Justin Bieber is ringing in his wedding to Hailey Baldwin with some furry new family members.
The “Sorry” singer bought two part-exotic spotted kittens in recent weeks ahead of his buzzy nuptials, set to take place Monday at the South Carolina resort Montage Palmetto Bluff.
Bieber named the Savannah cats Sushi and Tuna after buying them for $20,000 and $15,000, respectively, from Illinois-based breeder Select Exotics.
Naturally, the pair are already Instagram-famous with their own page, @kittysushiandtuna, and 94,000 followers, after Bieber created the account over the weekend. He is promising free merch from his fashion line Drew House to the millionth follower (no concert tickets?). “Becoming a crazy cat man,” Bieber wrote on Instagram, referring to himself as their “daddy.”
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The Savannah breed is part domestic cat and part African Serval, a wild feline with “intelligence that rivals the smartest of dogs,” according to the breeder’s site. “How much of the ‘wild’ do you want?” the site reads, boasting that the cats allow “the every-day person to capture a part of the wild and co-exist with it in their home.” Sushi and Tuna are each 59 percent Serval, which is known as the “giraffe cat” for its long neck. Servals can jump nine feet in the air to catch birds to eat.
Savannahs grow to be about 20 inches tall, weigh 15 to 30 pounds, use litter boxes and eat dry cat food. “Readily trainable, most love to play fetch, ride in cars, and relish outdoor walks on a leash. Actually a Savannah can be very much like a water-loving dog who’ll wrestle you for the garden hose, splash around in your morning shower, or wade through your bathwater. And their ability to leap straight up into the air is awesome,” according to the breeder.
The New Yorker wrote about such cats in 2013, referring to them as “living room leopards” and calling Savannahs “troublesome” and “intimidators.” In a post titled “Savannah Cats and Bengal Cats Make Bad Pets,” nonprofit sanctuary Big Cat Rescue writes on its website: “Why make another desinger [sic] cat when millions of domestics are put to sleep each year”?
The nonprofit Savannah Cat Association notes that Savannahs are legally restricted or banned in states including Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Texas and Vermont. California and South Carolina allow all Savannah cats.
