DOMESTIC X GEOFFROY'S CAT HYBRIDS

Geoffroy's Cat (F. geoffroyii) females will mate with domestic tomcats. In early experiments male Geoffroy's cats killed all domestic females presented to them. Halle Zoo attempted to cross-breed their male Geoffroy's cat with domestic females, but the male attacked and killed all the females that were introduced into its cage. Modern breeders of hybrids say this is avoided if the male is raised with domestic cats and imprints upon them (as also happened with Mme Falken-Rohrle's Tiger Cats). Geoffroy's hybrids are called "Safari Cats" and are reportedly tame and fertile. Domestic cats (often Bengals) have been crossed with the Fishing cat (F viverrina) to produce the "Machbagral" and "Viverral" breeds. Infertility is a problem with the F1 hybrids which are reported to be large, intelligent and have gentle temperaments.

Geoffroy's Cats; the wild parent of the Safari Cat breed

In 1981, Phyllis Lauder wrote of an article about the hybrid Safari cat that had been published in Cats Magazine in March, 1980: The article and accompanying picture described the Safari as a cross between a domestic shorthair and a South American feral cat known as Geoffroy's cat, and belonging to the genus Leopardus. (The term feral was used wrongly; the author meant "wild species"). Lauder wrote "To judge from the pictures, one of them in full colour, and the descriptions given by the writer, Patricia Hall Warren, the Safari strongly resembles the Spotted cat who is one of the domestic shorthair Tabbies. This cross-bred cat has a great deal of patterning which includes many clear, distinct spots, and Mrs Warren describes the Safaris as '... Shorthairs. They wear a rich and specialised Spotted Tabby pattern of bars, dots, rosettes, face streaks, wavy stripes, leg bracelets and tail rings'. In her description of the type of these cats Mrs Warren tells us that they have long bodies, but she also says that they are robust and that they have small ears. It appears that the Safaris have been crossed successfully with Siamese and also with North American shorthairs. It seems likely that the cross with a Spotted Tabby shorthair could produce beautiful kittens. And it is interesting to note that the progeny are fertile. The writer says that people believe that a hybrid must be infertile, but that this is not the case with feline hybrids."

According to cat population authority Neil B. Todd, introgressive hybrids may also occur in rural South America where European settlers imported domestic cats for their farms and ranches. Occasionally a small cat, identified as a Geoffroy's Cat, turns out to be a possible hybrid (female Geoffroy's Cat x domestic cat hybrids are fertile).