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Until I met Sasha in 1985, I considered myself a "dog person" … not a "cat person". Sasha was a
seal point spay who came from an animal shelter. She had been adopted from the shelter by Bonnie, a friend of mine who lives on a farm in Tennessee. Bonnie’s other cats and dogs really hated Sasha, and a new home was needed. I was immediately so smitten with the drama of her dark brown/black points and beautiful blue eyes and her wonderful intelligence and glorious voice, that I was determined to help her overcome her fear. In many ways this became my personal version of "The Taming Of The Shrew", but I was so quickly rewarded with glimpses of her deep devotion and loyalty, as well as her crazy sense of humor, that I persisted and our relationship blossomed.

When I read my first Lilian Jackson Braun book,
THE CAT WHO SAW RED, I was delighted to see the same "Sasha personality"' in KoKo and YumYum, who are Jim Qwilleran’s Siamese companions in "The Cat Who …" mysteries. I must have talked to my family about this quite a lot, because my son Todd, who was about nine years old at the time, suggested that perhaps I would like to have a Siamese kitten. I told him I would love to, but I didn’t think I could talk Jim into it.
Dianne & Lucky
Sasha
Sasha

Well, Todd and his older sisters, Elizabeth and Anne, went right to work … they not only overcame all the objections, they located a blue point female kitten. Shazam came to me as a six week old bundle of fire and love to continue my lessons in Siamese.

Shazam grew into the epitome of the "one person cat"
that Siamese seem to be known for, and although I always worried about her personality I loved her dearly and thought she was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that when the local cat club held a household pet show in my local mall, I entered and showed her. She was furious about this, of course, and acted very badly for the Judge, who happened to be a local Siamese Breeder.

Not only did Shazam not win a rosette in the show, but the Judge told me over and over again that she was not really a Siamese. Shazam and I were both hurt and insulted.

He invited me to his cattery to see his Siamese.
Although I was angry with him, my curiousity got the best of me and I accepted his invitation.

Shazam ->

Shazam

Joy
Joy

My obsession with Siamese began the day I walked into that cattery. I saw about a dozen pairs of blue eyes turn to look at me from the piles of seal and blue points who were sleeping in several doughnut beds scattered throughout the room. As I took the first few steps into the room, they began to show me some of the wonderful qualities that Siamese are known for. A couple of the girls jumped up to the top of a cabinet where they could observe me for a while. Some of them were so sleepy they remained in the bed and just looked at me through dreamy eyes. The rest of them came to me instantly … purring and talking and begging to be picked up and loved. One of these was a beautiful seal point female who was called Joy. She and I had an uncanny bond that was instant and absolute. More about Joy later.


My visit to the cattery lasted much longer than I had anticipated … hours, in fact. Each room held more pointed treasures … and the babies really thrilled me. I found myself exploring the idea of breeding these beautiful creatures. Although I was encouraged to show them, I was emphatic that I was not interested in showing cats. After all my first experience with a cat show was the disaster with my wonderful Shazam, and I was quite sure I was not interested in any more experiences like that.

We worked out an agreement that I would raise the litters and take care of his cats on show weekends while he was away. He would show the nicest of the kittens. I would acquire a couple of nice girls from him to start my own breeding program. This arrangement worked well for quite a while. I loved taking care of the cats and what a wonderful opportunity to learn about being a Siamese breeder.

Carmen and Lilly
Carmen & Lilly as Kittens

Every aspect fascinated me. I collected and studied pedigrees. I began my collection of old CFA Yearbooks and Almanacs so that I had a chance of seeing pictures of some of the Siamese names I found in pedigrees. I began compiling my Siamese pedigree database and in the process managed to memorize many of the pedigrees that I studied. My memory is really pretty bad … except when it comes to Siamese cattery names and cat names. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I began to call a few of the breeders I had met to ask questions. Most of them were wonderfully generous with their knowledge, time and patience.


Sugarbaby
CH Claymar Sugarbaby of Jim-An-Di
Our First Show Cat



During this time, I met and began to use an old local vet named Dr Bruce Gradous. I had heard Dr Gradous stories for years before meeting him and I felt a little intimidated about having him as my vet, but the breeder I was working with had used him for years, so I really felt I had little choice in the matter. For those of you who don't know, most vets are not thrilled to see a breeder come through their door, so I didn't know what to expect from him. As it turns out, Dr Gradous was the single most important teacher/mentor I had along the way. He actually liked breeders. He was wonderful. He taught me so much about cats and breeding. I have always shared what he taught me. He was a tough old guy, but I never minded it coming from him. He was always there when we needed him. That means he would meet me at his office in the middle of the night for an emergency or call to check on a difficult case. Last year I was asked to write an article for our National Siamese Cat Club Newsletter on raising Siamese kittens. I felt so good when Siamese Breeders contacted me to thank me for writing it and tell me that they learned a lot that helped them. Dr Gradous is the person who is really responsible for that article.



TO BE CONTINUED . . .





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