This is round about Day 30.
As you can see the catnip seeds I planted in the Jiffy Pot have grown and I have placed them in a larger pot. I’m not sure why the seedlings have gone floppy. Maybe because they’re grown indoors? Here they are soaking up some outdoor sunshine.
Maya the Bengal caught a whiff of the seedlings and started sniffing round. I had to put the catnip on top of a wheelie bin for safety.
Here are some photos of Maya enjoying the gift of a rabbit skin. The rabbit skin was sent by a friend of mine and Maya’s, Diana Cornhill.
Diana used to be a breeder of Bengals, but currently breeds beautiful and lively Burmese kittens under the prefix Toxotis. She has been a source of good advice and support over the years. Thank you, Diana! Here is a link to her web-site: Toxotis Burmese.
Oooh … all this posing is making me sleepy … time for 40 winks on my new rabbit skin!
(Another snippet from the annual seminar organised by the Novice Breeder Advice cat club which is always a treasure trove of expert advice and up-to-date information. This was taken from Dr. Susan Little’s talk on “Infertility in the Queen”)
While most intact female cats leave you in no doubt that they are on heat, some cats leave you guessing. These are the silent callers.
The Oriental breeds tend to like to tell everyone (including your neighbours) that they are on heat. However, the long-haired breeds, and especially Persians can be more discrete.
Why do some queens exhibit silent estrus?
It could be that they are timid by nature and low on the social scale in the cattery. They are inhibited by fear of the dominant cat who will pick on them if they call too loudly. Or perhaps the cattery is overcrowded for them, and they are unable to show that they are on heat for fear of drawing attention to themselves.
What can you do to help a cat who is a silent caller, to encourage her to exhibit more obvious signs?
You could rearange her living conditions so that she is not part of the crowd. House her with different cats, or in smaller groups, or separately.
You could also expose her to a tom cat if you think she’s about to call. The scent of a tom cat can have an amazing effect on any female queen’s hormones.
Also make sure that she is not experiencing false pregnancy due to spontaneous ovulation. For this you will need the expert advice of a vet.
The disadvantage of not knowing whether or not your cat is on heat is the surprise after 9 weeks and 2 days. I’ve heard of a breeder who found her queen nestled in a clothes chest, nursing some kittens. She hadn’t even shown any bulgy signs of being pregnant!
Breeders get many enquiries for kittens. Here’s one of the best, received by Helena Barrows of Chinktonks and used with her sporting permission. It was originally posted on the Novice Breeder Advice yahoo group forum,
“Thanks for your quick response,I want kitten,Because i can carry kitten
anywhere,i really want to get a Pet soon.Im interested,just received payment
from work and i am really anxious about having your Horse,.I really like to
come for viewing.If you want to have it sold i would need some details from
you so that i can come in case it’s mandatory,live in New York and need
carrier to pick up.I would love to know your Full Home Address,Full Names
city,and postal code,so i can go through either of the options on hand.1
come over to view and find someone to pick up 2,send personal check and wait
to clear .please it is necessary to pick one,necessary to know your interest”
Hmm … anyone for a HorseKitten?
I visited CoonTICA’s Easter Purrade on Saturday 19 April. Easter Purrade is a cat show organised by the Maine Coon Club in the UK that’s affiliated with The International Cat Association (TICA) – I’m a member of CoonTICA.
It wasn’t just Maine Coons at the show, but all breeds of cat. All in all there must have been about 250 cats being shown, in 5 rings, over 2 days. It’s definitely one of the highlights in the cat show calendar.
Like I’d done at a previous year’s show, I decided to help out by ring-stewarding. This involves cleaning out the show pens in between classes. It doesn’t sound very glamorous, but it does put you in close proximity to the judging. I highly-recommend it as a way of getting to see all the cats in the show, and to learn how the judges do it.
I was put in Ring 3 which was under the judging of Laura Cunningham, a TICA judge who also breeds Maine Coons under the prefix Coonyham. So definitely a very seasoned pro. She was amazing – really focused; she involved the audience and cat owners and just loved explaining what she was doing. She was on the go from 9am to 5.30pm, judging 250 cats almost non-stop – she had more stamina than me!
Discovery Channel were there too, filming the show for their Animal Planet documentary. Here are some photos of the judging in action:
Smile! You’re on Animal Planet!
Notice the judge’s props – scratching post, ticklers, feather toys, wands. They are not used to play with the cats, but to get the cats to lift their heads or extend their bodies so that the judge can better assess their profiles or standard. Of course, most of the cats thought that it was just an great excuse to play!
Laura admires a beautifully-marked marble Bengal
One of the best Persians in the show (sorry about the red eye!)
Some of the beautiful rosettes awarded at the show.
Cats sometimes spray in show pens (especially stud cats), and it’s the owner’s job to clean-up after them. The problem was that the smell of stud cat pee tended to persist. So even after the owner had had a go, I still had to clean the pen multiple times, and use an enzyme-based odour-destroyer. Even then the pen had to be taken out of action until the smell had worn off. Furthermore, any cleaning towels had to be disposed of away from the judging ring because if another stud cat subsequently smelt it, that would trigger the stud cat to start spraying. All in all I must have had about 3 spraying cats that day. I was exhausted!
If I was exhausted, so were the cats by the end of the day, and in the final few rounds some of them threw hissy fits so that Laura had to ask the owners to help take them out of the show pens and put them on the judging table. Not surprisingly, the feisty Bengals were the main culprits, but having said that, one of the winning Bengals was a fantastic male who calmly sat on his owner’s lap while she sat in the audience – good as gold!
With thanks to Laura Cunningham for permission to use the photos I took of her judging. And a huge round of applause for Ros Wood, President of CoonTICA and Martin Wood, for organising this very popular and successful show and for allowing me to help out. See you next year!
OK, call me eccentric, but I play music to the kittens.
Research has been done on the effect of music played while human babies are still in the womb, and it’s been positive. I know that a kitten’s sense of hearing doesn’t start to really function until its second week, so any music during the first week is really for the benefit of the mother cat and myself.
Because I have to leave both mother cat and kittens alone by the third week, I feel it’s good for them to have the sound of music, with vocals, in particular, to get them used to the human voice.
So what’s in the playlist for watching kittens grow by?
Well, in the hope of evoking a calm, soothing atmosphere, I tend to veer towards the classical:
– Josh Groban’s “Closer”. His Oceano is beautifully soothing. I never thought I’d like opera until I came across Josh Groban. The previous litter of kittens had no complaints either.
– Hildegard of Bingen’s “A Feather on the Breath of God” as sung by Gothic Voices (Hyperion). Unbelievable, transcendental music. Gramophone Award Winner, Best Classic CD Top 100 CDs of all time. Yes, it’s religious, yes it’s Gregorian chant/medieval-type music, but the music soars and takes you with it, tears in your eyes. Hopefully a kitten pleaser again.
– Gregorian Chants sung by monks. Not as ethereal as the Hildegard of Bingen, but very atmospheric and calming.
And of course I’ll be handling and playing with the kittens as much as possible from day one, to get them used to human smells.
The title of this post refers to me. After the kittens left I thought I’d have so much time on my hands that I’d be writing blog entries every day.
If only.
It’s true about having time on my hands. The problem is that I’ve fallen into a kind of inertia in which all I want to do after a day’s 9-5 is read and watch TV and sleep (and my other excuse is a 1.5 hour commute to and from work).
And the other problem about not having been updating this blog is that this is supposed to be a day in the life of a cat breeder. Now that the kittens have left for their homes I’m not sure if I’m fulfilling the brief. So until more kittens pop along, my posts are going to be, if not cat-breeding related, at least cat-related.
So, this post is an attempt to gee up not only my creative muse, but also to shame myself into writing more frequently. Call it a New Year’s resolution.
Here’s what you’ll have to look forward to in the next few posts:
– Cat Yoga (how having cats sleep with you in bed can improve the way you hold yoga postures!)
– Is Mummy Cat on heat?
– What’s in my Homeopathic Birthing Kit for Cats
– Why are there so few good fiction books on cats (also: why are cats always cast as villains in films?)?
OK. Back to the TV and a good book.
If you’re at a loss this Saturday, and fancy seeing some magnificent cats then you must visit the Supreme Cat Show.
To qualify for the show, a cat must win at a GCCF Championship show: Entire cats must have won a challenge certificate, kittens must have won an open class and neuters must have won a premier certificate.
Just as it says on the can: the best of cats will be on show … the pick of cats … hence the “Supreme”.
The show is run by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy which is the largest cat registry in the UK. It is the largest cat show in the country and differs from the usual GCCF shows. For example, there are special titles unique to the Supreme, and pens can be decorated. (if you go to any other GCCF show, pens are undecorated – cat bedding, cat food/water dishes, litter tray are white so that there is nothing to distinguish one pen from the other).
It’s somewhat mind-boggling to be surrounded by all these superb cats, but it’s a good learning experience. You soon develop an eye for what a top show cat should look like, and why they set the standards.
First you pause at each cat pen, studying each cat carefully, nonchalantly trying to eavesdrop on the breeders who are discussing their cats. Then you realise that you’ve spent 10 mins on just one cat when there are 150 more cats to be seen (which means you’ll be there until midnight long after the cats have gone home). So then you move into museum-zapping mode, and start rushing round in a frenzy trying to see as many cats as possible. But if you do this, you start suffering from supercat-overkill, and after awhile when faced with specimen after specimen of perfection, the cats strangely start looking … normal.
The best compromise is to treat the Supreme like the Louvre, and do a bit of both. Make your way to the Mona Lisa and one or two other select treasures, study them carefully, then having sated your eye, move onto other exhibits. So … find one or two breeds that catch your fancy and devote some time to them. Once you’ve had enough, then move onto the other breeds.
For me, my favourite breeds are of course, the Maine Coon and the Bengal.
Last year’s Best of Variety Semi-Longhair Neuter, Supreme Neuter and Supreme Exhibit was Imperial Grand Premier Dairymaine Chestaton who just happened to be, you’ve guessed … a Maine Coon. A red-tabby boy with a magnificent mane and a wonderful disposition.
But I enjoy looking at the other breeds as well, and I must confess to a strange fascination for the Sphynx. You may have seen one already – it’s the cat without fur and ears like a bat, it looks like something which you would find in a horror movie with mummies and women named Cleopatra. Some people say it’s the ugliest cat in the world. I think it’s so ugly it’s beautiful. Some say it’s a travesty of what a cat should be, and yes, but it’s here to stay and it’s so extreme it’s worth a look. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to pet a male Sphynx once – it felt like a warm peach. As he was hairless, his family jewels were bared for all to see, but he comported himself with such dignity I didn’t dare giggle.
As with every cat show, you will hear the Bengals long before you see them. I don’t know what it is about Bengals. Maybe it’s the wild cat gene, or maybe they hate being penned. Anyway, to say they express themselves vocally is an understatement – it’s like feeding time at the zoo. And once one starts, the others follow. I’ve seen some amazing Bengals. Like little leopards with perfect rosettes and spotting. And I still remember the first time I saw a snow-marbled Bengal. His coat had a sheen like I’ve never seen before – it was like a 3-D illusion – there were layers upon layers of colour that led your eye deeper into the pattern. As you know, the better the coat, the more a Bengal costs. I remember asking the owner how much and his evasive “too much” which hinted at a second mortgage. Hmm … something else to put on my “When I win the National Lottery” list.
Needless to say, in the company of the finest cats, you must be prepared to rub shoulders with cat breeders and other Cat Obsessives (myself excepted of course!).
If you know some of the breeders at the show, then you’re truly fortunate because they will be able to explain some of the more arcane points of cat showing. You may even be privy to the secret rules that govern cat breeding, which as a novice breeder I’m still trying to work out. In fact, I sometimes think it’s easier to become a third degree mason than a reputable cat breeder. Not that I’m one of the former.
I have to confess I’m not familiar with the judging system of a GCCF show. As far as I can work out, the cats are penned all day, and the judges go round with trolleys to take out and examine the cats. Results are based on points given by the judge – you can ask the judge for their opinion of the cat after the show, but otherwise, it’s all very anonymous.
However, what distinguishes the Supreme from other GCCF cat shows is that some of the judging is done before an audience. At present, the only cat shows that do this as a matter-of-course are TICA-run cat shows. And that’s why I prefer TICA shows generally – the judges talk about the cats as they examine them, they explain to the audience what makes the cat special, and if it has any obvious faults. It’s what makes a TICA show such a valuable learning experience and visitors feel more involved.
What more can I add to entice you? Well, the Supreme is the one-stop-shop for cat goodies. Most of the major cat trade suppliers will be there. You will not be able to resist buying the latest cat toy, or stocking up on 3-for-2 bags of cat litter. I remember last year my long-suffering hubby having to borrow the trolley from R&L cat products so that he could lug 9 bags of cat litter to the car. I’d like to say I saved so much on discounted cat litter it paid for the petrol, but alas, no.
And it’s not just stuff for cats, but stuff for humans … T-shirts, scarves, paintings, jewellery – all cat-themed. And the thing is, after awhile, all that over-the-top cat merchandise and people dressed in cat-branded gear start looking normal. It reminds me of the time I went to a world sci-fic convention in Glasgow – I walked past some people dressed as Klingons and Vulcans and didn’t even blink. Context, they call it: so it is in the safety of the Supreme … cat lovers can come out of the closet and express their true inner selves.
It’s a great place to find Christmas presents for cat lovers. (In case anyone wealthy is reading this and would like to make this cat breeder’s cats very happy, please could I have one of the 4-tier cat posts from Cat Palace.nl? The model with the ficus leaves.)
What else? Oh yes, mustn’t forget:
The Supreme Cat Show
Halls 3a and 4
Birmingham NEC (National Exhibition Centre)
http://www.supremecatshow.org/
Tickets £10 for adults
My blog fairy godmother has had a gentle word with me … my use of categories was running amok. I was placing posts in categories which they had no bearing on. It made precise searching for posts difficult.
I fessed up – it was true. I was using categories as meta tags, the bits which search engines use to find web-sites. I thought that the more categories/tags I attached to my posts, the better the chance of someone stumbling onto a post. So if someone was looking for litter training tips they come across one on kittens for sale, say. Yes, it was a cheap ploy. And unfair on those of you who select the litter training category and are met with a flurry of unrelated posts. Probably the equivalent of pop-up advertising.
Anyway, I’ve since been through all my posts and re-categorised them, in each case trying to allot a single category to them. And creating sub-categories. Hopefully it’s a leaner, meaner tag machine, and easier for you to find specific posts.
If you think there are posts which shouldn’t belong in certain categories, or can see a clearer structure, please let me know. I do appreciate your comments and do reply to all of them.
And … I also just wanted to say a thank-you for putting up with my woolly tagging. And thanks for carrying on reading!
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