Savannah: a description of the breed, especially the nature and content

Savanna is a rare breed of cats with a unique cheetah color. These amazing cats are distinguished by a sharp mind, excellent health, and are also known to the whole world because of their great value up to 20 thousand dollars. In this article you will learn about the description of this breed, the nature of individual individuals, as well as the conditions of their detention.

Savannah is an extremely young breed, which appeared only at the end of the XX century. Around the 60s after World War II, breeders began to actively breed and cross different types of pets. Among them was also a wild African cat Serval.

Around the 80s of the 20th century, a large number of nurseries appeared in the territory of America that were engaged in breeding these wild pets. At that time, the fashion for exotic animals was very popular and many celebrities preferred to buy leopards, cheetahs and even tigers into their farms. Serval's domestication was to some extent an attempt to reduce the pressure on wildlife and at the same time provide richer people with animals that would be more suitable for the definition of a pet.

Almost at the same time, one of the owners of cat farms that were popular at that time had the idea to bring one wild serval to their farm. The new pet quickly adapted to the new life and soon found a companion for himself - the Siamese cat Juti. It was this cat who in 1986 produced several kittens, among which was one spotted girl, who with all her appearance reminded her of her wild father. She inherited from him such qualities as strength, grace, natural beauty and excellent health, but from her mother, according to the hostess, she received the most important thing for any breeder - love and affection for people.

The girl was given the name Savannah for her amazing color and similarity with the cheetah. This generation, a mixture of Siamese domestic cat and serval, was named F1. Very soon, already from the pedigree Angora cat, Savannah gave birth to several kittens, the generation of which was named F2.

Then the breed was subjected to multiple breeding surveys of another breeder and breeder - Patrick Kelly, who bought one of the born kittens. The result of these experiments was the official announcement in 1996 of savannah cats as a completely individual breed. The first standard of this variety was adopted by the International Association of Cats.

Many may be familiar with this breed due to the loud cause of Simon Brody. This is a famous cheater, who at the end of the 20th century, using a small breed, as well as numerous marketing techniques, literally proclaimed this cat to be his new, independently bred breed called Asher. The name of the alleged breed came from the name of the goddess of the West-mythist mythology.

The emergence of a "new breed" on the market caused a real sensation. Even despite the huge cost of about 20 thousand dollars, many collectors and the rich began to order their unusual cats to their homes. They were not only unusual in the exotic plan, but also, according to the assurances of the selling company, they had a sharp mind and a friendly character.The company also stated that it is the only breed in the world that required daily walks on a leash, which is why Ashera was able to enter the market not only for cats, but also for dog lovers.

Over time, the popularity of this breed began to reach the point of absurdity: the price has increased significantly, and the queues for the purchase of one individual began to stretch for years to come. At the same time, none of the rich people who bought the cat had any idea that their most rare and prestigious breed in the world was already known in world society.

Exposing the activities of Simon Brody came only in 2008. While a photo of a new and scandalous breed was spreading throughout the world’s press, Chris Shirk, a breeder of this rare breed in Pennsylvania, noticed one of these newspapers. His experience and knowledge helped shed light on the real origin of the mysterious breed of Asher. This disclosure and ended the campaign of Simon Brody, but even after the exposure, this breed has not lost its popularity. Moreover, many breeders even now use the name of the breed Asher in their advertisements, which gives their ignorance in terms of history and thoroughbredness of this type of cats.

All other varieties of savannas, the so-called F3, F4, and so on, are the result of the selection of a serval with other purebred breeds.. It is believed that the greater the number after the letter F, the smaller in this variety of data purebred African serval. Another known species of savanna is a species created by crossing the serval and the Egyptian Mau cat.

Despite the tireless work of international breeders, savanna remains one of the rarest breeds - there are at best several thousand purebreds around the world. Most of them are kept in nurseries in the US and the UK, the rest is in private breeders or wealthy people around the globe.

There is a mythical opinion that the genetic material of real cheetahs was used in the formation of the savannah breed by the breeders. All the grace, dexterity and natural beauty of these wild animals was embodied in the miniature look of a pet.

It is necessary to consider in more detail the features of the exterior of such cats.

• Head. Correct and proportional, with respect to the body has a medium size. Wears the shape of an equilateral triangle (excluding ears). The cheeks stand out slightly against the background of the muzzle, the mustache is long, frequent, white.

• Ears. Auricles of large size, in a quiet position set perpendicularly, with the open side looking forward. The tips of the ears, as a rule, are round, without brushes. Set wide, but the distance between the bases above the brow ridges is only 1.5-2 cm.

• Eyes. Standard round or almond shape, small in size. Set wide enough (the distance between the eyes is equal to the length of one eye). The iris is usually sandy, gently green or honeyed - regardless of the color itself.

• Muzzle and nose - quite wide, but smoothly stand out against the whole head. The front part of the face is white or light in color, like the cheeks with a mustache. Nose dark, gray or reddish tone.

• Chin. Massive, smooth and proportional, covered with thick hair, looks harmonious with the muzzle. The bottom of the white or light color.

• Housing. Significantly elongated, wide, regular shape. Covered with a thick layer of cheetah fur with dark spots. The shoulders and hips are strong, the bones are moderate.

• Rib cage wide, stands out from the limbs in a sitting position.It is thanks to this kind of posture and the convex chest of a savannah cat that are considered aristocrats in their family.

• Limbs. The paws are very long, with well-pronounced musculature, covered with a thick layer of wool. The hind legs are more powerful than the front ones and are much longer in size. The paws themselves are medium in size, the pads are large, oval or round in shape, the color is dark or black.

• Neck. Oblong, but not particularly thick. Flexible, smoothly moving to the head.

• Tail. Medium length, not particularly wide, narrowed at the tip. It has a characteristic striped color (most often black and copper). The tip color is usually dark.

• Hair coat. Absolutely a layer covers absolutely all parts of the cat's body, on the back and the muzzle a little thinner, on the chest and stomach, on the contrary, much longer. The color is predominantly cheetah or slightly darker - yellowish, wheaten or white at the base with frequent dark spots along the whole body. The texture of the coat is coarse, springy, thick.

Below you will be able to familiarize yourself with the standards characteristic of cats of this breed.

• Savannah refers to breeds of cats with an extremely massive physique and body. Because of this, an individual can reach a weight of up to 15 kg. The largest females weigh much less than males and rarely reach 10 kg.
• Already on reaching the semiannual age, the savannah can grow up to 40 cm in height (at the withers), and by the age of majority, which comes about 2.5-3 years old, can grow even up to half a meter.
• average life expectancy. Servals, who are the founders of this breed of cats, live in the wild for no longer than 12 years. However, with the help of breeding and domestication today, they and their direct descendants (savanna) can live at home for up to 17-20 years. Before buying such a pet, you should understand that it will become your friend for a very long time.
• approximate cost. Purebreds can be sold for 10-20 thousand dollars. Individuals with external defects, bad documents, or a tainted pedigree can sell for $ 600 or more. The price also depends on the uniqueness and correctness of color and sex, the health of the animal.

Savannah, as well as representatives of the Rex breed, belong to extremely friendly pets. Their main feature is the attachment to the owner and the constant need for attention. Even in mature and old age, these cats do not cease to engage in climbing, constantly mischievous and do not tolerate long sitting in one place.

Listed below are the distinctive traits of the savannah cats.

• Devotion and affection. From the very first day, when this pet appears in your house, get ready to accompany you everywhere. When you go to cook, he will sit in front of you and will be watching the whole process with interest. When you lie down to rest, he will lie down near you and will rumble quite under your side.

• Activity and thirst for adventure. For these cats a large area with climbing obstacles is vital. The same applies to active games and entertainment, without which these cats can not live a day. Such restlessness has its price - often savannas, yielding to excitement, can turn over or overturn something fragile. In addition, savannas are very inquisitive and often love to pop into closed spaces for them.

• Passion for everything edible and inedible. The curiosity of these cats often leads to the damage of various techniques and decor items. At a young age, they begin active growth of claws and teeth, and without a good scraper, they switch to furniture, curtains, love to chew laces and chew on wires.

• If the cat is in the apartment of his owner, he feels completely protected.. Mostly savannahs are great for new family members, children, guests, and even other pets (although they prefer the dominant position in such relationships). They are difficult to call bully or aggressors. However, some individuals are extremely timid and can simply run away and hide at the sight of a new man in the house.

• Unlike most cats, savannahs are great for water treatments. Here we are not talking about a full bath, but about water games and entertainment. Especially these pets love to play with toys floating in the water. They also like to put their paws in the water to cool, wash or play.

• Savannah are smart enough to remember a few commands., they can bring on your order some things or perform tricks. Training will not last long - these cats have inborn data for training and domestication.

• In the minus some other cat breeds, these different patient character. In the absence of the owner of the house they are able to remain calm for a long time and just wait, while always finding what to do if the owners left enough toys at home. When the owner returns, the savanna will meet like a real dog - it can not only curl around the legs and rub against their heads, but also simply jump on their arms or shoulders.

• Cats of this breed are tolerant to caress and stroking. If the animal needs your attention, it will give a sign - it will spin near the legs, ask on your knees or purr. The rest of the time, savannas either play on their own or just relax and watch the owner’s actions.

There is a direct dependence of the savanna color on the breed of cats, the material of which served to cross a certain individual. As a rule, the material is taken from a purebred serval and a completely different breed of cat.

This breed has several individual colors. The name of the color indicates the dominance of this shade in the whole appearance of the animal. As for the cheetah spots, they always remain a dark, black or brown shade.

There are the following color options:

• silver or platinum;
• brown or dark honey;
• dark chocolate;
• golden or wheat;
• tabby cinnamon (pale or pale brown color).

There is also a list of certain external features that determine the suitability of an individual for exhibitions and competitions.

Defects of appearance are:

• white oval spots on the chest or abdomen;
• cheetah spots have an extraordinary color, lighter than brown and black;
• the spots are completely absent, the color consists of dark-colored tiger stripes against the background of the main color.

As has already been said many times, Servala are direct relatives of the savannas. It is thanks to the good health of these wild cats and their adaptability to adverse environmental conditions that savannas do not need any special care.

You can see the list of sample recommendations for the care of these pets below.

• House. The savanna should have its own place where the pet can rest, sleep and eat.It can be both houses and special beds for cats. The house should be in a warm place, after all the servals themselves live in Africa, which means they are accustomed to a lot of natural heat. There should be no drafts, wet corners or frequent airing near the house.

• Water. Provide constant access to drinking water. Many breeders report that an animal prefers to swim in such water and pollutes it, in this case it is recommended to put two tanks. The first is for water: the bowl must be heavy enough so that the cat does not turn it over. The second tank is more voluminous so that it is more convenient for the cat to take baths.

• Interior. All small and fragile items that you have on the tables, shelves and cabinets should be removed on the first day of the settlement of the animal in the apartment. Almost certainly in the course of the games, the pet will damage them or smash them, and it may even get hurt. The same goes for home flowers - many of them, especially violet, euphorbia, ficus, azalea and kalanchoe, can be deadly for your cats. Similar attention should be paid to household appliances and chemistry. Do not let the animal into the bathroom, which is full of harmful powders, mixtures and gels. Also hide all the wires that are visible. Special attention should be paid to curtains and furniture, about which these cats love to sharpen claws. Immediately you should stop these attempts and give the animal a special scraper.

• Wool. Savannah has a rather thick hair covering, because of which they can leave a lot of wool on furniture and clothes. To cope with this, you should buy a special comb for combing fleas or gloves. So you can kill two birds with one stone.

• Entertainment. As already mentioned, these animals do not tolerate boredom and prolonged rest. Therefore, before you get such an exotic pet, you should buy him some interesting toys. Also, these pets love to climb various obstacles, so you should think about placing special racks for such games in the rooms.

• Hygiene. Remember to pay attention to basic hygiene procedures. These include haircuts of regrown claws, brushing teeth, washing the eyes, examining and cleaning the ears of dirt and sulfur. The animal is unlikely to be delighted with such procedures, so you should distract him by letting him chew on a treat.

• Upbringing. In no case do not beat these animals, otherwise they will become angry and aggressive, and they remember the offense for a long time. Resort to the method of promotion, try to associate some lessons with the supply of certain delicacies.

• Content. In small apartments with limited squares such pets should not be started, they will be too small for this lover of entertainment. The best option would be the maintenance of savanna in a large country house with constant access to the street.

• Dog training and lessons should be carried out regularly and sometimes return to the already passed material. If an animal is extremely agitated at some point and flatly refuses to practice, leave it alone for a while and then try again.

• Restroom. The latrine should be marked as soon as the animal has stepped on the threshold of your apartment. For a toilet it is worth choosing a special tray with a good filler. The tray should be in an accessible place where the cat could go at any convenient time for her. If you bought a kitten, then at first you will have to put up with dirty corners and puddles.

• Breeding. Initially, savannas were bred in extremely small quantities, and therefore breeders had to cross related individuals. In this case, the kittens were not found any hereditary diseases. That is why the breeding of these animals is considered profitable and not particularly difficult.

Unfortunately, in the whole of Europe there are no more than a couple of such individuals, and therefore it is difficult to say for sure about the most suitable food for this breed. To answer this question, you should contact the ancestors of the breed - the noble servals. In the natural environment, their diet consists only of natural food of animal origin. On the day, young servals should consume at least a kilogram of natural fresh meat for the full development of the body.

To date, there are two schemes for feeding these cats. The first concerns the feeding of exclusively natural products of their own preparation.

This method is good for several reasons.

• Control over quality, quantity and calories. You yourself prepare all the food, which means you can have a complete understanding of the vitamins that the animal's body will receive.
• All cats are preferable to cooked natural food.. It has a natural smell and does not seem dangerous or suspicious to an animal.
• Such food is always varied., because you can add a new product to your diet without worrying that it will spoil the taste or harm the animal.

But this option also has its drawbacks.

• You have added worries about regular cooking. You must constantly monitor and count all calories so that your pet does not have problems with the digestive tract. Not everyone has time for this.
• Such food is much less stored and retains the most useful elements only in the first hours after preparation.
• In natural cooked foods there are no other vital vitamins that are present in every quality feed.

The second feeding scheme concerns feeding savannahs with exceptionally dry food. In this case, only the highest quality feeds are selected. This scheme also has its advantages:

• long storage time of feed in suitable conditions;
• there is no headache about how to prepare a pet for dinner;
• As a rule, contains the most essential vitamins and minerals.

There are also downsides.

• Such food, despite its balance, is not very diverse. The pet quickly gets used to it and can very soon refuse to eat without additional treats.
• Good feeds are very expensive, and this will already affect the financial position of the owner.
• You will never know exactly what is inside such a feed. Many companies prefer to add cheap flakes to feed to give it weight.

So, useful products: raw or boiled meat, offal, turkey, tuna, chicken or minced chicken. In general, always rely on foods high in acid such as taurine.

Dangerous and non-recommended products: most fish products (after all, servals are predators), dairy products (to avoid problems with the gastrointestinal tract). Cereals and crops are given only in minimal quantities as an additive, but not the main feed - the body of savannas is not adapted to the digestion of these crops.

If you took the animal from the nursery or took it from other hands, then you should ask the former owner what he fed the cat with. So you can organize a smooth and uniform transition from old products to new ones. Try to introduce new products, gradually increasing their percentage of content in the daily diet.

Not only the general condition of your pet, but also its lifespan depends on proper feeding. Breeders have proven that balanced feeding can prolong the natural lifespan of this breed for several years.

An adult individual should be fed no more than 3 times a day, but water should be in open access at all times. Allow a strictly defined time for serving food, and also try to strictly maintain the dose of feed to avoid obesity.

In winter, it is necessary to add vitamin supplements and minerals to the diet, this also applies to elderly individuals and pregnant cats.. In the latter case, the amount of feed should be doubled.

Cats of the savannah breed are simply remarkable for their health, they do not have any genetic diseases. Experienced breeders cite the roots of wild servals, who were adapted to even the most severe environmental conditions, as the cause of such a strong immunity.

The main part of the diseases of these cats concerns diseases that are common to all other breeds. More than half of these diseases can be prevented by timely vaccination and regular check-ups at a veterinarian.

These cats also have some predisposition to congenital external defects. Basically, they can not affect the health of your pet, but if you start a pet for sale in breeding farms, then such individuals will be considered defective. As, in general, and their offspring.

To prevent many diseases, it is enough to carefully monitor your pet and its well-being.

Below is a list of symptoms for which you should immediately contact your veterinarian:

• decreased overall activity, excessive lethargy and drowsiness;
• vomiting or regular diarrhea, problems with urination (screams or moans - it is clear that the animal is in pain);
• the appearance of blood in the feces or urine;
• decrease or complete lack of appetite;
• the appearance of lameness;
• increased moisture absorption / frequent urination, including a constant licking of the nose and muzzle;
• the appearance of hematomas, itching or redness on the skin, the animal itches regularly;
• supernatural molt, baldness of certain parts of the body.

See more on the Savannah cats in the next video.