It is perhaps just as well that this moggy is happy to eat supermarket cat food.

It is the most expensive pet cat on the market – priced at £12,000 – so you might expect it to have more expensive tastes.

The Ashera, billed as the world's 'largest, rarest and most exotic' domestic cat, is the size of a small dog and sports eye-catching leopard-like spots and tiger stripes.

British businessman Simon Brodie is selling the designer kittens for £10,796 plus shipping costs – and already has a nine-month waiting list.

The Internet entrepreneur used a team of geneticists to develop the exotic cats at his US laboratory.

They are hybrids, cross bred from two wild c a t s – t h e African serval and the Asian leopard cat – with one type of domestic cat.

The bespoke cats stand more than 1m tall (3.3feet) on their hind legs and grow to a top weight of 30lb.

Despite their price, Mr Brodie insists the Ashera is a good tempered, low maintenance pet.

The London-born businessman, who now runs his company Lifestyle Pets in San Diego, California, said: 'The Ashera is unique. It's a beautiful cat, created using our special recipe. 'They are expensive, but we've already sold a lot in the US, in Asia and even in Russia. People who love beautiful pets will spend £12,000 on a cat, others spend that much on jewellery or a big TV.'

He began his quest to make the perfect cat three years ago, developing the hypo-allergenic cat priced at £4,906.

Why does the Ashera cost more than other designer cats? Mr Brodie said: 'We guarantee every kitten has the same colouring and appearance and we hand deliver it.'