Savannah Cats
A Savannah is the result of crossing an African Serval and a domestic cat. Usually
an Egyptian Mau, or Bengal, but other breeds are used for the cross with Servals.
Savannahs did not gain recognition until the late 1990. The first known Savannah
(the original pairing of an Aftican Serval and a domestic cat) was achieved in the
Mid 1980’s by breeder Judee Frank. The F1 female resulting from this breeding was
named “Savannah”, and most appropriately, is the official name of this fascinating
breed. However, the breed was actually named after the savannahs of Africa -
Patrick Kelly, who purchased one of Savannah’s kittens was enchanted with Judee’s fabulous new cats. His enthusiasm and vision led to the establishment of a new domestic breed based on the Serval/domestic cat cross. With this enthusiasm he began the research into what steps would be needed to be recognized and accepted by an official feline registry. Armed with that information he approached several breeders who has Servals and encouraged them to attempt the development of this breed. Initially, very few breeders were interested. The crossing is very expensive and the success rate is low. But with persistence, Patrick finally convinced one breeder, Joyce Sroufe, to join him in his efforts. Patrick and Joyce wrote the original breed standard and presented it to the TICA Board of Directors in 1996. Today, Patrick’s well known SavannahCat.com is the foremost promoter of this breed on the internet and he has also had much success promoting Savannahs in “Cat Fancy” magazine.
These people’s pioneering lead to other breeders working with Servals and Savannahs. Among those are Phyllis Koch. It is from her that our foundation Savannah, Ashanti, was obtained. Ashanti is an F2 Savannah with a beautiful body and great disposition. She is crossed with our Egyptian Mau to produce beautiful F3 kittens. Please check out our kitten page for Savannah kittens available.
Savannah Kitten