (translates to: scratches like an SOB). Since I was prepared for it, I don't have a cow when it happens.

That's the key: when you have a cat (or a kid), know the vulnerabilities of your stuff and don't freak out when (not if) they exploit that vulnerability. Just make sure that the exploitation of that vulnerability won't hurt them (say for instance, lock the kitchen cleaners cabinet, but maybe not the sautée pans cabinet).