IC Ameeka Showbizz (Kia)
Kia is short for Ciatach, which is Gaelic for 'Beautiful', pronounced Kee-atach ('ch' as in loch)
OCI n 22 / 73 41
Ocicat Classic, Tawny (Classic Tabby)
Inbreeding Co-efficient: 22.2% (10 generations)
D.O.B. 22/06/09
Kia was intended to be our foundation Ocicat Classic. She was bred by Stacie and Ian Shorten (Ameeka Abyssinians and Ocicats), in Lincoln. She was out of the Shortens' Chocolate Classic, Jazzy (Thickthorn Calypso) and their lovely import boy, Neo (S*Marble & Silk's N. Tiramisú). She has beautiful clear markings, with almost perfect 'Oysters'. She also has lovely big ears and stunning green eyes with the typical Ocicat expression. In fact, I think she is the absolute image of her father.
Jazzy's Cinnamon daughter, Kestrel (Ameeka Kestrel Spirit) had her litter only 7 days after her mother, and the girls raised them together. These litters were the first in the UK to result from matings between two Ocicat Classic parents. This means that our wee girl was quite special, being from the first such mating. Kia was one of five kittens in Jazzy's litter, and Kestrel had seven in hers - both litters containing Tawny, Chocolate and Blue kittens.
Kia is a very friendly and interactive girl, and was generally the first one to greet guests on arrival. She is extremely talkative, and would follow us around the house telling us all about what she'd been up to. She liked to be with us at all times, and would always be found in whatever room there were people in. If Richard went one way, and I went in the opposite direction, she would stand in the middle looking puzzled, while she tried to decide who to go after, though Richard normally won, because she was a bit of a "Daddy's Girl"! She loved to sleep in the bed with us, and to cuddle up with us on the couch - especially if we brought covers through to snuggle up under. She also liked to sit in front of the fire with the Devons and Tármus.
Kia's first outing on the bench was the Ocicat Club show at less than a week past the 14 week minimum for show entry. She took her first Merit Certificate at the show, and received a glowing report praising her type and outgoing temperament. She also did well in her side-classes - the only time she didn't take first place, she came second to Breckin's brother, so I couldn't be that upset! She went on to become a full 'Merit Qualifier', meaning that she was one of the cats whose wins enabled the breed to move forward from Assessment to Preliminary recognition with the GCCF. After that, she went on to also win the three Intermediate certificates required to enable her to contribute to the breed's progression to Championship status.
Unfortunately, we discovered that Kia had a viral infection that was a risk to kittens, so she had to be kept in isolation from our other cats. She did have one litter before she left us, but we followed strict guidance from our vet, taking her to an Abyssinian outcross boy, whose owners were also vets, and removing the kittens from her when they were just four weeks old, then giving them to one of our other queens to raise. Thankfully, none of our kittens have had any issues, and all of her kittens tested negative for the virus, so we obviously managed to contain it.
In our house, she would have had to remain permanently in isolation, in order to not pose a risk to our kittens, but for such an outgoing cat, that wouldn't be fair. I therefore contacted a lovely couple who had come to meet her with a view to having an Ocicat or Ocicat Classic kitten from her. Since the one mating we did with her was to an Abyssinian, and therefore produced only Variants like Grace, we hadn't had any such kittens to give them. I knew that they had absolutely fallen in love with Kia when they visited, though, so I explained the situation to them, and asked if they would be interested in taking Kia herself. They came to meet her again, and were just as smitten as the first time they met her, so they agreed to give her a new home. We receive regular photo updates from them, and she seems to be gloriously happy, which goes some way to relieving the sorrow we felt at having to part with her.
Kia had three kittens, all tawny ticked tabby Variants:
Cagaran Altachdainn (Grace) - owned by us
Cagaran Adhairc (Kenga) - owned by Diane Gibbins
Cagaran Aomáilteach (Simba) - owned by Kerry Mathewson