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Breed guide · Cats
She lives on top of the fridge. I've learnt to look up when I walk in.
Last updated 13 October 2026
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What they brought with them.
Tap a card to see what is going on.
At home
On the door, the fridge and the kitchen cupboards, reached from the floor in one leap.
What's going onTheir wild ancestor hunts by leaping, and they have its legs. A route round the room at height gives them somewhere to go that is not the top of the door.
At home
Fetching a toy, following you from room to room, even walking on a lead.
What's going onSavannahs are often called dog-like. They learn fast and need a lot of play. Two or three proper hunts a day, each ending in a catch and a meal, settle them. What owners tell us: most Savannahs have plenty to say, too.
At home
The cupboard open again, and everything in it on the floor.
What's going onBored and clever is a busy combination. Puzzle feeders and food hidden high and low give them something to solve while you are out.
At home
Paws in the water bowl, the bowl tipped over, a visit to the shower.
What's going onWater fascinates them, a leftover from the serval's wetland hunting. A shallow tray of water to play in keeps it on your terms.
At home
Loose stools, or a mess beside the tray instead of in it.
What's going onA sensitive gut can last until about six, and a cat with loose stools will often avoid the tray. Keep their diet steady, and call your vet if it keeps happening.
At home
They stop leaping to the top of the door, and play ends sooner than it used to.
What's going onThis may not be age. Their heart is on their health record at every stage, and their joints from their senior years. A Savannah who stops making the big jumps is worth telling your vet about.
The bit nobody tells you.
Their legs
Built for: Leaping high from a standstill onto prey.
In Dubai: A flat, with the top of the door within reach.
Their drive
Built for: Hunting all day, at any age.
In Dubai: Indoors for life, often many floors up.
Their play
Built for: Open grassland, and as much height as they can find.
In Dubai: Hunts that end in a catch only when you make them happen.
Finding them on top of the door is that leap with nowhere to go.
You cannot give them the grassland, and they do not need it. They need hunts that end in a catch, and a flat they can leap around safely. The ten things below are how.
Your plan is built around what a Savannah is prone to at every age, starting with their heart, and the care that goes with each one.
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Ten things that make their life better.
They need far more play than most cats, and a laser dot they never catch only winds them up.
Every age, busiest from 7 months to 2 years
Why
They need far more play than most cats, and a laser dot they never catch only winds them up.
What to do
Move a wand toy like prey, fast and then still, low and then high. Ten to fifteen minutes, two or three times a day, more on days they are alone. Many Savannahs fetch, so use that too. Let them catch it, then feed them.
A clever cat with nothing to solve will find their own problems, often in your cupboards.
Every age
Why
A clever cat with nothing to solve will find their own problems, often in your cupboards.
What to do
Split their food into small meals. Put some in puzzle feeders and hide some round the flat, high up as well as low. Weigh the day's amount, because obesity (carrying too much weight) can be a risk from seven years old. After neutering, ask for their portion to be reset.
They can clear a door from standing, and that leap will not save them from a fall of several floors.
Every age, most of all kittens and juniors
Why
They can clear a door from standing, and that leap will not save them from a fall of several floors.
What to do
Keep them off the balcony unless it is fully netted, top included, and check the netting for gaps. Fit restrictors on every window that opens. Savannahs learn handles, so lock the balcony door.
Their ancestor hunts by leaping, and up high is where they want to be.
Every age, add steps from 11 years
Why
Their ancestor hunts by leaping, and up high is where they want to be.
What to do
A tall, heavy cat tree fixed to the wall, shelves they can travel along, and a high place in every room they use, plus one enclosed place to hide. As they age, add steps so they can still get up there.
Servals hunt in wet grassland, and water they are allowed to play with keeps them out of the bowl, the shower and the toilet.
Every age
Why
Servals hunt in wet grassland, and water they are allowed to play with keeps them out of the bowl, the shower and the toilet.
What to do
A shallow tray of water with floating toys, on a towel, a few times a week. Add a fountain and a couple of wide bowls, keep the toilet lid down and cover any aquarium. From seven years old, call your vet if they start drinking noticeably more.
Savannahs can have a sensitive gut until they are about six, and loose stools can put a cat off the tray.
Every age, most of all 7 months to 6 years
Why
Savannahs can have a sensitive gut until they are about six, and loose stools can put a cat off the tray.
What to do
One large open tray per cat, plus one, in quiet spots. Scoop daily and notice what the stools look like. Keep their food steady and change it slowly. Call your vet if it keeps happening. A male cat straining, crying or going in and out of the tray with little or nothing coming out may have a blocked bladder. That is an emergency: contact your vet now. If a female cat is straining, contact your vet the same day. A urinalysis (a urine test) is in your plan from their junior years.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle) is a risk for Savannahs at every age, and a busy cat can hide a heart problem.
Every age
Why
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle) is a risk for Savannahs at every age, and a busy cat can hide a heart problem.
What to do
Their vet listens to their heart from the first visit, with a heart scan from their junior years and more as they age, all in your plan. Keep every one of those visits. Fast or shallow breathing while resting should be discussed with your vet immediately, within the same day.
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA, gradual loss of sight) can affect Savannahs, and it shows in dim light first.
Every age
Why
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA, gradual loss of sight) can affect Savannahs, and it shows in dim light first.
What to do
Notice if they hesitate at night, miss a jump they used to make or bump into furniture. If their sight starts to go, keep the furniture where it is and add steps to their high places.
A tall, strong cat who only sees the carrier before a vet visit will fight it. Dental disease can start in their junior years.
Every age, start as a kitten
Why
A tall, strong cat who only sees the carrier before a vet visit will fight it. Dental disease can start in their junior years.
What to do
Pick a carrier big enough for them, and leave it out with a blanket in it. Once a week, touch their paws, ears and mouth, lift their lip to look at their gums, then give them a treat. Start brushing as a kitten, a few seconds at a time, with cat toothpaste. An annual dental evaluation (teeth and gum check) is in your plan from their junior years.
A slow change in weight or energy is easy to miss day to day, and a vet can tell you whether it is just age.
Every age, most of all from 7 years
Why
A slow change in weight or energy is easy to miss day to day, and a vet can tell you whether it is just age.
What to do
Weigh yourself holding them, then without them, and write down the difference. Once a week, feel along their ribs and spine. Notice if they stop using their highest places, and call your vet about any steady gain or loss.
Three of these are in your plan. The rest you can do at home.
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Their health, at every age.
How old are they?
Their age
the first six months
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
7 months to 2 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
2 to 6 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
7 to 10 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
11 to 14 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
15 years and over
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Breed predispositions indicate an increased risk rather than certainty of disease. What is right for them always comes from their own history and an evaluation.
Before they come home.
Different types of Savannah cats
Every Savannah has a serval somewhere in the family, and the papers say how far back. F1 means a serval parent, F2 a serval grandparent, F3 a great-grandparent. SBT is a cat several generations on, bred Savannah to Savannah. An F1 or F2 is usually bigger, more wary and more demanding than a later generation.
Colours
Savannahs wear dark spots on a brown or silver coat. Some are black, and some are black smoke.
The first six months
Their vaccinations, microchip and Dubai Municipality registration come first, and the vet listens to their heart and looks at their eyes from the first visit. Start the carrier, the handling and short wand-toy hunts now, and teach them early that hands are not toys.
Kitten health, 0 to 6 months
Getting the home ready
Net the balcony, top included, and fit restrictors to the windows before they arrive. Add a tall cat tree fixed to the wall, two large trays and a shallow water tray, and keep the toilet lid down from day one.
Ten things that make their life better
Before you commit
Ask which generation the kitten is, and plan the flat around it. If the kitten is coming from abroad and is F1 to F4, CITES, the international wildlife trade agreement, counts them as a serval, so they need permits to travel: speak to MOCCAE, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, before you book. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle) can affect a Savannah at any age, so ask whether the kitten's parents have had a heart scan.
Before the clinics open
AED 1,999 of essential care for AED 199. No payment now.
If it's a kitten: First 30 days with a new kitten · Kitten vaccinations in the UAE
When it is not behaviour.
She'll still be on top of the fridge. If she stops making the jump, call your vet.
Before they were yours.
Sub-Saharan Africa
A tall, long-legged wild cat of grassland and wetland. It finds rodents in long grass by listening, then drops on them from a high leap.
What they still carryThe legs, the ears, the leap and the drive.
7 April 1986, the United States
A breeder, Judee Frank, crossed a male serval with a Siamese. The kitten was named Savannah, and the breed took her name.
What they still carryThe first kitten's name, and the start of everything that followed.
1989 to 2001
Breeders bred on from Savannah's kittens, choosing the calmer cats, and wrote a breed standard in 1996. The International Cat Association accepted the Savannah for registration in 2001.
What they still carryA wild parent still close behind the breed.
2012
The International Cat Association gave the Savannah championship status for cats of the fourth generation onwards. Early generations are still bred as pets.
What they still carryTwo very different cats under one name: an F1, and an SBT cat several generations on.
Today
Here, Savannahs mostly live indoors, often in flats.
What they still carryA serval's leap and energy, in an air-conditioned flat.
The ones you type at midnight.
If the Savannah suits you, so might these.
BengalThe same kind of cat: the other wild-cross breed, from the Asian leopard cat, more compact, in spots or a swirling marble
Egyptian MauThe same spotted, athletic look, in a much smaller natural breed with no wild cross and a quieter voice
AbyssinianThe same endless play and love of company, in a smaller, ticked cat with a quieter voice
Oriental ShorthairA similar easy short coat and the same ease in warm rooms, in a smaller, slender cat with even more to say
