About the Serengeti
Origin: United States
No breeder is on record here yet. Portugal’s FIFe member club does not list this breed in its breeder directory at all, so an absence here says nothing about whether anyone breeds it in Portugal.
- Typical life span
- 13-15 years
- Size
- Medium — from its typical weight
- Weight
- 3.6-6.8 kg
- Height
- 30-38 cm
- Registry status
- Recognised by TICA
- Breed group
- Short-haired
- Origin
- United States
- Known hereditary risks
- None well documented
About
What is a Serengeti?
Medium to large, long-legged spotted cat developed to resemble wild serval without wild genetics.
Serengeti history and origins
Developed in the 1990s by crossing Bengals with Oriental Shorthairs. Goal was to create a cat resembling the African serval using only domestic breeds. TICA registered breed.
Serengeti appearance and size
Typically 3.6-6.8 kg and 30-38 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.
Serengeti temperament and personality
Generally described as confident, friendly, patient, loyal, vocal, alert and active.
That is the breed in general, not a promise about one animal. Ask the breeder what their own line is like, and meet the parents before you decide.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Serengeti
What you get with the Serengeti
- Commonly described as: “Confident, Friendly, Patient, Loyal”
What you are taking on
Nobody has written this side yet. It is a judgement rather than data, so it waits for a person — not for a missing source.
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. The Cat API. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
Temperament
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Serengeti in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
Health & screening guide for the Serengeti
Nothing hereditary is documented for the Serengeti breed, but there is still specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
No breed-specific hereditary condition is documented for the Serengeti in either DNA-testing-laboratory records or peer-reviewed veterinary literature. The breed does not even appear as a distinct entry in UC Davis VGL's cat breed list, consistent with there being no breed-associated genetic test on record anywhere checked. Serengeti is a young breed (developed from Bengal × Oriental Shorthair from 1994, with no serval ancestry) and has a small population, so the absence of documented risk may partly reflect how little the breed has been formally studied rather than proof that it carries none.
What to ask for anyway
- Cardiologist echocardiogram on both parents (general HCM screening)
- PK deficiency and PRA-b DNA tests, as a precaution drawn from the founding Bengal breed rather than a documented Serengeti-specific finding
- PKD1 DNA test or renal ultrasound
- FeLV/FIV status of the breeding cats
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Serengeti owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Kittens
No kittens listed right now
No Serengeti breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.