I had an F3 savannah and he was super cool. The only problem is that he did not play nice with other animals at all. He would try and fight any animal that he could find.
Also they are supposed to be good at being potty trained, but mine would literally piss on everything he could find. It got to the point where I had to let him be an outside cat, which is one of the major no-nos with these cats. He would go banging on neighbors windows in the middle of the night and try and fight their animals.
One night he ended up not coming home
I think he ended up trying to take on some coyotes.
If you have the home and can pull it off (legally), or are not afraid to just go around the law (in some states), an African Serval is the way to go. They look way more exotic and get much bigger.
I am not one to normally be confrontational, but you are wrong on many different levels.
First, all Savannahs except those purchased for breeding need to be fixed (spayed or neutered). They are half wild African cat and when the hormones kick in they are very territorial if not fixed, hence spraying everything. (this is the part where you reply telling me that he was fixed, in which i reply in advance your veterinarian did it wrong)
Second, a savannah is NEVER an outdoor cat. It is people who put them outdoors who have 0 understanding on what this cat is and have no business in owning one in the first place. Furthermore it is those people who end up giving these cats a bad name.
Lastly, and let me make it very clear
AN AFRICAN SERVAL IS NOT A PET AND NOT A HOUSE CAT THAT YOU LET ROAM AROUND IN YOUR HOUSE. Even when bread domestically, they are still a very wild animal. Sure some people keep them as pets and it ends up being just fine, but i have had phone calls from previous customers who bought a serval because it was "more exotic looking and bigger" and even though they have had it for years with no issue, they are now locked in their bathroom begging for help because the cat got a wild hair up its @$$ and is attacking everything that moves, after which the animal ends up getting put down for no good reason because some idiot with more money than brains bought a "exotic looking" cat. Servals are kept as breeding animal ONLY to breed across the domestic line to get F1's to further refine a breeders bloodlines. Over the years we have had to rescue 3 Servals from morons who thought they would make a good house pet. All of them in which the minute we got there to get the animal, we could clearly tell that they too were part of the more money than brains crowd.
In closing, People who buy a cat because they are exotic looking and big are idiots. Savannahs make great pets because of their unique personalities, very similar to a dog, their intelligence and because of their playfulness.
I dont mean to be abrasive, but everything you typed just screams more money than brains which is a very common plague that the savannah breed suffers from. And your advice to "buy a serval" is the dumbest and worst advice that anyone could ever give. Just last week in California a family had their 3 month old baby taken from them by the state because they posted a picture of their serval in the bassinet with their daughter like it was cute or something. Both parents are now facing jail time.