Ashera, savannah cat, bengal cat, savannah, ashera cat, lifestyle pets
Lifestyle pets are advertising the $22,000 Ashera breed of cat. It’s the same as a Savannah cat, but more expensive. The originator claims to use gene mapping and artificial insemination, but hasn’t had his work published in peer-reviewed journals.
You pay upfront and get your cat 9 months later. Could it be a big scam? Brodie, the breeder of the Ashera first attempted to get some Savannah breeding cats using a fake name and company name.
He has also been convicted of false accounting (franchising Cloudhopper) and has lawsuits against him for failing to pay off loans. He also wants to sell franchises to breed the Ashera. Would you give him $22,000 upfront for a cat you won’t get for almost a year (if at all)? Especially as you can buy a Savannah cat for much less and much sooner. The benefit of a Savannah over an Ashera is that you can exhibit them at shows. Non-traditionally bred cats and franchised breeds aren’t recognised by cat registries and can’t be exhibited.
Upmarket designer cats have been tried. The California Spangled Cat was once sold in upmarket stores and has all but disappeared. The IRCA Ragdoll was bred under franchise and was ineligible for exhibition. The Ashera will be illegal in jurisdictions that prohibit wild/domestic hybrids. As for the claim of flying the cat to you in the cabin, many airlines don’t permit animals in the cabin and only carry them in the hold. Even the franchising scheme may be illegal in some states. As for buyers, a fool and his money are easily parted.
So, how about a breed so rare it doesn’t even exist yet? You’ve come to the right place ….
The Pakhet is the world’s rarest domestic cat - so rare that they will only bred when an order is received. This exotic-looking, but wholly domestic, breed has been bred by merging the bloodlines of the African Serval, the Asian Leopard Cat and the Geoffroy’s Cat to produce a leopard-like pet with large rosettes and contrasting stripes. Weighing up to 35 lbs and standing 24 inches at the shoulder, this muscular cat is available to carefully screened purchasers only. Legally defined as a domestic animal, there are no restrictions on owning this wild-looking feline in any US state. Because Costa Pakhet lawyers have defined the Pakhet as a domestic cat, it requires no special housing or licencing.
If you are contemplating the purchase of an Pakhet, or wish to become one of our franchised breeders, an advisor from our Costa Pakhet breeding facility will visit you in person to discuss all details regarding purchase and ownership and to answer any questions you may have. You will be required to sign a no-declaw agreement.
This page provides general information on the purchase and care of your Pakhet.
GENERAL CARE OF THE PAKHET
In spite or its rarity and wild appearance, the Pakhet cat requires no different care than any other purebred domestic cat. No live prey or special cat food is required although the large size of the Pakhet means it requires approximately twice as much food as an ordinary purebred. A premium-quality canned or dried food is recommended. Full details of the brands recommended by Costa Pakhet are included with the Pakhet welcome pack. For each purchases from our recommended suppliers, Costa Pakhet will receive a donation towards the care of future generations of Pakhet cats.
Pakhets are fully housetrained and do well with automatic cleaning litter boxes such as the Litter-lout; though their large size necessitates the extra large model. Due to its warm climate ancestry, your Pakhet will appreciate an electrically heated cat bed, again in the extra-large size. These are available from Costa Pakhet in colours and patterns to co-ordinate with your cat.
PURCHASING
The Pakhet is priced at $35,000, plus any applicable sales or importation taxes. Payment is due at time of order. Following payment, we will specially breed your Pakhet from carefully chosen parents. The delivery date from receipt of payment is therefore 9-12 months. Customers who simply can’t wait to own an Pakhet may be offered selected kittens from other Pakhet purchasers’ breeding pairings at an additional cost of $6,000. Why an additional cost and not a discount? Costa Pakhet is reluctant to home kittens and this additional cost is your promise to us that the kitten will be well cared for and not an impulse buy. It will also pay for special early age spay or neuter surgery using keyhole techniques that require a minimum of shaving so your kitten arrives with no unsightly bare patches.
All Pakhet cats and kittens are accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and Genetic Health that will include an image of each kitten’s DNA profile and by an itemised receipt showing how your $35,000 has been spent on the care of your Pakhet before it is delivered to you.
DELIVERY OF YOUR KITTEN
All Pakhet kittens are hand delivered to their new owners and hand carried on the transporting aircraft by a Costa Pakhet representative. For deliveries outside of the USA, airlines do not permit animals in the cabin. To ensure your prized Pakhet is not transported in the cargo hold, Costa Pakhet will hire a private charter jet.
The total cost of delivery within the United States is approximately $1,500; outside of the USA we will quote you by location including the hire of a private jet. You wouldn’t want the rarest breed in the world to be treated as common cargo, would you?
The following are included in the purchase price of your Pakhet kitten:
* Full schedule of vaccinations, including the Costa Pakhet “future proofing” vaccination against genetically engineered sterility viruses (for Pakhets despatched to Australia).
* Spaying or neutering to save you the worry of unexpected kittens
* Microchip and ear tattoo stating location of microchip
* Twelve months premium veterinary health insurance
* Electronic climate controlled cat carrying cage, certified for use on all world airlines.
* Veterinary Health Certificate (required for travel)
* One set of vinyl nail caps already applied and a year’s supply of replacements.
* A welcome pack of premium cat/kitten food, sable-trimmed cat toys, high-altitude high-potency Costa Pakhet brand catnip and scratching tree made using organically produced rope.
* One year guarantee that begins from the moment of conception plus optional follow-on 0ne year guarantee that commences at the point when the Pakhet is handed over to you, the owner.
* 10 Year consultation access to our internationally recognized animal behaviourist (Pakhet owners outside of the USA will pay extra for home consultations).
Ashera
Lifestyle Pets
Lifestyle Pets, ashera, savannah cat, ashera cats, savannah, designer cats
Meet the 28-thousand-dollar cat that has become the latest exotic pet for fashionable homeowners in America. The Ashera is a result of breeding the African Surval and the Asian Leopard cat with a domestic cat
Included in the total cost of your LIFESTYLE PETS kitten are the following: * An ALLERCA GD, CHAKAN GD or ASHERA GD kitten at 12 weeks of age * Complete and updated vaccinations through delivery * Mandatory spaying or neutering
The recent seizure by Dutch authorities of three exotic cats that a U.S.-based "designer" pet company says it created has sparked allegations by some cat breeders that the felines aren't what they are advertised to be.
On Jan. 17, customs officials confiscated three so-called Ashera cats marketed by Delaware-based LifeStyle Pets, and are investigating whether the large cats with leopardlike spots violate an international treaty that forbids the sale or trade of protected species and their offspring.
LifeStyle Pets, which claims that the trademarked Ashera is the result of a "proprietary blend" of exotic bloodlines and are "unique in that genetic monitoring is used to standardize breeding," sold one of the three confiscated cats for 27,000 euros, about $40,000, to a Dutch couple, according to accounts in the Dutch press. In the United States, LifeStyle offers the Ashera for $22,000 to $27,000, according to its Web site.
But a U.S. cat breeder claims that at least two of the three animals seized in the Netherlands are not Asheras but Savannah F1 cats - which commonly sell for $5,000 to $6,500 - and were purchased from his Pennsylvania breeding facility. LifeStyle Pets and its founder, Simon Brodie, did not respond to telephone and e-mailed questions about the Netherlands cat seizure or allegations that the cats are Savannahs purchased from a Savannah cat breeder.
LifeStyle Pets is an offshoot of Allerca, a company that made national headlines in 2006 with its claim to have developed a cat that is virtually free of sneeze-inducing allergens.
Chris Shirk of Cutting Edge Cats, a Pennsylvania Savannah breeder, said he identified the alleged Ashera cats as his from several pictures that ran in the Dutch press, including Amsterdam's De Telegraaf, the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. One photo shown by Dutch media is one that Shirk said he took and used in advertising his Savannah cats online, he said.
Shirk said he sold three young male Savannah F1 cats to Martin Stucki of A1 Savannahs, an Oklahoma cat breeder, and shipped them by air Jan. 11.
"I'm positive two of the cats are mine from the photos I've seen, and I suspect the third one is as well," said Shirk, who said he has filed a claim with Dutch authorities to reclaim the cats and provided them with litter certificates, photos and other documentation to prove their lineage. "I'm very distraught about this; it is just wrong, it is fraudulent."
Shirk said he has also offered to provide DNA samples of the alleged parents of the cats so Dutch authorities can compare them with DNA samples from the three contested cats.
Stucki declined to answer questions about whom he sold the cats to, but said it was not to anyone who identified themselves as Brodie. Stucki confirmed that Brodie contacted him last year about purchasing a number of Savannahs.
Allerca was based in San Diego until late 2006, when the company announced it would move to Los Angeles, and it later reincorporated in Delaware. Time magazine placed Allerca's hypoallergenic cat on its Best Inventions of 2006 list.
Yet Allerca and LifeStyle Pets have also generated skepticism among geneticists, allergists and traditional cat breeders, who question whether the companies have accomplished what they claim. Allerca, which sells its sneeze-free cats for $7,900, has not released peer-reviewed scientific data or submitted it for peer review in a scientific journal.
Some critics have expressed concerns about Brodie, who has a history of failed companies and a criminal conviction involving a business venture in his native Britain. Brodie was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail for accounting fraud for his role in the 1992 demise of Cloudhoppers, a hot air balloon-flight business.
In 2006, the California Department of Corporations ordered Allerca and Brodie to stop offering or selling cat franchises in California. The company had been marketing the franchises - at $45,000 a territory - on its Web site and in e-mails to residents of California and other states.
Among Brodie's more recent woes, last year Allerca was suspended from doing business in California because the company had failed to pay state taxes since 2004. And three former Brodie employees won judgments last year against Allerca and another Brodie company, Cyntegra, for about $220,000 in unpaid salaries and severance.
The attorney for one of the employees, Brendan O'Dwyer, testified before the California Labor Commission that Allerca had "a lot of cash flow problems and has tried to skirt its responsibilities in a number of ways," according to court records.
Allerca is now part of LifeStyle Pets, according to its Web site.
Roel Vincken, a spokesman for the Netherlands General Inspectorate, said the three young male cats seized by Dutch customs are being well cared for and won't be destroyed.
He said they were seized at the border because their shipment appeared to violate an international treaty known as CITIES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora. One cat was being shipped to a couple in the Netherlands, while the other two were in transit to other countries, Vincken said.
"Customs could tell they were not everyday cats that were being shipped," Vincken said. "They have the looks of a wild animal."
Vincken said that if the cats' immediate bloodline includes African Serval and Asian Leopard, as LifeStyle Pet's Web site claims, then trafficking in them might violate the CITIES treaty.
A Chicago-based Savannah cat breeder and broker, Cynthia King, also identified from the Dutch photos one of the young cats seized in the Netherlands as a product of Shirk's Savannah cat breeding facility. She said she had tried to help Shirk sell the cats recently.
In 2006, King said Brodie tried to purchase five to seven first-generation female Savannahs from her, but she said he used an assumed name - Campbell Francis - and said he was from a company called Monsenco Capital. The deal never went through because Brodie did not send the check.
At the time, Brodie acknowledged the subterfuge after the address on the King contract was identified as the one Brodie used on a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office application for the Ashera trademark, but he said he did not use his real identity so he would not be "gouged" on the price.
At the time, Brodie said his company's cat breeding experts asked him to acquire the Savannahs for the purpose of devising "the right formula" for the Ashera. Brodie said the company, using unspecified "genetic techniques" and artificial insemination, had combined components of three breeds to create the Ashera.
He also said that while the Ashera would look similar to a Savannah, it is not a Savannah.
