Since then, a whole menagerie of "living room leopards" has been spawned, including the Bristol (domestic cat/margay), the Chausie (domestic cat/jungle cat), the Cheetoh (Bengal/ocicat), the Jungle-bob (Pixie-bob/jungle cat) and the Pantherette (Pixie-bob/Asian leopard cat).
And perhaps the most popular of all, the Savannah - half domestic cat, half African Serval.
The first known Savannah was born April 7, 1986, when a female domestic cat gave birth to a kitten sired by a Serval, an African wildcat that weighs up to 50 pounds and eats everything from birds and hares to deer and gazelles. TICA accepted the Savannah breed for registration in 2001, and the Savannah was accepted for Championship status by TICA in 2012.
Joyce Sroufe is generally recognized as the founder of the Savannah breed, and her cat-making business, A1 Savannah Cattery, is not only the world's first Savannah cattery, but also the one responsible for breeding the largest domesticated house cat documented in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Savannahs are classified by percentage of Serval; "F1 Savannahs" are at least 53 percent Serval, and a female can cost up to $35,000. On the lower end of the scale are "SBT Savannah" kittens, which are "pure" Savannahs that have only Savannahs as parents for at least three generations; these kittens cost up to $9,000 a pop. A1 recommends the SBT type for a family with other pets and children because, "their personality and size are better forseeable [sic] and the temperament is predictable." Which is important, presumably, when one is bringing wild animals into a home with children.
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