Savannah Cat Rescue

I built a page on Savannah cat rescue for two reasons. Firstly, to help make this site more visible - a selfish reason (although money earned from this site goes back to cats). The second is because I am a great fan of the genuine people involved in cat rescue. Their work needs to be promoted whenever possible and none more so than the first rescue operation I'd like to mention.

It is hard to understand how such a lovely and popular cat needs rescuing sometimes. This breed is just outside the top 10 most popular

- opens in a new window. This is a Google spreadsheet showing the top ten most popular cats as voted for by visitors to this site.

I have referred to three sources of information about Savannah cat rescue: USA rescue, UK rescue and some general rescue sites and links that might help.

USA

Things have changed and Savannah Rescue have their own site just for rescue rather than as a page on the Savannah Cat Club website. This is the link to their site:

Savannah Rescue

They have a Yahoo Group which is a great way to get involved. They recommend that anyone who would like to rescue a Savannah cat start at their Yahoo Group. You'll have to join but this is an easy process and you will receive email updates automatically. The group is not a chat group, more an email notification list. For people who have not tried Yahoo Groups before, they are simply groups of people with a shared interest who communicate via email to the entire group at one time. This is the link:

SV-Rescue

Savannah Rescue accept donations via Paypal, a very simple process to help Savannah cats. At the time of writing (18th June 2009), Brigitte Cowell, the rescue coordinator says this,

"right now we are fund raising for the Las Cruces, NM rescue situation even though only a small number of the cats surrendered were Savannahs, we want to help the wonderful breeder that stepped up to take them all in and help find new homes! You can see a description of that effort on the website."

To do my little bit Pictures of Cats org (see donations) has donated $100 today 18th June 2009.

There was (still is?) a lovely story on the Savannah Rescue site, about a sick Savannah kitten called Jasmine who very sadly succumbed to FIP

. A couple had adopted her despite the possibility that this cat suffered from this nasty disease. She was clearly loved through difficult times. I for one commend the people at the rescue center and the adopters. We need more people like these in the cat world.

The author at The Savannah Cat Club

makes two valuable points about a rescue operation. People abandon cats for bogus reasons. They make up stories to justify giving up the cat. And secondly, she mentions irresponsible breeders who sell to people who are not suitable and then fail to deal with problems that might arise. The cause of abandoned cats is a meeting of two irresponsible people sometimes (but not all the time). Most cat breeders are responsible. The Savannah Cat Club say this about themselves:

"The Savannah Cat Club is the International Savannah Breed Association for those seriously interested in any or all aspects of the Savannah cat. Our membership is international, and each breeder member agrees to adhere to the Savannah Cat Club Code of Ethics. "

I have taken the liberty of reproducing this verbatim for accuracy. They too have a Yahoo Group, which may interest potential adopters of a Savannah cat. It is here:

SVCatClub · The Savannah Cat Club

The Savannah Cat is a special cat but one that needs (perhaps it is fair to say) slightly special attention, particularly if they are F1 and F2 Savannahs. Only people who fully understand the obligations and have the resources in terms of space, time and money need consider keeping this cat. When they don't have these resources cats sometimes end up at Savannah Cat rescue. There may be legal requirements too.

Reminder: these links work as at June 2009. When the links point to other websites they might not work in the future.

UK

As at 2008, there was a new Savannah cat rescue operation in the UK aptly name Savannah Cat Rescue. A that time the website was new and small. They provide names and details so you might give it a try. Update: the site appears not to have developed but the details are still there.

The Savannah cat is almost always going to be a purebred cat. There are a number of purebred cat rescue centers. That said it is unlikely, I think, that the standard rescue center would be caring for a Savannah, but I could be wrong.

Here is a list of some of the players in the cat rescue world:

Specialty Purebred Rescue - I have advertised this center for Persians and Bengals. USA based.
Pure Bred Plus - Northern California, USA
Petfinder is the biggest in the USA and incorporates many rescue centers who list rescue cats on their website.
1-800-Save-A-Pet is another portal type website.

Or go to a page on this site dedicated to purebred cat rescue with more on that subject.

You might like to visit Bengal cat rescue as it lists purebred cats as well and there are links on that page to the big websites where you might bump into Savannah cat rescue.