CH Gowlaren Sonia Cagaran (Sonia)
Also known as 'Sonia-Snos' and 'Snosage'
SOL n / 63
Somali, Usual (Ticked Tabby)
Inbreeding Co-efficient: 2.3% (10 generations)
D.O.B. 03/01/12
Sonia is the first Somali that we have owned, though we have had their shorthaired cousins, the Abyssinians, in the past. She was bred by George Gow (Gowlaren Cats), who has been a long-term breeder and judge of numerous breeds, including both Asians and Somalis. We went to visit George when Sonia was about four months old, and he had told us that he was going to keep her to show. We commented on how beautiful she was and the next thing we knew, he was asking if we were interested in having her: he knew that we were looking for a sorrel (cinnamon ticked) Somali to introduce cinnamon into our Tiffanie lines, and although Sonia is a usual (black ticked), her mum was a cinnamon, so she definitely carries the gene. We couldn't believe our ears, but gratefully accepted the offer, and she came to live with us in May of 2012.
Sonia's sire is a silver Somali of George's own breeding, and her dam is a sorrel, bought in from Dianne Taylor (Brizlincoat Somalis), in Birmingham. She has quite an unusual pedigree, but going back to a lot of fabulous lines, including some of the best-known, and stunning, Somalis. She is a gorgeous girl, with fabulous rich colour, a lovely plumey tail, and beautiful expression. Her muzzle is nice, though a little narrow at the moment, but is broadening as she ages, so will hopefully be even better when she is fully mature. She has a lovely nature, adores cuddles and always wants lots of fuss. She and Apollo both talk away to us when we're working in the gardnen.
Sonia's first show was the Lakeland, when she was about 5 ½ months old, where she won first in her kitten class, and Best of Breed. This performance was repeated at the Teesside, when she was just under eight months, and again at the Scotia, when she was 8 ½ months. After that, she moved into the adult classes, winning her first CC, from Val Kilby at the Yorkshire, her second, from Betty Shingleton at the Cheshire, and her third, from Helen Marriott-Power at the Scottish.
As previously mentioned, Sonia definitely carries cinnamon, because of her Dam being a sorrel. In addition, her Sire definitely carries dilute, so there is a chance that she will carry that as well.
Since one of our Ocicats turned out to have better type for being an Asian outcross than Sonia does, we decided to have a litter of Somalis from Sonia instead. For her first litter, she went to stud with Di (her mum's breeder), and was mated to the gorgeous I GR CH Brizlincoat Beau Geste. He is a usual, like her, and they gave us two usual kittens, one boy and one girl. Unfortunately, she developed some inappropriate toileting habits on her return from stud, and after trying everything we could think of to stop them, we were left with no choice but to move her into Apollo's outside stud run, where it doesn't matter if she refuses to use a litter tray. Obviously, she couldn't be kept entire whilst living with a stud of another breed, so she had to be spayed at that point.
Both her kittens have been shown:
Cagaran Àille (Molly) - owned by Derek & Irene Houghton
Somali, Usual (black ticked tabby)
Cagaran Àrraidh (Harry) - owned by Derek & Irene Houghton
Somali, Usual (black ticked tabby)