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This page is for our own family of cats, some of whom are still with us, some of whom aren't. (Click on any image to enlarge) Our cat family began with Pasht (Barentu Thomas), our usual Abyssinian who sadly died in April 2002, just before his 17th birthday. It was because of him and his wonderful personality that we were converted to cat fanatics and sent down the road to insanity as cat breeders! He led a full and eventful life and if you would like to read his own story take this link Pasht.htm to his own page and read his story.
The next cat to join our household was Briagha (Moondial Chocolate Fudge). Briagha was the "nigger in the woodpile" to coin a phrase. He was a Havana and quite different in looks and personality to Pasht and Merlin, but boy what a personality. I just loved him to pieces! Sadly his life was even shorter than Merlin's and he died of heart failure when he was only 3½ year old leaving me quite devastated - what a huge hole he left in my life! Briagha's show life was even shorter than Merlin's (I think Merlin told him the secret!) but he won his BOB both times he was shown as a kitten and 1 Premier Certificate, before I took the hint and he was retired. Take this link Briagha.htm to read the story of his short, but eventful life.
Sorcha (Gr Ch & Gr Pr Pyjamarama Theda) was our first breeding queen. All our breeding queens have their own web page with pictures of all their kittens (see the left hand column above). We chose the name Sorcha, because, loosely translated, it is Gaelic for "bright eyes" and as a kitten she was ever "bright eyed and bushy tailed" Sorcha's show career has been quite "glittering" as she was the first female Somali in the UK to gain championship status and the second Somali in the country to win the title of Grand Champion (at the age of 8) and Grand Premier at the age of 9 and she ended her show career as the top winning Somali in the country, no mean feat at 9 years of age.
Leyla (Gr Ch & Gr Pr Feorag Bohemian Rhapsody) was our first-born Somali kitten and she, like her mother, has her own page, but here is a picture of her as an 8 week old kitten. Leyla was actually sold at 13 weeks old, but we bought her back from her owners 2 months later when she was 5 months old and she has stayed with us ever since. Leyla too has earned her place as one of our most successful show cats. She was the first Somali to win the title of Grand Champion and Grand Premier (in 1997) and she was the top winning Somali in 1995.
After the death of Briagha, I missed an Oriental in the house so much I decided to buy another. I couldn't yet face having another "Briagha" in the house so instead I bought Snickles (Saitan Snicklefritz), an Oriental Black - similar, but not identical to Briagha. She was a wonderful personality and so I decided to embark on breeding Orientals and Siamese as well as Somalis. So Snickles became the foundation queen of my Oriental/Siamese line - not that breeding was her forte I have to say. Snickles no longer lives with us, but you can take this link Snickles.htm to read her story and where she now lives.
Snickle's breeding career was short and disastrous as she produced only 2 live kittens, 1 from each litter before she was neutered. Her first and only surviving kitten from her first litter of 6 was Kosta (Feorag Kosta Fortune), a seal tabby point Siamese - so named because that's exactly what she did - cost us a fortune to produce! You can take this link Kosta.htm to read the story of how she came into the world. Kosta no longer lives with us as she went to live with her mother, but she bred us some wonderful Siamese with absolutely superb temperaments and of course we still have Luna the kitten from her last litter.
The next kitten we kept was Harry (Gr Pr Feorag Happy Harry) but he was the kitten we never meant to keep. He was a single kitten, whom his mother thought totally boring and so she decided to involve us more in his upbringing by carrying him into our bed each night almost from the the day he was born. So he simply got his "feet under the table", found his little space in our hearts and stayed! Fortunately for us he has followed his mother and half-sister as one of the most successful Somalis on the showbench, but we would have kept him, show quality or not, because it was his personality which won us over - the successful showing is a bonus. In his show career he has won 12 Grand Premier Certificates, 10 Reserve Grand Premier Certificates, 33 Premier Certificates, 1 Challenge Certificate, 34 BOB's and 100 First Prizes. His other achievements are listed below:
Kisha (Feorag Cindy Incidentally) was the first queen of our silver line and like her mother and half-sister has her own page, but here is a photograph of her at 5 weeks. She was the Somali Cat Club's Best Silver Kitten in 1997, but like her mother before her, she did not keep her weight up to show standard and so was retired from the showbench when she started breeding. Unfortunately for Kisha, however, she was such a quiet easily intimidated girl that she never held her place in the household hierarchy. All her children passed her and she basically stayed at the bottom, being picked on and bullied by all the rest. In fact Pasht and Sorcha, her mother, were the only cats in the household whom she got on with. For this reason we decided that she could have a much happier and stress-free life if she lived in a home where she was the only cat in the household. So in January 2003 my son took her to live with him in Scotland, where she is very happy indeed and his daughter Mollie is ecstatic to have her own cat. Another happy ending.
Roscoe was Kisha's first born kitten. We never intended to keep any more male kittens, but like Harry before him, Roscoe won us over with his wonderful personality. His nickname is "Captain Catastrophe" and he lives up to it, hence his registered name of Feorag Caveat Emptor, which is latin for "Buyer Beware"! His pet name of Roscoe was taken from Roscoe P Coltrane, the sheriff in "The Dukes of Hazard" who never quite got it right either! He was the Somali Cat Club's Best Silver Kitten in 1998, but then decided he didn't enjoy showing and so he was retired. However, in 2002 we decided to give him another try and he is managing to "tolerate" the handling. He doesn't mind the show atmosphere or the noise, he just doesn't enjoy being taken out of his pen and seeing the other cats - a very typical Somali reaction! However, he won his Premier title in 3 straight shows and his first Grand Certificate at his first attempt. We are now taking him 'gently' on to try to get the further 2 Grand Certificate he needs to earn his Grand Premier title.
Our next Somali roll-call is for the "kittens from hell" - in other words Cadbury and Purrdy. Gr Pr Feorag Cuchulainn and Feorag Scathach Buanand respectively. Purrdy we kept to replace Sorcha as our usual breeding queen when Sorcha was neutered and she now has her own page where you will find out how they came by their registered names. Cadbury we kept because...... well because he was our first Chocolate and because he appeared to be developing into a "Roscoe clone". There's just something about male neuters.... These pictures were taken when they were 5 weeks old - you can see Cadbury as an adult on Kisha's page. We gave him a "gentle" start into his show career, bearing in mind what happened to Roscoe. He was shown once as a kitten, winning his BOB, became a Premier at 18 months and a Grand Premier in autumn 2001. To date he holds 3 Grand Premier Certificates, 6 Reserve Grand Premier Certificates, 23 Premier Certificates and 24 BOB's. He was the Somali Cat Clubs Best Overall Neuter in 2000. He's now enjoying a rest from the show scene - he has deserved it!
Next we come to the "Cuckoo in the Nest". This is Luna our blue tortie point Siamese. Luna's registered name is Feorag Kamikaze Kate, so called because she has been on a death mission since the day she was born! Luna was the female I kept from Kosta's last litter to replace her mother as my Siamese breeding queen. I called her Luna as it is short for lunatic and she is exactly that! Unfortunately, the best laid plans ....... Luna was mated in Summer 2000 and was definitely pregnant, but unfortunately reabsorbed the whole litter. Considering this, together with polyp problems in one of her ears, which necessitated an aural ablation in late 2000, we decided it would be better not to breed from her and so she was neutered and so there endeth my Siamese/Oriental breeding programme - at least for the moment! Or with 8 cats already in the house a very long moment! However, she has such a lovely personality she has become a PAT Cat - one of only approximately 60 cats in the country who go into nursing homes and hospitals as a visitor to cheer people up - and she certainly does that!
"There are no ordinary cats" Colette, French writer Please remember to sign our Guestbook - we love to hear comments from visitors. |
