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Your Thoughts On This

L

Louie'sDad

Guest
This is an excerpt of a web description of Savannah cats:

"Savannah cats are the largest breed of domesticated cats. The Savannahs' tall and slim build gives them the appearance of greater size than their actual weight. Size is very dependent on generation and sex, with F1 hybrid male cats usually being the largest. F1 and F2 hybrids are usually the largest, due to the stronger genetic influence of the African serval ancestor. Male Savannahs tend to be larger than females. Early-generation Savannahs can weigh 20 lbs or more, with the higher weight usually attributed to the F2 or F3 neutered males, though this is not the norm. Later-generation Savannahs are usually between seven and 30 lbs. Because of the random factors in Savannah hybrid genetics, size can vary significantly, even in one litter."

Do you consider this to be accurate, and if not why not?
 

John Popp

Site Supporter
It definitely casts a pretty broad net and from sentence to sentence is contradictory. That said, Savannah's weighing between 7 and 30 lbs isn't exactly sticking your neck out.
 

Julie

Savannah Super Cat
I think that's a good way to explain the many varience in size. A lower gen will most of the time not be as big as a higher, but a HP f4 could end up large due to serval %. Its hard to guess anything. My siblings same litter 12lbs, and 18lb both f3 males.
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
This is an excerpt of a web description of Savannah cats:

"Savannah cats are the largest breed of domesticated cats. The Savannahs' tall and slim build gives them the appearance of greater size than their actual weight. Size is very dependent on generation and sex, with F1 hybrid male cats usually being the largest. F1 and F2 hybrids are usually the largest, due to the stronger genetic influence of the African serval ancestor. Male Savannahs tend to be larger than females. Early-generation Savannahs can weigh 20 lbs or more, with the higher weight usually attributed to the F2 or F3 neutered males, though this is not the norm. Later-generation Savannahs are usually between seven and 30 lbs. Because of the random factors in Savannah hybrid genetics, size can vary significantly, even in one litter."

Do you consider this to be accurate, and if not why not?

I think it stretches the truth a bit and is inaccurate a bit as well...savannah cats are NOT the largest breed of domestic cats...they are the tallest breed at this point, while the Maine Coon is the longest...

F2's are more often than not, larger than F1's to some extent. Later generations are probably between 7 and 29 pounds...30 pounds is really stretching it ;)
 

Trish Allearz

Moderator
Yeah, but that pound is just a pound- although I think most SVs at 30 pounds would be butterbutts. Most- not all- before someone gets their knickers in a twist.

I do think F2 males have been shown to be larger then F1s- not all F2s and not all F1s. And yes, you can't quantify SVs as the 'largest' breed because what does that mean? Weight? Mass? Height?
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
This is an excerpt of a web description of Savannah cats:

"Savannah cats are the largest breed of domesticated cats. The Savannahs' tall and slim build gives them the appearance of greater size than their actual weight. Size is very dependent on generation and sex, with F1 hybrid male cats usually being the largest. F1 and F2 hybrids are usually the largest, due to the stronger genetic influence of the African serval ancestor. Male Savannahs tend to be larger than females. Early-generation Savannahs can weigh 20 lbs or more, with the higher weight usually attributed to the F2 or F3 neutered males, though this is not the norm. Later-generation Savannahs are usually between seven and 30 lbs. Because of the random factors in Savannah hybrid genetics, size can vary significantly, even in one litter."

Do you consider this to be accurate, and if not why not?

Completely agreed with Paige and Trish, it is wrong to state that Savannahs are the "largest" breed. For one, even Guinness doesn't give a "world's largest" but only "tallest" and "longest". They don't give a "heaviest" either as obviously an obese cat is not something they wish to be seen to be encouraging.

I do like that the description mentions how deceptive the Savannah's looks versus weight is.

F1s are not the largest, the World's Tallest Cat was an F2.

I like the mention of variability in size within a litter.

So it's 50-50 for me, there's some statements I agree with hence consider accurate, and some that are not.
 
L

Louie'sDad

Guest
Two obvious "grammatical/structural/prose(?)" errors first, so before any debate starts, let's first point out the contradictions.

1. Sentences 2 & 3: "with F1 hybrid male cats usually being the largest". And "F1 and F2 hybrids are usually the largest................." So, which is correct?

2. Sentence 6: "Early-generation Savannahs can weigh 20 lbs or more, with the higher weight usually attributed to the F2 or F3 neutered males......................" "Early generation" implies "F1". To me, this quote means that F1's should weigh less than 20 pounds, including F1 neutered males. One would thing that the higher % serval contained in the cat, the taller and longer ("larger") it would be, since servals weigh upwards 40 pounds.

Can some of the experts try to straighten out the above before debating "size" v "length" v "height" v "weight"? As a novice, I noticed that "weight" is not valid because a high % Savannah, being tall and long and slim, might weigh less than a low % Savannah which is neither as tall nor as long.

I agree with Brigitte that "large" needs to be defined. I don't know what Paige and Trish mean by "large".
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
F1 and F2 males are usually the largest...

EG (Early Gen) refers to F1, F2 and F3 usually...

The thing is we do NOT concentrate on weight because of the muscle to fat ratio of savannah cats...and not just Eg or high % savannahs...I forget what serval percent Louis is, but there is also a debate on what is considered high %...

But...F1 males do weigh less than 20 pounds for the most part...you just cannot use all those generalizations...many servals weigh less than 40 pounds...savannahs are hybrids and while the serval may be 35 pounds, the Mom may be 10 pounds...
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
Early generation should include F1 certainly but not just F1. Generally, it includes F1 and F2 and some would include F3 also. I don't interpret it to mean that F1s weigh less than 20lbs but more that the "or more" tends to be the F2 or F3 neutered male. It implies though that the F1 probably still should be 20lbs... yes, one might think that the F1 is the largest but that is not what we've seen. As I said, the world's tallest cat is an F2...somehow the genes work out that it is that further generation that can sometimes get the larger size. I do think though that when one goes to "high percentage" F1s then likely they get closer and closer to Serval size, and at some point would be indistinguishable from a Serval in looks and weight/height.

The term "largest" is simply problematic...it depends on how one is measuring the cat. So one should be more specific and say tallest or heaviest or both. But most people only ask about size as weight I have found over the years, when asking "how big" a Savannah might get they are asking in terms of weight. Sadly most do not get what you do that the tall and long cats might not weigh as more as the chunkier models...
 
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