The Serengeti Cat---

---a new domestic breed

Created by Karen Sausman of Kingsmark Cattery in California in 1994, the Serengeti Cat breed is accepted in the Foundation registry of TICA and can be shown in Evaluation classes at TICA shows.

BREED STANDARD

APPROVED MARCH 2007

POINT SCORE

HEAD - 35 points

SHAPE - 4

EARS - 12

EYES - 5

CHIN - 2

MUZZLE - 2

NOSE - 1

PROFILE - 5

NECK - 4

BODY - 30 points

TORSO - 5

LEGS - 10

FEET - 2

TAIL - 3

BONING - 5

MUSCULATURE - 5

COAT/COLOR/PATTERN - 35 points

LENGTH - 3

TEXTURE - 2

PATTERN - 20

COLOR - 10

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.

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Temperament must be unchallenging; any sign of definate challenge shall disqualify. The cat may exhibit fear, seek to flee, or generally complain aloud but must not threaten to harm.

Evidence of intent to deceive the judge by artificial means, cats with all or part of their tail missing (except those breeds whose standard calls for this feature), totally blind cats, cats having more or less than five toes on each front foot and four on each back foot (unless proved to be the result of an injury or as authorized by a Board approved standard), and, at the discretion of the judge, tail faults (visible or invisible) and/or crossed yes shall be disqualified from championship competition. See Show Rules, ARTICLE SIXTEEN for comprehensive rules governing penalties/disqualifications applying to all breeds.

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CLICK HERE - For some of the points of the standard illustrated.

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Kingsmark Bengal and Serengeti Cats

Mt Center, CA 92561
Call: 951-659-4258 

E-mail: KSerengeti@aol.com

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