A,  B , C , SBT , WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN  ?

The A, B, C, or SBT designation for a Savannah specifies how many Savannah’s are in a cats ancestory.  The International Cat Association (TICA) uses these letters as part of the registration code for a Savannah. These letters are independent from the “F” designation which specifies how far removed the Savannah is from the Serval.

An “A” registered Savannah has one parent that is not a Savannah  The Savannah is created by mating an African Serval to a domestic cat. The offspring of such a mating is always an “A” registered cat. In this case the cat would be first generation, i.e., F1. Savannah males are sterile until the 5th generation (F5) so to create an F2 you would mate an F1 female to a domestic or an F5 Savannah. If you mated the F1A female to the domestic the offspring would always be an “A” registered F2, i.e., F2A because one parent is not a savannah.

A “B” registered Savannah is created by the mating of two “A” registered Savannahs  Both parents of a “B” registered Savannah are Savannahs but at least one grandparent is a different breed. You could create a “B”

registered Savannah by mating an F1A Savannah to an F5 Savannah.

A “C” registered Savannah is created by the mating of two “B” registered Savannahs  All parents and grandparents of a “C” registered Savannah are Savannahs but at least one great grandparent is a different breed.

A “SBT” registered Savannah is created by the mating of two “C” registered Savannahs All parents, grandparents, and great grandparents of a “SBT”

registered Savannah are Savannahs so it is impossible to create an “SBT”

Savannah before the fourth (F4) generation. “SBT” stands for Stud Book Traditional and Tica considers a “SBT” cat a pure bred cat.

This table shows the “letter code” result of various breeding

Male Serval x non-Savannah female = F1A kittens       Male Serval x Savannah

female = F1A kittens

F1A Savannah x F5A Savannah male = F2B kittens  F2B Savannah x F5B Savannah

male = F3C kittens

F3C Savannah x F5C Savannah male = F4 SBT kittens     F6C Savannah x F5 SBT

Savannah male = F5 SBT kittens

F1A Savannah x non-Savannah male = F2A kittens  F1A Savannah x F5C Savannah

male = F2B kittens

F2B Savannah x F5A Savannah male = F3B kittens  F3C Savannah x F5B Savannah

male = F4C kittens

F7B Savannah x F5C Savannah male = F6C kittens  F4 SBT Savannah x

non-Savannah male = F5A kittens

F3C Savannah x non-Savannah male = F4A kittens  non-Savannah x F5C Savannah

male = F6A kittens

So, what does this all mean to you?

If you want a pet…  If you want a pet kitten then the “A”, “B”, “C”, or “SBT” letters probably are not that important to you. In this case we would recommend just finding a kitten that has the look and personality that you like.