I Love Serengeti Cats

Serengeti cats are spotted cats, with long legs and very large ears. Males are generally slightly larger and heavier than females and can weigh up to 15lbs; females generally weigh between 8 and 12lbs.

They are recognised by TICA (The International Cat Association) in tabby, ebony silver, ebony smoke and solid black. A group of breeders in the UK are currently working towards getting TICA to also recognise the snow spotted (aka lynx-point) variety.

The tabby is known as the brown spotted in the UK - however spots can be black or dark brown on a tan, light beige or gold background. The silver has black spots on a silver background. Ghost spotting can sometimes be seen on the solid black version.

The breed is still in the development stages, but the ultimate aim is to produce a cat that looks similar to a Serval, without using any recent wild cat blood. (Bengal cats originate from hybridization of Asian Leopard Cats. Most Bengal cats used in Serengeti programs are many generations removed from these origins and possess few genetic contributions of the Leopard Cat).

CATEGORY: Traditional

DIVISIONS: Tabby, Solid and Silver/Smoke Division.

COLORS: Tabby Division: Brown spotted ONLY
Solid Division: Black ONLY.
Silver/Smoke Division: silver spotted and black smoke.

HEAD:

Shape: The head is longer than it is wide: a modified wedge, starting at the nose and flaring out in a straight line to the base of ears forming a triangle with a slight break at the whiskers. Cheeks should not be prominent.

Ears: Wide and deep at the base with rounded tips. Strikingly large, equal to the length of the head. Set upright and close together on the top of the head.

Eyes: Round and large. Neither protruding nor recessed. Separated by a broad nose. Much more than an eye width apart. Gold or yellow eye color preferred, hazel to light green allowed.

Chin: Strong and lines up with tip of nose in the same vertical plane, neither receding nor excessively massive.

Muzzle: Medium with moderately full and rounded whisker pads. With a slight break at the whiskers.

Profile: Straight line from the nose to the brow, then gently loping to the top of the head, flowing into an arched neck.

Neck: Long in proportion to body. Thick with very little to no taper into back of head.

BODY:

Torso: Semi-foreign and solid. Rump and shoulders should be the same level giving a very upright posture. Males may be somewhat larger than females.

Legs: Extremely long with medium boning and musculature.

Feet: Medium, oval.

Tail: Thick and tapering slightly from the body to the end. Medium short, ideally short of shoulder when laid along torso.

Boning: Medium leg boning with a substantial torso of good depth..

Musculature: Long and lean.

COAT:

Length: short and even

Texture: Fine textured, dense, with some loft

COLOR:

Tabby Division: Any shade of brown with high contrast between the ground color and the spots. Light to white underbelly, chin and front of muzzle. Back of ears with eye spot. Glitter acceptable.

Solid Division: Black solid, ghost spots may be visible .

Silver/Shaded Division: Black spots on a clear silver body; black smoke

PATTERN:

Random spotted or solid. On spotted cats preference given to random high contrast spot pattern, spot pattern on shoulders and hips extending down the legs and black rings around the tail. Two-toned spots (rosettes) should be penalized.

OTHER:

Balance: Square build with level topline.

Condition: Well muscled

Temperament: Confident. Must be unchallenging.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The ideal Serengeti Cat is a medium sized cat with long legs. It should be in excellent physical condition, strong and muscular. It should appear as a graceful, statuesque, squarely built cat with a very upright posture. Also noticeable is the long neck, which blends into the base of the skull without tapering. Strikingly large round-tipped ears, equal to the length of the head, are one of the main features of the Serengeti. They should have a gentle, confident, outgoing and alert temperament.

ALLOWANCES: Locket on throat or small spot in groin

PENALIZE: Spots tending toward bars on side of body; two-toned (rosetted) spots; heavy ticking; small ears; short legs

WITHHOLD ALL AWARDS: White tail tip, toes or white anywhere on the body except for small locket described above. Miniaturization. Blue eyes.

Some of this work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.

and

Copyright (c) 2007 Cinnamon.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".