Intro

Littermates Chase and Freeze are part-Savannah cats. We didn’t know they were Savannahs when we adopted them from the shelter, but we started to suspect there was something exotic about the pair.

Freeze is cute, intelligent, and soulful; Chase is very handsome and a bit of an asshole. They quickly taught us why the term “Savandalism” is used by Savannah owners. They are not at all destructive, but they will open drawers and explore. We had to get child safety locks for the drawers where we keep the cat treats.

December 2025: Chase and Freeze Get Adopted

We had been looking for a 2-year-old male cat to engage with Annie (she had been chasing Tink and annoying Tippy) but it turned out there were very few young male cats up for adoption. The only male cats we could find were in bonded pairs of kittens that had not been adopted or had been returned to the shelter.

We observed that some of the shelters were just churning cats through with very little effort to determine their health or behavioral history. We decided it was wisest to adopt through Whiskers in Need, which places most of its cats with experienced foster homes, and takes lots of cats from Adams County (where Annie is from). We saw a pair of bonded brothers, Chase and Freeze, on their website. When we went up to meet them, we were impressed at how relaxed and friendly they were—and how well they played with other cats. Whiskers in Need agreed to hold them for a week while we attended a convention out of town, so we picked them up on a Monday morning. By Tuesday morning they were running the place.

Tink and Tippy, originally from a large herd of cats, barely noticed them. Annie is not happy with them, but is holding her ground. They try to be friendly, she hisses, and they wander off to do something else while she glares at them. We expect this to settle down in a few weeks. In the meantime, we are putting Chase and Freeze in their screened guest room at night and when we are not home to supervise interactions.

For some reason, the web apps identify pictures of them as “Egyptian Mau” cats. I can’t imagine Egyptian Maus, a fairly rare cat, turning up at a shelter. And they don’t have the green eyes of a Mau. They are however, extremely thin with long hind legs, so there may be some exotic parentage in there somewhere.]

March 2025: Out of the Kitten Room, for Good

We were doing some basement remodeling, and one night there was a slight gas leak in the basement kitten room, where Chase and Freeze were confined at night. (We’d installed a screen door, so Annie could safely view them.) Because of the gas leak, we let the kittens sleep upstairs with us.

The following night, we tried to put them back in the kitten room. I latched the screen door, came upstairs, and was surprised to see Chase in the kitchen a few minutes later. I ran down and discovered he had opened the screen with one surgical slash, and walked through. That was the end of the screen, and of keeping Chase and Freeze confined at night. Now they sleep in our bed, with us, which is like sleeping between two sacks of wet sand. These are not small cats.

April 2025: The Boys Get a Catio

Catio Spaces (a Seattle company that both builds outdoor catios and sells catio plans) designed and constructed a special catio for Chase and Freeze. The perches have extra headroom to allow for their large size. They access it through a weighted, double-flap plastic door installed in a basement window (from the excellent folks at Puget Sound Pet Door).

It took them about three minutes to figure out the door, with Chase barging right through and Freeze following cautiously a few minutes later. The catio includes an Adirondack chair for me, and a grass area for them, because I believe grass is essential for cat health.

May 2025: The DNA Test Results Are a Bit Wild

We sent Chase’s DNA (twice—the first sample didn’t work) to Basepaws. Basepaws is, in my view, the less detailed of the two analysis companies but their swab test is easier to do. We are assuming Freeze’s DNA is similar, as they are littermates.

The results show that Chase is 6.25% Savannah. A pure Savannah has one parent that is an African Serval. So, Chase and Freeze have a great-great-great-grandparent that is a desert wildcat (and a great-great-grandparent that is a F1 Savannah).

In many states it is illegal to keep an F1 Savannah as a domestic pet, so we have no idea where these two came from. But they’re here.

Chase is also 83% Western domestic cat, most of that Siberian, Maine Coon, and Norwegian Forest cat. These are, like Savannahs, extremely large cats, so that reinforces rather than dilutes their Savannah appearance. I was surprised by this finding because those cats are longhairs, and Chase and Freeze have some of the shortest hair I’ve ever seen on a domestic cat.

Chase and Freeze both have broad Savannah noses. Chase (the one with the white nose) has the long, narrow body and long legs of a Savannah—and the terrifyingly long fangs. Our vet described him as “impressive.” He still chases Annie, but she’s no longer afraid of him.