Yet Another Catch-Up

We had a good day at the Eastern Counties/Bombay & Asian show, with Tilly winning two CCs, Grace two MCs and the tawny Ocicat kitten her 1st and Best of Breed. We then borrowed Call back from my brother to take to the Edinburgh, winning his Premier title in the process. Caomh and Roo have both gone to their new homes, leaving just the two spotty Ocis to find homes, and Dàrna’s kitten is now called Cagaran Fileánta, and has had her first vaccinations.

I really must stop writing the text for posts and then getting sidetracked before I get a chance to add the photos.  When I started this post, it began “It’s a much shorter time between this post than my last”, which is now certainly not true, given that it’s over two months since the last one again!  That’s what I get for getting involved in show management – I knew that it was a time-consuming process, but I had no idea just how much time it actually takes.

I think perhaps the best strategy for future updates might be just to upload the text once it’s written and then add photos later.

Eastern Counties

We went down to the Eastern Counties the second weekend in July, primarily because the Bombay & Asian Breed Club was held ‘back-to-back’ (sharing the show hall) with that show this year.  That meant that any Asians had the opportunity to try for two certificates, and since Tilly turned adult at the start of the month, we took her to try for her first two CCs.  She not only won these, but also one Best of Breed (against a multiple-Olympian-winner!) and four first prizes in side classes, including some really big ones.

Tilly lying in her pen, surrounded by rosettes and prize cards - two CCs in the foreground, and a host of rosettes on the back wall
Tilly lounging amongst her awards

We took Grace down as a Pedigree Pet, and since HPs can also be entered in both shows, she was able to win two Mastercat certificates on the day.  That means that both Tilly and Grace only need one more certificate to win their titles!

Grace lying in her pen, having her tummy tickled, with her rosette and Master Cat certificate in the background
An unusually clear photo of Grace

We also took the tawny Ocicat girl, who obviously doesn’t compete for certificates yet, but was up against another young girl who has been sold as a breeding queen.  The other girl had absolutely crystal clear and perfect markings, but our girl definitely had the better type, so I was interested to see what the judges did with them.  The two girls were up against eachother twice – once in their Open class, and then again in one of their miscellaneous classes under a different judge, and on both occasions, our girl was placed above the other, which I was delighted with.

Bobbie sitting in the doorway of her pen, sniffing at her Best of Breed rosette, which is pinned beside the door
Bobbie examining her rosettes – in the next photo she was biting them!

Bobbie sitting in the doorway of her pen, with her rosettes pinned beside the door
Bobbie looking pretty, having finished skewing her rosette

We were meant to be picking Sonia up on the way home from the show, but she had come back into call on the Thursday before the show, and since she’s well settled with Di at the moment, it seemed more sensible to leave her there and see if she can take this call.  Maiden queens often fail to get pregnant from their first matings, so it’s nothing we hadn’t expected.  Ayla also started calling that weekend, so we were crossing our fingers that the two girls might both get pregant and be able to have their kittens around the same time.

Call’s Title

The following weekend was the Edinburgh & East of Scotland, but we obviously couldn’t show our own cats because of having done the show the previous weekend.  I do like to support the Scottish shows if I can, though, so I asked Calum if he would let us borrow Call back for one last show.  Calum is going to be letting Call outside once he has fully settled in his new home, which means that we would be unlikely to get another chance to get him into show preparation.

Call, a brown tabby Maine Coon in his pen, with Premier Certificate in front and red rosettes behind
Call with his rosettes and certificate

Thankfully, Calum said we could take him, and he finally won his qualifying PC, making him up to Premier.  He is therefore now officially ‘Premier Elmcoon Basil’, and is no longer the only cat that we’ve owned since finding out about showing, to not have won a title.  He also won two 1sts and a 2nd in his side classes, and was even awarded the cup for Best Maine Coon Neuter.  What a star!

Quinn, a brown tortie Asian Smoke, looking out of her pen between her two red rosettes
Quinn scowling between her rosettes

I had an excellent day stewarding for John Trotter across the Foreign and Burmese sections, with a few Brits and a Siamese thrown in for good measure.  My pick of the day was a beautiful Asian Ticked Tabby kitten, owned and bred by Sarah Davidson (Karakoram Burmese & Asians), who was also John’s nomination for Best of Variety Foreign, and then went on to win the Overall Best of Variety.  I think she’s a granddaughter of Shogun, and therefore a niece of both Eiteag and Ayla, and a cousin of Tilly, so it’s not surprising that I liked her look!  We also got to handle Quinn, whose type John absolute adored, and he was gutted when he discovered that her smoke wasn’t good enough for him to award the Grand.

Excellent Day at Chester

You may remember that we did the Chester show for the first time, last year, and thoroughly enjoyed having a day out in Chester, so we decided to do it again this year.  Unfortunately, Elisabeth was judging, so I ended up being persuaded to steward, which was a bit of a disappointment.  I did enjoy my day stewarding, as I always do, but I must confess that I would rather have spent the day browsing Chester with Richard, who had a lovely day wandering in the old city.  We also took Pamela White, who owns two of Elisabeth’s Russians, and Elisabeth, so at least we got to share the transport.  Apologies for the rubbish photos – the hall-lighting was rather yellow, and we’re using the little point-and-shoot camera at the moment, because our proper camera is broken, which makes getting decent photos of our lot nigh on impossible!

Eiteag looking towards the camera from inside his pen, with his rosettes and prize cards on the back wall behind him
Eiteag looking very yellow

Tilly sitting in her pen, with her certificate and rosette, pulling a silly face
Tilly also looking yellow, unfortunately

Even if we didn’t have the full ‘Chester experience’, our show results made it worthwhile having entered, with all the cats winning something.  Donny didn’t win his Imperial, but did beat two lovely Burmillas for Best of Breed – excellent to win against some competition for a change!  The Tiffs were obviously against eachother for Best of Breed, which Dàrna won, along with her third Imperial.  Eiteag and Tilly both had their own successes, though, Eiteag winning the Grand, and Tilly taking the CC to make up to Champion.  They all had good results in side classes as well.  To top off an already great set of results, Donny and Dàrna were shortlisted with Pamela’s Lina as the last three for Best Foreign Adult, so regardless of which one actually won it, they had come down in our car!  In the end, it was Dàrna who took the award – her second BOV Adult win.

Donny standing in his pen doorway, rubbing his face against his rosette, which hangs by the door
Donny giving his Best of Breed rosette some love

Dàrna sitting in her pen, with her Imperial certificate and rosettes
Dàrna pulling a silly face, as usual, but at least she’s letting us see the Imperial certificate!

After the show, Elisabeth and Pamela headed home with the Thomsons (Saladin Abyssinians), and we carried on down to Rob and Anita’s, because we had an AGCS Committee meeting the following day.  This was another possible opportunity to pick up Sonia, but she still wasn’t showing any signs of being pregnant, and remained very settled, so we decided just to leave her where she is for the moment.  The Committee meeting was an enjoyable day, as the AGCS meetings always are, and I was elected as Secretary, which made sense given that I have taken the minutes at the meetings for the past two years, due to the previous Secretary having other commitments.

Teesside

Grace standing in her pen doorway, with her prize cards and rosette pinned to either side of the door
Grace ‘paddle-pawing’ at the front of her pen, whilst watching what else is going on

Grace standing in her pen doorway, rubbing against the side of the door
Grace giving her pen some love

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll know that the Teesside is one of the consistencies in our annual calendar.  Since they were the club who sponsored our prefix application, we always like to try and support the show.  This year, we took Eiteag and Tia to try for Grands, because Steve Crow was the judge, and I thought he would like them both.  We also took Dàrna’s kitten, who is nicknamed ‘Small’ for the time-being, in absence of any better name for her.  Making up the ‘set’, was Grace, trying for her final Mastecat certificate.  Having learnt our lesson at Chester, we just took the Teesside photos on Richard’s phone, and I think you’ll agree that the results are much better.

Eiteag standing in his doorway with his prize card and Grand certificate on the door, and the Grand rosette pinned to the pen front
Eiteag showing off his gorgeous rounded head

Eiteag standing in his pen doorway kissing his Grand rosette
Eiteag giving his Grand rosette a sniff and a kiss

Eiteag hanging out of his pen doorway, shouting
Eiteag shouting for girls from his pen doorway (he fancied getting in with Tia, who was next door)

Eiteag looking sideways across his pen, with his Best of Variety nomination and Best of Breed medal behind him, and his prize cards and rosette to either side
Eiteag with his Best of Variety nomination card and Best of Breed award, showing his lovely profile

We had something of a spectacular day – Grace making up to Mastercat, both Eiteag and Tia winning the Grands, and both being nominated for Best of Variety.

Sally Tokens checking the length of Tia's tail on the judging table in front of the Best in Show pens
Looking through the crowd of spectators at Tia being judged for Best in Show

Tia sitting beautifully in the doorway of her Best in Show Pen
Tia looking gorgeous in her Best in Show pen

This was Small’s first show, but like her Dad, Grand and Great-Gran before her, she behaved like an absolute sweetheart, charming the judges and winning her Best of Breed.  She started the morning in her Dad’s pen, so that she had company whilst she got the feel of the show, and then moved back to her own pen, where she behaved as if she’d been to countless shows before.

Small standing behind her Dad, who is busy eating
Small sharing Eiteag’s pen in the morning

Small sitting between her Best of Breed medal and First prize card
Small gazing at the ceiling in her own pen

Small looking sleepy beside her prizes
Sleepy Small

Small looking out of her pen
Small watching the goings-on

I had an excellent day stewarding for Pamela Beard-Smith in the British section, and having finished my stewarding, was told that Tia was being taken up to the Best in Show Pens – she had gone Overall Best Foreign!

Tia sitting in her pen with the door open and a selection of rosettes hung around the door, whilst she sniffs at her Best of Breed medal
Tia examining her Best of Breed award and surrounded by prizes

Tia sitting in her pen beside her Best of Vareity and Best of Breed awards
Beautiful Tia with her Best of Variety and Best of Breed awards

Scotia – My First Time as Assistant Show Management

This year’s Scotia was my first time as Assistant Show Manager, and although it certainly wasn’t the easiest task, I did survive!  We started off with seventeen judges, of which seven cancelled in the run-up to the show, for reasons ranging from operations and an emergency hospitalisation, to a cat needing emergency vet treatment.  We managed to replace a couple, but only had twelve judges by the end, yet all the judges took the resultant extra cats without complaint, and worked really hard for us.  I can’t thank them all enough, and also Sarah Davidson, one of the actual Show Managers, for giving me the opportunity to learn from her.

Wyvern

Today was the Wyvern, and since Elisabeth was judging this year, she asked if I would steward for her.  If I was going to go all that way to steward, it seemed daft not to show, especially when the Wyvern is such a lovely show to do.  I brought Dàrna to try for the Imperial, and since Dorothy Stone was going to be judging both the Ocicat and Tiffanie kitten classes, and generally loves our cats, I decided to bring Bobbie and Small as well.

As always, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day, and although Dàrna didn’t win the Imperial (there were four cats in the class, and the Imperial and Reserve winners were were worth the award), she did win her Best of Breed, and had good side-class results.  The kittens also had a good day, especially Small, who was shortlisted into the last four for Best Foreign Kitten.  As before, she behaved beautifully, and was an absolute poppet – I had more than one judge tell me they wanted to put her in their pockets to take her home.  I am so proud of her!

Unfortunately, without Richard there to keep me in order, I completely forgot to take any photos, which I’m rather gutted about.

New Home(s)

The week running up to the Edinburgh, we had a visit from a lovely couple who had recently lost their elderly Oriental, and wanted a companion for their Siamese.  They wanted to get a kitten to improve the likelihood of their Siamese accepting her, and they also wanted a breed that was likely to be similarly interactive and people-oriented.  Having done a bit of research, they thought Ocicats sounded ideal, and came to meet our babies.  They were immediately taken by our little ticked tabby girl, and she gave them lots of cuddles and kisses to ensure they were thoroughly convinced!

Her new owners phoned me the day after she moved in with them, to say that they had never seen a more confident little cat, and that she had just moved in as if she’d never been anywhere else.  When she met the dog for the first time, she just marched up, said “hello” and then carried on exploring, without hardly breaking step.  Likewise, she just went straight up to the Siamese, touched noses with her and then moved on without a hiss, growl or any apparent cautiousness.  That is one thing I definitely do like about (nice-tempered) Ocicats – they are so easy to integrate because they don’t seem to comprehend that another cat might not like them.

Roo went back to Di’s a couple of weeks later, and Bobby is now reserved for a breeder, so that just leaves Milly to find a new home.  I have had a couple of enquiries for her, but nothing definite yet, so I would still love to hear from anyone who knows of someone who might suit her.

Dàrna’s Kitten

Dàrna’s kitten is now 18 weeks, and as you might have gathered by the fact that we are currently calling her ‘Small’, we don’t have a proper ‘pet name’ for her yet – nothing has jumped out at us as suiting her.  Small isn’t particularly appropriate, because she is a really good-sized girl (like her Mum), but she is the smallest household member at present, so it works at the moment.  Elisabeth calls her ‘Sparkle-sparkle’, because apparently she has the ‘Sparkle Factor’, but we refuse to have a cat called ‘Sparkle’!  She has the cutest little ‘mohawk’ in the middle of her head (a little tuft of fur that always sticks up there), so we have wondered about something to do with ‘Mo’ or ‘Hawk’, but we haven’t got there yet.  I’m sure something will come to us at some point, and in the meantime she can remain as ‘Small’.

We had to give her an ‘official’ name back in July, in order to be able to make up her vaccination card, so I narrowed the list of possibilities down to a shortlist of about half-a-dozen, but hadn’t managed to get any further than that – again, none of the names leapt out as being hers.  In the end, Richard made the decision from the shortlist, so her pedigree name is Cagaran Fileánta, which is pronounced ‘Feelawnta’, and means ‘Poetic’.

Ayla’s Kittens

Ayla was originally expected to have her kittens next week, but she must have been mated earlier than the stud owner realised, and actually had them late on Wednesday.  She is proving to be a fabulous mummy, with the kittens starting out being good weights, and gaining between 8g and 13g in the first 12 hours alone!  Since the kittens are Burmese Restriction, it will be quite a while before we can be even remotely sure on colour, but that is hardly anything new!

Thinking Forwards

I had the Asian BAC meeting on the Sunday following the Edinburgh, and was unanimously elected as the BAC’s representative to Council, which I see as a huge honour and responsibility, since it makes me the official spokesperson for the breed.  I had hoped to apply to the judging scheme this year, because I had originally been told that the minimum requirement is 3 years of breeding experience, which we had last month, but the rule is now 4 years.  I was initially disappointed not to be able to apply, but being made the official spokesperson for the breed (something that I wouldn’t be allowed to do if I was working through the judging scheme) goes a long way to making-up for that disappointment!

While we were on our way to collect Ayla, Anita and Rob arrived at our house for the weekend (great planning, that!), because they were up for the first FIFé show in Scotland, which was held in Perth.  Lona was also attending the show, with Lainni and Tabh, among others, and had some good results, with Tabh taking Best New Breed Neuter on the Saturday (losing out to Sarah’s beautiful Chloe, whom I mentioned earlier), and Lainni taking Overall Best New Breed on the Sunday!  Cailin didn’t do a great deal at the show, but for once she was actually in call at the right time, so she spent the Saturday night through to Monday morning in with Donny, and there was plenty of rolling around and trilling going on, so fingers crossed they managed something.  If she is pregnant, those will be the first kittens to have two Cagaran parents, which will be quite exciting!

I really will try not to take so long before my next post, so watch this space…