The Ashera Cat: The Most Expensive Cat That Never Existed
The $125,000 "rarest cat breed" was ordinary F1 Savannahs, resold under a made-up name and exposed by Dutch customs DNA in 2008. The whole documented story.
Published August 21, 2026 4 min read
Contents
The Ashera was marketed from 2006 as the world's rarest, newest hybrid breed: a leopard-cat and serval blend, hypoallergenic on request, yours for $22,000 to $125,000. It was none of those things. DNA testing in 2008 proved the cats were ordinary F1 Savannah kittens. They were bred by a named Pennsylvania cattery and resold under an invented name, at a spectacular markup. This page exists because the searches never stopped. And because the open web's biggest reference still has no article on the story at all.
The sting: Schiphol Airport, January 2008
The chain of custody is what makes this fraud unusually well documented. On 17 January 2008, Dutch customs seized three "Ashera" kittens at Schiphol Airport. Under supervision involving the US Fish and Wildlife Service, DNA samples went to government laboratories. In June 2008 the result came back: the kittens were F1 Savannahs, genetically matching stock bred by Chris Shirk of Cutting Edge Cats, a Pennsylvania Savannah breeder. Lifestyle Pets, the company selling the "Ashera", had purchased and resold them for many times what it paid. The "new breed" was another breeder's cats with a new name and a decimal point moved.
The seller, and the tell that predates the cats
Lifestyle Pets was fronted by Simon Brodie, who carried a documented 1992 UK conviction for false accounting and theft before founding the company. That is not proof about any later scheme, but it is directly relevant to weighing his claims. The company's response to being caught remains the most striking sourced detail in the file: within two months of the DNA result, it RAISED the Ashera's price, from $31,000 to $47,000.
The company wound down around 2015 without ever disclosing its breeding records. The full scale of the operation is therefore unknowable. Price guides still quote "Ashera" figures of $125,000 and more today, two decades after the cats were proven to be Savannahs.
What an "Ashera" actually was, and how to read one today
Genetically, every verified "Ashera" was an F1 Savannah: a serval crossed with a domestic cat, 50 percent serval, the generation ladder's top rung. That is a real and legally complicated animal in its own right. Everything the Ashera marketing sold (the size, the wild look, the leash walks) is ordinary F1 Savannah reality, at a fifth of the price.
The real figures, $10,000-20,000 from named catteries, live on the price page. If you meet the word "Ashera" on a price list today, you are looking at either a Savannah with a costume name or a story with no papers. No registry anywhere recognizes an Ashera breed, and no DNA test will ever find one.
Why this page exists on a Savannah silo
Because the Ashera was, is, and always will be a Savannah, and because nobody else tells the story with its sources. Wikipedia's Savannah article does not mention the Ashera, and no dedicated Wikipedia article exists. The primary tellings live in Sarah Hartwell's documented account and dated price-guide coverage. The story deserves to sit one click from the breed it borrowed.
The fraud on one card
the asking price for the "world's rarest breed" at its peak
$125k
Dutch customs DNA testing proves seized Asheras are F1 Savannahs
2008
the price RAISE within two months of being exposed ($31,000 to $47,000)
+$16k
The vet's take
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Ashera cat real?
As a breed, no: DNA testing of seized kittens in 2008 proved "Ashera" cats were F1 Savannahs from a named Pennsylvania breeder, resold under an invented name. No registry recognizes an Ashera.
How much did an Ashera cat cost?
Lifestyle Pets sold them for $22,000-125,000 depending on tier, and raised the base price from $31,000 to $47,000 within two months of the fraud being exposed. The genetically identical F1 Savannah sold then, as now, for a fraction of that.
What happened to the Ashera company?
Lifestyle Pets wound down around 2015 without disclosing its breeding records. Its founder, Simon Brodie, had a 1992 UK conviction for false accounting before launching the venture.
Are Ashera cats dangerous or hypoallergenic?
They are F1 Savannahs, so the honest answers are the Savannah's: a big, athletic hybrid with generation-based legal restrictions, and no evidence of hypoallergenicity (the company's "hypoallergenic Ashera" tier had no study behind it either).
Community questions
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This is information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot tell you what is wrong with your cat. Our rule is a simple one: if something is wrong with your cat, call your vet, and call an emergency clinic if it is out of hours. Nothing you read here is a reason to wait.
Medical information applies to every reader. Prices, legal duties and common practice do not: unless stated otherwise, they are given for the United States, and they differ in the UK, Canada and Australia, and often between states or provinces. Check with your own vet and your own local authority.
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