F2 Savannah Cat

F2 Savannah cat Motzie. Image: public domain.

There are links below to plenty of F2s! Whatever the generation, what a cat; the look on this cat's face is so alert and intelligent.

The F2 Savannah Cat is one of the largest domestic cats if you place no restrictions on your assessment of size in terms of cat associations recognition (except for the Serval which when domesticated or tamed is the largest or of course the F1 Savannah cat - see e.g. Magic). The F2 Savannah is probably the most "impressive" looking domestic cat of them all. This is a complete giant of a domestic cat and I don't use the word in the sense of large as this cat is not that large. No, I mean in the sense of the wow factor.

There is quite a lot of talk on the internet about the Ashera GD, Life Style Pets Inc. hypoallergenic cat that looks like an early generation Savannah. People say she is! There is talk of the best Savannah catteries supplying Life Style Pets Inc. (Allerca cats) with their cats. One importation into the Netherlands of an Ashera was stopped and made the news. The airport authorities thought it might a wild cat (it is partly!). Update: the Ashera GD is a F1 Savannah cat and Savannah cats are hypoallergenic but no science is available on this.

As you probably know the Savannah is a wild cat hybrid, crossing a Serval with a domestic cat. The F2 Savannah is second generation. They are high input cats (meaning you'll have to give a higher than normal level of attention), alpha type cats. I'd read the page on this website about the Savannah if you are thinking of adopting. It may pay to read about her character which is similar to the Bengal cat character another wildcat hybrid.

Wild cat hybrids at F2 level bond well with their human keeper but demand attention apparently (read about Helmi Flick's thoughts on the Chausie another wildcat hybrid). There are legal requirements too (I've mentioned this on the Savannah page). Laws change and there is currently I think a bit of a shift in opinion by the legislators against the wildcat hybrids in the USA. In the UK they are still wildcats technically. The first thing I'd do is check the legal position before you do anything else.

F2 Savannah Cat to Abyssinian Cat

Siamese Cat Coloring

Flame Point Siamese Cat – photo ©bonsaibutterfly

Siamese Coloring depends on whether your talking about the Traditional Siamese cat, the Modern Siamese cat, a type in between and whether the cat is purebred or not and whether you're concerned about complying with cat association standards. 

Non-purebred 

There are many lovely Siamese cats that miserably fail cat association standards and have slightly dodgy pointing etc. These are Siamese mixes, non-purebred. These cats commonly have the classic seal pointing (dark brown, black looking). The original Siamese cat imports to the West were seal point. Most people seem also to keep the Traditional Siamese. Sometimes the pointing is not pure (broken).

Purebred 

But you've really got to start at the top and that is the Cat Fanciers Association's breed standard. The CFA doesn't recognize the original type of Siamese cat, the one we know. For them the Siamese cat is the super slender and long cat with a thin head. This cat, if she is a show cat, is allowed to have 4 types of Siamese cat coloring (pointing). They are the classic pointing colors of seal, blue, lilac and chocolate. 

See a chart on this page (opens to the main website and the traditional Siamese - scroll down). Interestingly, The International Cat Association (TICA) who have recently decided (wisely) to recognize the Traditional Siamese, place (as far as I can see) less restrictions on pointing color. So their standard on the Thai (Trad. Siamese) is both traditional and modern in the opposite way to the CFA (Modern conformation, traditional pointing). 

TICA recognize both the Traditional (called the Thai now) and the Modern (called the Siamese). For the Thai there appears to be no restriction ("appropriate for color class") and for the Siamese the rule is "all pointed colors". I tend to limit the discussion on cat associations to the USA as there are conflicting views worldwide as to breed standards and cat breed classification. Plus the US is by far the largest domestic cat "market". 

However, a quick check on the UK premier registry (GCCF) tells me that they allow a wide range of Siamese cat coloring. They list self-pointed - meaning solid color pointing as opposed to broken pointing (tabby), tabby-pointed (the agouti gene having an impact on the pointing), tortie-pointed (tortoiseshell affected pointing). 

The self-pointed cats under the GCCF standard would appear to cover a very wide range including, but going beyond, the classic 4 allowed by the CFA (above). You can see a posting about pointed cats generally (not restricted to the Siamese) by clicking here. More Siamese cat coloring - click this link to see more of Whitaker (heading this post) a gorgeous Flame Point Siamese cat and this link to see a Lynx Point Siamese cat. 

Both wouldn't be allowed by the CFA, both would be allowed by TICA as Thai cats. The Flame Point could be a show cat. The best place to see the Modern and Traditional is on the main website. Click these links for the Modern and Traditional Siamese cats. Siamese Cat Coloring to Abyssinian Cat

Cat Vaccinations

Cat Vaccinations can kill. Obviously they are for the benefit of the cat (often a kitten) as they protect the cat from harmful infection. But a quick look at how they work informs us as to why a vaccination can have the opposite effect.

Another word for vaccination is immunization. Vaccination works by priming the body's immune system and making it more effective. This is done by injecting the disease for which immunization is sought into the body. That sounds crazy but if the injected pathogen (bacteria or viruses) is live but weakened or dead then they do not make you get the disease but simply trigger your immune system to make it more ready and able to deal with the infection should it come along.

Sometimes however a negative reaction can take place. This after all should not surprise us as kittens are quite fragile and we are injecting them with a virus!

I don't know of the numbers of cat vaccinations gone wrong but they are probably low but significant enough to take note of. Cats can get cancer from vaccines or simply catch the disease from the vaccine. Vaccines can induce life long health problems and kill. These are not that uncommon. A lot of discussion has taken place as to where to inject the vaccination to minimize cancer in the area or minimize the danger from vaccine induced cancer. I am using the word "can" here as clearly most often the benefits of cat vaccinations far outway the detriments.

Why are cat vaccinations routinely given then? Vets recommend a yearly booster. Well if I was being a bit cynical, I'd say a factor was money, the pharmaceutical companies and bread and butter income for the veterinarian surgeries . Vets make a lot of their income from vaccinations and they are in business. When you mix health with the need for profit you don't always get the the right answers.

Most cat keepers follow the vets advice as they don't know better - fair enough. The next time your at the vets ask him/her how many bad reactions cats have to vaccinations. I'd also stay around the vets surgery after a vaccination to make sure all is well. If not you can go back quickly.

In my opinion an older cat doesn't need boosters if she has had vaccinations for many years.

Here is some more on cat vaccination recommendations.

Source:

1. Wiki (on vaccinations)
2. Breeders (on negative effects)
3. Myself from general knowledge
   

From Cat Vaccinations to vaccination recommendations

Lynx Point Siamese Cats

Lynx Point Siamese Cats - photo jade-rabbit

In the cat world you will find a wide range of appearances of any one type or breed of cat. In the example of the Lynx Point Siamese Cats the range will be particularly wide because there is more than one type of marking called "Lynx Point" and more than one type of cat called a "Siamese Cat".

There are officially 2 types of Siamese Cat (and a spectrum in between). One the one hand you have the Traditional Siamese, now called a Thai by The International Cat Association (TICA), the only American association as far as I am aware to register what is the original Siamese cat. Siamese cat history is interesting for its development to the Modern Siamese (or contemporary Siamese). The modern is skinny with a pointed head and the Traditional has a look that we expect to see in a cat (more rounded and normal). In between we have the classic look.

The cat above is traditional in conformation and very handsome. As for the pointing you can see more photos on pointing generally by clicking on this link. There are at least two different types of Lynx pointing (a) seal lynx pointing which is the classic seal point broken up by the tabby gene. You can immediately see the lynx point because of the classic "M" marking on the forehead and (b) blue lynx pointing, which is a dilute form of the lynx. When black is diluted by a modifier gene it becomes blue. The tabby markings become more dilute as a result and a little blue. The pointing is obviously softer.

The cat above has the lynx markings, totally undiluted. I suspect that he/she is not one of the classic purebred Lynx Point Siamese Cats (wrong? - please tell me) but a fine cat nonetheless. As I said at the beginning there is a wide a range of cats that do not fit the breed standards and wouldn't win prizes but are great cats.

Photo copyright Helmi Flick

Above: This cat is not a Siamese (guess that is obvious) but is shown here to illustrate the Seal Lynx point pattern. You can see the same marking on the legs and face as the cat heading this post. The body color though is more inline with the breed standard I suspect.


Lynx Point Siamese Cats to Home Page

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Bengal cats

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Bengal cats in something that has only now (somewhat late in the day) come to my notice. I have just seen an article on Tufts website referring to the Sept. 2007 conference. This posting is not a "knock the Bengal Cat" post. I love all cats. The natural instinct for breeders and those involved in the cat fancy is to be quiet about problems. This is natural to protect business.

The problem of HCM in Bengal cats would seem to have been dealt with quietly. Breeders realize, though, that it is for the best in the long term to discuss the difficult subjects, openly. They do in fact discuss breeding issues on forums such as Yahoo Groups. It is essential to do so for the welfare of the cats. It is not compatible with good cat breeding (an ethical approach to breeding) to knowingly or recklessly breed cats that might have an inherited disorder that shortens the life of the cat and has a negative impact on their welfare and/or the breed generally.

It is with surprise and sadness that I have discovered that the Bengal cat breed suffers from two heritable disorders. I have made posts on the first disorder, HCM. Read this for basic information on HCM and this for HCM and the Bengal Cat. PRA also affects Abyssinian cats.

The other is what Tufts calls is a "novel" version of this disease. As I understand it "novel" means distinct or unique to the Bengal Cat as this disease affects other cat breeds. This disease is caused by gene mutation. Different genes in the Bengal cat have mutated to those in the Persian cat, which has a version that starts early in the cat's life and the Abyssinian has a version that is "late onset".

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Bengal cats is mid term so it starts neither early or later in the life of the cat. The Tufts speaker said that in at least 10 Bengal cats the mutated gene can be traced back to a common ancestor 3-6 generations earlier.

I presume that there is ongoing work on this. I have not heard of Bengal Cat breeders talk of this disorder except once. Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Bengal cats causes the cat to go blind I understand. Ask about this when adopting a Bengal cat (or indeed a Persian or Abyssinian).

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Bengal cats to Bengal cats


Retinal Atrophy
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is a group of genetic diseases seen in certain breeds of dogs and, more rarely, cats. It is characterized by the bilateral degeneration of the retina, causing progressive vision loss culminating in blindness. The condition in nearly all breeds is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait (the section in grey is a Wikipedia® verbatim copy of a part of a larger article)

There have been 2 studies (there may have been more subsequently). One took place in Sweden, the other England. The Swedish cats inherited the disease through an autosomal recessive gene the English cats a autosomal dominant gene.

The English type has been classified as rod-cone dysplasia. This type of PRA has an early onset of severe vision loss. It is caused by a defect in the gene for cGMP-phosphodiesterase, which leads to retinal levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate ten times normal (the section in grey is a Wikipedia® verbatim copy of a part of a larger article)

The Swedish PRA disease can progress slowly allowing the cat to adjust and masking the condition as cats do so well in using other senses (see blind cat and blind cat dignity). The disease caused severe vision loss.

Cat breeds affected: Abyssinian, Bengal


Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Bengal cats - Wikipedia
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