Savannah colours

The brown Savannah is by far the most popular and commonly bred of the recognised colours. This may be due to the brown gene being dominant to the other colour genes, or it may be due to the fact that the colours of the brown Savannah most closely resemble the colours of the African Serval.

Generally the colour brown is either golden or cool coloured but within these colours, there are many variations and shades. All of these variations are accepted by TICA and there is no preference given to any one ground colour.

The brown Savannah has:

• Dark brown to jet black markings.
• Black lips.
• Dark and prominent tear duct lines.
• Nose leather: Pink to brick red surrounded by liner, solid black or black with a pink to brick red center stripe.
• Deep charcoal or brownish black paw pads.

The colour of the silver Savannah is the result of the inhibitor gene that stops the production of Pheomelanin. It is not actually a colour, but a lack of.

In order to produce a silver Savannah, at least one parent must be silver.

The silver Savannah has:

• A white background colour.
• A light silver to dark silver foreground colour.
• Zero or as little tarnish (brown in the coat) as possible.
• Dark brown to jet black markings.
• Black lips.
• Dark and prominent tear duct lines.
• Nose leather: Pink to brick red surrounded by liner, solid black or black with a pink to brick red center stripe.
• Deep charcoal or brownish black paw pads.

The black Savannah appears to be all one colour and the reason for this is that the black colour gene is solid. The solid gene produces a hair that is all one one colour because the protein responsible for the bands or ticking on the hair shaft is defective. However in black Savannahs, the underlying spotted pattern is still present. This is sometimes referred to as ghost spotting.

The black gene is recessive so in order to produce a black Savannah, the colour must be carried by both parents.

The black Savannah has:

• Dark brown to jet black markings.
• Black lips.
• Dark and prominent tear duct lines.
• Solid black nose leather.
• Deep charcoal or brownish black paw pads.

The black smoke Savannah is the rarest of all the recognised colours, perhaps because it is more difficult to produce and it is less well known of.

The silver spotted Savannah is silver with the tabby gene, where as the black smoke Savannah is silver with the solid gene. As with the black Savannah, the underlying spotted pattern may be visible and is prefferred.

The black smoke Savannah has:

• Hair that is white at the base and dark at the tip.
• Dark brown to jet black markings.
• Black lips.
• Dark and prominent tear duct lines.
• Nose leather: Pink to brick red surrounded by liner, solid black or black with a pink to brick red center stripe.
• Deep charcoal or brownish black paw pads.

Non-standard colours are those that are not recognised by the TICA Savannah breed standard. They are a result of the variety of domestic breeds that were originally introduced into the Savannahs gene pool.

Many of the non-standard colour genes are recessive so it can be difficult to know when they will appear. We have accidentally previously bred non-standard coloured Savannahs and will probably continue to do so. Whilst these Savannahs cannot be shown or bred from, they are no less of a Savannah and make incredibly special pets.

Below is a photograph of a previous litter that comprised of one standard colour (black) and four non-standard colours (blue, chocolate, fawn and blue again). We have also produced cinnamon spotted Savannahs.