Savannah
The extreme end of the scale: tall, powerful, and not to be handled.
- tall
- powerful
- tireless
- water-obsessed
- bold
- needs occupation
Why you are a Savannah
You are the most intense person on this list and you make no apology for it. You are tall, athletic, and physically capable of things that startle people. You want to be high up, outdoors, or in water, and you want something to be happening. Affection on your terms, yes; being picked up and held, absolutely not. You are not a cat who fits into a household so much as one a household organises itself around.
The real Savannah
A deliberately developed hybrid of the domestic cat with the African serval. TICA accepted it for registration in 2001 and granted championship on 1 May 2012; TICA's judging materials indicate the cat shown in championship is the SBT Savannah, requiring at least three generations of Savannah-to-Savannah breeding. CFA does not recognise the breed at all — it is absent from CFA's 45-breed list. The first documented cross was on 7 April 1986 in Pennsylvania; the widely repeated attribution to "Judee Frank" is not supported by the primary source, which is signed by Suzi Wood and describes the serval sire as her own.
- Registry status
- TICA: yes — registration 2001, championship 1 May 2012. CFA: NO — absent from CFA's 45-breed list.
- Origin
- USA, first documented cross 7 April 1986 in Pennsylvania — a hybrid of domestic cat with African serval (Leptailurus serval).
- Coat
- TICA's standard: short to medium, slightly coarse, with spotted pattern only; notably, the spots have a softer texture than the surrounding guard hairs.
- Size (registry wording)
- TICA publishes no weight figure and states that size appears nowhere in the standard except that the cat "closely resembles its ancestral source the African Serval, but is smaller in stature." TICA notes they are "tall and lanky, making them appear heavier than actual size."
- Weight — commonly cited, not registry-verified
- Varies enormously by filial generation and must not be averaged: early-generation males roughly 8–11 kg (17.6–24.3 lb), later show-eligible generations roughly 6.3–8.2 kg (13.9–18.1 lb). All numeric weights are commercial or government-assessment sources, not registry figures.
- Lifespan — commonly cited by breed guides
- 12–15+ years (TICA, unusually a registry-sourced figure). Not in the VetCompass breed table.
A note on those two figures. No cat registry publishes numeric weight ranges — CFA and TICA standards are descriptive — so any weight you see anywhere, including here, comes from commercial sources. And the two lifespan rows measure different things: life expectancy at birth includes kittens that do not survive, so it runs lower than the ranges breed guides quote. They are shown separately because averaging them would produce a number that is true of nothing.
Honestly, what is hard about a Savannah?
The most demanding outcome here by a wide margin: a tall, powerful, tireless cat needing genuine daily exercise, and one whose ownership is restricted or prohibited outright in several US jurisdictions — never a casual first cat.
Documented in the breed
TICA names pyruvate kinase deficiency and progressive retinal atrophy as conditions breeders screen for, and notes a history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the breed. Beyond the registry's own statement, breed-specific predispositions are not widely documented in the veterinary literature — Cornell's Feline Health Center, for instance, does not include the Savannah among breeds predisposed to HCM.
This is general, descriptive information about a breed, drawn from registry statements and veterinary literature. It is not veterinary advice and says nothing about any individual cat.
One more thing
Legality is regulated by generation, and the thresholds are not uniform: New York State permits hybrids five generations removed from a wild felid, Massachusetts requires three, while New York City, Nebraska and Rhode Island have no generation exception at all. Check your local law.
The other 17 results
While you are here
- Cat Name Generator — thousands of names by colour, theme and gender.
- Cat Age Calculator — convert cat years to human years, with a full chart.
- Cat Personality Test — profile your own cat instead of yourself.
Quiz results are for entertainment. Breed information is general and descriptive, is not veterinary advice, and does not describe any individual cat. For questions about your own cat's health, please consult your veterinarian.