We've got kittens!!

Shekinah's British Shorthair and Selkirk Rex Catzzzz

Welcome to our world of cats !

We are Carrie-Ann and Chinook, mother and daughter, and some might say that we are crazy cat ladies.

Our cats have developed a special and rather sneaky system of training us to recognise their various meows that ask for food / cuddle / attention and anything else that takes their fancy. This seems to be heridatory. As soon as our kittens are old enough, they undergo a secret cat-therapy given by the adult cats. It always seems to work. In spite of this cat- conspiracy, the love is mutual and we get a whole lot of cat-love and affection in return.

I 've always been surrounded by cats, in fact I often seem to be smothered in them. A life without cats doesn't even bear thinking about.  I grew up with a cat, have always had cats and I might even have developed some catlike traits myself ;-)

 Back in 1986 when I first came to live in Holland, my very first Dutch cat entered my life. Mackintosh, a lovely blue-point Persian, with gorgeous blue eyes. He was only seven weeks old when he came to share his life with me, and very ill. His breeder didn't think he would make it so I got Mac for nothing. For several weeks, day and night I fed and watered him, wiped his bottom and loved and cared for him. Against all odds, Mac survived and grew into a lovely strong boy. The bond betweeen us was incredibly strong and together we shared something exceptionally special. Mac was fourteen when he passed away, and a part of my heart died with him.  The silence and the emptiness was almost too much to bear and I mourned for weeks, months even. Dear sweet Mac, you're always in your special place, deep in my heart.  

 Eventually I came into contact with various breeders and received three Persians to look after. The first litter was born and I was on cloud nine. That's when I discovered that I'd caught  the Kitten Bug.   More Persians followed and my life seemed to consist of cat-hair and kittens. I loved it!

When Chinook was born, my hobby came to a standstill. But as anyone who has the Bug will tell you, you can't stay kittenless forever. So when Chinook was older, I started again. Although we still had one of our Persians,(Possum) this time I decided to go for the British Shorthair, the cat with the same cuddly appearance, nice short little legs, sweet nature, but with considerably less combing. It was then that I traded in my Persian fur-coat.

Cuddles arrived first. Such a sweet little lilac girl, who had a habit of licking human noses. Anyones would do. Not very big but with a heart of gold.

Then came Andrzej, ( aka Andy ), an enormous cream boy who was already two years old. A gigantic lump of love. So gentle and caring. He plonks himself down on any available lap and stays there forever. Because of his weight there's no point in trying to remove him anyway.

Prudence was the next to arrive, a gentle chocolate and white girl with amber eyes to die for. Pru is a lovable and laid-back lady, an excellent mother and very experienced in the Cat-conspiracy.  

Franklin was the following addition. He had already established himself as a stud and he came to woe our girls. Frankie was very shy and frightened at first. No way would he let us pick him up never mind trying to cuddle him.  Gradually, over the months, he thawed out and now he even tolerates being cuddled for a few minutes.  He has his very own way of affection for us, he'll spring up on his hind legs and sort of jump in the air rubbing his face against our legs. 

Tiger Lily is Prudences daughter. A lovely lilac,cream and white girl with the same beautiful eyes and temperament as her Mum. Tiger Lily always sleeps with me and arranges herself in places where her face is always against mine.

Then the day came when Daisy,  our ex-tramp and European Shorthair lady, rmade her unforgetable entrance in our house. Chinook found her roaming around, starved, bitten and totally dehydrated. If she'd been left on the streets for a few days longer she definitely wouldn't have made it. We brought her in, isolated her from the other cats and Chinook removed more than twenty-two tics from her moth-eaten coat . Daisy brought a whole flea-market with her and we could actually count her ribs. Her ears had been bitten and one still has bits missing while the other curls round at the top.  She couldnt have been much older than nine months at the time. Nowadaisy ( excuse the pun ) she has a nice rounden tummy and shiny coat and is the one and only conquerer of the kitchen bin ...some old habits just won't go away ;-).  

Zara is a beautiful white British Shorthair girl with gorgeous orange eyes and a lovely cobby body.  Zara often has a crazy half hour and zooms up and down the stairs with the noise of a human with clogs on. She's always been a  fantastic Mum and sometimes kidnaps someone else kittens to nurture and love. The other Mums seem quite happy with this arrangement.  After two litters Zara was neutered, having been through two traumatioc deliveries. One of her babies, Nutterbutter Nobalz, lives with us and radiates Zaras beauty and also her fathers (Int.Champion Cattractive Columbus) apearance and charms.

When Andy became an ex-stud, I looked for his replacement. In my search I came across the Selkirk Rex. The name misleadingly conjures up the appearance of a thin-faced cat but nothing could be further from the truth. The Selkirk is a lovely rounded cat ,have a very hig Cuddle-factor, and are with or without curls.I fell in love again. That's how El Guapo came to share his life with us.  Guapo is a comical lilac boy with his own special, loving character. He's very smart and gentle and also hopelessly in love with Holy Moly ( aka Molly). 

Holy Moly is our Selkirk Straight longhair girl, daughter of Prudence and Curly Lorenzo van Brifety. Molly is very loving and  the love that Guapo feels for her is definitely reciprocarted. They're almost always together. When Molly was pregnant with Guapos babies, Guapo was a true support for her. Once born, he visited his kittens every day.....normally we don't allow the father to see the kittens the first few days because of eventual stress, but with Guapo it was a whole different story. He sat and meowed until he had pernission to enter the Delivery Room and was received by Molly with open paws.  

Then Quiara  came to enhance our lives. A lovely cuddly teddy-bear, a very affectionate longhair blue-point Selkirk girl. She gets up to all sorts of antics and we someines can't stop laughing at her genius for inventing new games. Quiiara usually has an endearing yet cheeky expression on her face that just says she's looking for mischief.  She loves being cuddled and purrs like a Ferrari.  

 Then we have the infamous Mini Baby, lilac and white son of  Prudence and Franklin. When he was a ( VERY ) little baby he was most peculiar. He didn't grow like his brothers and sisters and he looked like a newly hatched chicken with the little hair that he had, all sticking up as if we'd put gel on it. He was really a weird looking little thing. But he was just sooooo sweet, how could we help but love him to bits? We nursed him day and night, and gradually he put on weight and began to look more like a kitten too. You can read his story on the Kitten Page. His real name is Ludwig but Chinook will kill me for saying that, to her he will always be Mini Baby although he's now quite the opposite and actually the  terror of our house ;-)  

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 We hope that you've enjoyed meeting our cats and sharing a little of our cat-filled lives.  Have fun looking round our site !  

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