I think one of the things which rarely happen in breeder’s life is a “visit your kitten” when it is older. I mean, how many people would invite me over to see how kitty is doing.

Well, some do and I have to say, I am always happy to visit in person. Of course, we often get lots of pictures of our babies so that we can enjoy them. So you enjoy them too…

This is Keesa which lives in Coquitlam, and on the picture she is 9 pounds of weight being only about 10 month old! How is that?

Pretty large girl, what do you think? goes well with “we want a girl because they grow smaller”, well, my biggest cat ever is a girl, Anastasia, and Keesa is btw her daughter… and was literally the runt of the litter.

This is a picture of Sasha which lives on the Vancouver island. Isn’t she cozy with her remote? (she is under 1 year of age on the picture) – she is out of Misty and Rio

And if you wonder how Sasha looked when she was young – here she is as a kitten along with Jessica (Misty and Suede’s daughter)

and this is a picture of Fry, little kitten Fry whose picture won Kodak Pet Contest, well here he goes as big adult cat (he is out of Coco and Suede) and is definitely over 3 years old on the picture

I think going to the show is fun, but my husband still can not see why? If you ask him whether he wants to go with us, he would simply ask back – and why would I do that? Anyways, in our family, show goers are Dasha and I and of course cats. We love it, the trip, the excitement, the hotel, the special time with your show cats, setting up, stress at the show hall, and finally, finally the excitement when your cat wins and the disappointment when it does not. Are you still with me?

This trip was even more fun. First of all, Christina and Milo joined us and we needed to rent a car as we would not fit into mine otherwise. So we go to pick up the rental small SUV and end up with Chevy Suburban (which in my humble opinion of the driver of small two door car is simply a bus!) Christina says she suggests I drive it as she wants us to be alive after the return. So off we go in the big Suburban!

We made it safely past all the police scattered along I5 all the way to Portland and of course went shopping. Than we shipped Jasper the kitty to Boston overnight, as Jasper joined Ragangels cattery in Maine as a future breeder/show cat. Than the show began. And what a show – 201 cats in competition all together. Cake parades! Many judges we rarely see here! I was clerking – and there were 19 British Shorthair championship cats, and almost all blue! WOW!

We had a great show. Both Purrminator and Fruitcake championed in the show competing with other 8 ragdolls and 58 cats all together! Peaches got 5 finals which is a huge success for the show of 48 kittens in competition coming in as 14th best kitten of the whole show – and think that she is a tortie! Milo got 2 best of breed competing with best and second best ragdoll alters in the world! WOW!

On the way back our car got a flat tire. Computer nicely informed that our car is not safe to drive. AAA nicely informed that while we do have a spare, the mounting equipment was not in the car. And so Hertz sent a tow truck from SeaTac airport with the new car for us to continue driving. So all of us spent the whole night in Mt Vernon/ Shell gas station (where air is $1.50 but gas station owner was nice enough to give us some for free). So instead of coming back at 11PM on Sunday, we showed up at 5am on Monday and I really planned to go and work, but woke up at 2pm to realize I am still in bed!

O, well, can’t wait till next show in Albany! This time Christina’s husband goes with us and we will take Suburban again! My hubby still does not get why we do shows? Do you?

Well, I finally have time to tell about that last kitten in the litter left unsold…

Years ago I talked to fellow breeder of dogs, and she told me “Never to tell that this is last kitten in the litter left unsold” and I wondered WHY? Well, now I know.

Somehow people are often under impression that the kitten left unsold, this is the last remaining kitten in the litter, has something wrong with it. After all, there IS a reason to be unsold, right?

I tell you otherwise, that often people try to “book” in advance, based on their beliefs, sex decisions, pattern and color, and not personality, when they did not even SEE the kitten yet. Some want personality, but some want boy or girl or particular pattern. Add to that that we often want to keep a kitty for the cattery and hence we need time to decide which one is better, and so we do not even put them on the web site for adoption.

More often than not, the last remaining kitten is actually the best quality, which we kept for us, however for one reason or another decided to let it go, especially when we keep one or two for observation.

For instance, the kitten I have remaining now was probably the best in the whole litter. We kept HER as breeder, but on vet check up we found out that SHE is actually a HE. As at the moment we have 4 breeding males – WOW, we can not possibly keep another male, plus he is lynx, meaning half of his offpsring will be lynx, plus we already have Chaos as the male with the same pattern and color. So little boy is for sale!

Hope that helps…