Previous Queens

This page introduces all of the ‘queens’ (breeding girls) we’ve had the privilege to own, whether bred here, or elsewhere.

When you’re working with a rare breed, genetic diversity is a major consideration at every stage.  As a result, we have never had more than five litters from a girl, and quite a few (especially in the outcross programmes), have only had one.  If we were to keep all of these cats, we’d be overrun, which wouldn’t be good for the cats or us, so each cat is assessed, after retirement, and only stay here if it’s clear that they actively enjoy being part of our household.  If they seem irritated by calling queens and playful kittens, or distressed by cats coming and going (girls to stud, kittens going to new homes, other retirees moving on, new breeding cats coming in), then we look for a retirement home for them instead.  We can’t continue the breed without some cats sacrificing a few years of potential neutered-lay-about time to hormones, matings, and raising kittens, but they deserve a comfy retirement after they’ve done their bit for the breed.

Some on this list never actually got as far as having kittens, because we decided against breeding them for various reasons, but they’re included here because they lived with us as a queen until we decided to have them spayed.  There are also three on the list who died here – two as young adults and one as an older retiree.  In order of date of birth, they are:

Katie (Ch Rushbrooke Airgead Cagaran)

Tiffanie, Black Silver Shaded; 6th February 2009 – 25th June 2012
Breeder: Lady Amanda Colgan (Rushbrooke)
S: Ch Rushbrooke Silver Bullet, D: Ch Merinda Chica Derushbrooke
Inbreeding: 2.6% (over 10 generations)
Carried non-agouti and non-silver

Burmese Hypokalaemia status unknown because she died before the test was available
Airgead Cagaran is Gaelic for ‘Silver Darling’, pronounced ‘Arket Cakaran’.

 

Katie was our first queen, and was half-sister to our neutered first Tiffanie, Annas.  Amanda didn’t usually sell for breeding but I’d sent her the research I’d done in preparation for starting breeding, for her to check over, and she came back to say that she’d never seen anyone prepare so thoroughly, and that if I wanted a girl for breeding then I could have the next one she had.  Katie was the only girl in her litter and I fully anticipated that Amanda might say we had to wait for the next litter but she was true to her word, and Katie came home with us, even though that meant Amanda had to wait another two litters to keep a girl for herself!

Katie had generally good type and a flowing, silky, coat with clear silver undercoat.  She was very sweet, gentle and loving, and never really seemed to grow up, retaining the nickname ‘Katie-Kitten’ even once she’d been a mother twice.  She was generally well-received on the show bench and made Champion at 13 months, then won one Grand certificate.  She loved shows, and when her cage door was opened, she’d climb straight out onto the table and up the judge to give them kisses!

She gave us two litters of Tiffanies, and was a fabulous mother.  Unfortunately, when she was pregnant with her third litter, in 2012, she contracted a bacterial infection.  As a result, she couldn’t push hard enough to have a natural delivery and had to have a C-section, which produced two still-born kittens.  Even worse, she rapidly went downhill after the operation, and had to be put to sleep herself a couple of weeks later.  This is absolutely the worst-case scenario for a breeder – losing kittens is awful, but to lose one of your girls in the process is a literal nightmare.  We miss you Katie-Kitten, sleep peacefully.

We didn’t keep anything from Katie but we had let one of her daughters go to our friend, Anita, for breeding, and so we were able to get a daughter (Tilly) back, thus retaining Katie’s line.

Katie x Charlie (Ch Rushbrooke Chico Moreno, Black Ticked Tabby Tiffanie)
A-Litter, born 22/06/10, 4 kittens:

  • Cagaran Aithreachas – died in the nest 01/07/10
    Black Silver Ticked Tabby Tiffanie girl
  • GrPr Cagaran Asgaidh-Àlainn (Lainni) – owned by Lona Johnson, PTS 08/10/18 (kidneys)
    Black Silver Shaded Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran An-Sùlair (Rafa) – owned by June & Tony Gill
    Black Ticked Tabby Tiffanie boy
  • Cagaran Aileag (Alek) – owned by Fiona Grant, PTS 06/07/21 (stomach tumour)
    Black Shaded Tiffanie boy

Katie x Shogun (Ch Kagura Shogun, Chocolate Spotted Asian Tabby)
C-litter, born 04/07/11, 2 kittens:

  • Ch Cagaran Cailin-Anizz (Cailin) – owned by Anita Bryce
    Chocolate Silver Shaded Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Cannach (Clooty) – owned by Eileen Thomson, killed on the road 19/04/14
    Black Ticked Tabby Tiffanie boy

Dàrna (IGrCh & GrPr Dayjoy Orla)

Tiffanie, Chocolate Tortie Silver Shaded; 26th February 2009 – 12th April 2021
S: Kevona Simply Awesome, D: Farash Loralei Lee
Inbreeding: 10% (over 10 generations)
Carried dilute, BCR, spotted & classic
Carried Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested as a carrier)
Dàrna is Gaelic for ‘Second’ – she was our second queen and we tried to go for something not too different from the ‘Orla’ she’d been used to with her breeder.  It’s pronounced ‘Dawr-na’.

Although she was our second queen, she has had probably a bigger influence over our breeding than any other cat we’ve worked with, and so we consider her to be the true foundation of our lines.  She has her own page and clicking her name (or picture) will take you there.

Breckin (Ch & Pr Yesso Breckin)

Ocicat, Chocolate Spotted; b: 9th June 2009
Breeder: Rita Leggett (Yesso); owned by Mandy Clark
S: GrCh Thickthorn Blue Skipper, D: Ch Thickthorn Delphinium
Inbreeding: 25.7% (over 10 generations)
Carried dilute
Breckin is Gaelic for ‘Freckles’, pronounced just the way it looks.

 

Breckin was bought to be our foundation Ocicat queen but unfortunately had to be spayed without every being bred.  She’d been skittish as a kitten but got less and less friendly towards people as she grew older and, once hormones kicked in, became actively aggressive.  After being kept in isolation whilst we treated her for Tritrich, she seemed to hate people even more than before, so she was eventually re-homed to a farm in Aberdeenshire, where she would have the choice whether or not to come into contact with people.  She now lives mostly in the outbuildings, ‘working’ as a mouser, and her owners see her only occasionally.

Kia (IC Ameeka Showbizz)

Ocicat Classic, Tawny Classic; 22nd June 2009 – 3rd April 2015
Breeder: Stacie & Ian Shorten (Ameeka); owned by Shae Dunsmore
S: Marble & Silks N. Tiramisú, D: Thickthorn Calypso
Inbreeding: 22.2% (over 10 generations)
Carried chocolate
Kia was short for Ciatach, which is Gaelic for ‘Beautiful’; pronounced Kee-atach (‘ch’ as in loch).

Kia was born during the early days of the attempt to have the classic-patterned Ocicats recognised for showing (instead of just breeding).  She was from the first litter in the UK to result from a mating between two Ocicat Classic parents, and was intended to be our foundation Ocicat Classic.  Unfortunately, we discovered that she had a viral infection that was a risk to kittens and so she had to be kept in isolation from our other cats before eventually being re-homed to a home where she would be the only cat.

She did have one litter before leaving us, following strict guidance from our vet, and taking her to an Abyssinian outcross boy, whose owners were also vets.  We had to remove the kittens from her when they were just four weeks old, and give them to one of our other queens to raise, and thankfully her kittens tested negative for the virus.

She found a wonderful home with a couple who had come to meet her before we knew about the virus, and were hoping for a spotted or classic kitten from her.  Having taken her to an Abyssinian, however, all her kittens were ticked tabbies so, knowing how much they’d fallen in love with Kia, I offered her to them, explaining that she’d have to remain an only cat.

Unfortunately, Kia died of HCM when she was only five.  Her owners subsequently got another Ocicat, and then took on Kia’s granddaughter, Cheeky, who they say reminds them very much of her grannie.

We kept her daughter, Grace, who had two litters of Ocicats for us, including Cheeky, who founded our Ocicat-outcross line in the Asians.

Kia x Stanley (Riverfern Vulcan, Usual Abyssinian)
Oci A-Litter, born 16/07/11, 3 kittens:

Tia (GrCh Skampaws Ashputtel Galatea)

Burmilla, Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded; b: 16th June 2010
Breeder: Margaret Dewhurst (Skampaws); owned by Wilson Logan
S: Ch Isajen Skampaws Magic, D: Kenzie Shanti Stardust
Inbreeding: 1.8% (over 10 generations)
Carried non-agouti, non-silver, dilute, and classic
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear).

 

Tia was the first Burmilla girl that we owned, and came to us from Mark and Avril Perkins (Ashputtel) in Poole, when they gave up breeding due to ill health.  I’d wanted her for her pedigree (very different to our other cats) but she also had lovely type and temperament.  She loved being shown and did rather well, easily winning her Grand in straight shows, and also going Best of Variety at the Teesside.  We’d hoped that she might carry longhair because one of her grandsires was a longhair-carrier, but we weren’t quite that lucky!

 

One of the kittens in her first litter, Jock, went to live with a lovely family in Paisley, who had come to visit us the previous year and fallen in love with Tia, choosing her as the future mother of one of their kittens (they wanted Tilly for the other one).  Unfortunately, he picked up an infection about six months later, and had to be put to sleep, so I promised his owners a kitten from Tia’s next litter.

 

In a further stroke of horrible bad luck, though, their other kitten managed to run out of their front door and straight into the path of a passing car.  They asked if they could have two of Tia’s kittens but since there were only three in the litter and we were keeping two of them for the cinnamon outcross programme, that wasn’t an option.  At that point there were six of Tia’s kittens in breeding (we’d kept one from the previous litter, two of the others had gone to friends in the UK, and a third had gone to breeders in Switzerland, as well as the two we were keeping from the second litter) so she’d done her bit for the breed.  Knowing how much the Logans loved her, I offered her to them (after checking with Mark and Avril), and they jumped at the chance.  She still live there, with her son, and is utterly spoilt!

 

Although four kittens from Tia’s first litter for us went into breeding, there are no entire descendants from that line.  Her second litter, however, was part of our Australian Mist outcross programme, and we have descendants of both boys, and there are descendants with three other breeders at present.

 

Tia x Ticksy (Ch Cagaran Éiteag-Bàrr, Cream BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie)
J-Litter, born 03/07/14, 7 kittens (2 died in early nesting):

Tia x Zuko (Cagaran Gliocas, Caramel BCR Spotted F1 Asian Tabby [also MC Zuko])
O-litter, born 17/07/15, 3 kittens:

Lhasa (Ch Adelfsh Amar Stella)

Tiffanie, Brown Smoke; b: 19th November 2010
S: Kimani Champagne Supernova, D: Ch Adatesh Amarkate
Inbreeding: 2.2% (over 10 generations)
Masked classic; carried non-silver
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear)
Lhasa already had her name when she came to us, having been called after the capital of Tibet because she had been bought to breed Tibetans (and indeed was the mum of the first litter of Tibetans born in the UK).

Although we didn’t get her until she was two, she had three litters for us and we kept something from all of them.  As a result, she’s had a very substantial influence on our current breeding and therefore has her own page, which you can reach by clicking her name (or picture).

Grace (Cagaran Altachdainn [also MC Grace])

Ocicat Variant, Tawny Ticked; b: 16th July 2010
Owned by Mandy Clark
S: Riverfern Vulcan, D: IC Ameekca Showbizz
Inbreeding: 0.0% (over 10 generations)
Carried cinnamon, non-ticked, & classic
Altachdainn is Gaelic for ‘Grace’, and is pronounced Altacht-eye (‘ch’ as in loch).


Grace was the second girl that we kept of our own breeding (after Fi), and was the result of an outcross mating from Ocicat to Abyssinian, done to reduce inbreeding levels (routinely 20-25% in the Ocicats at that time, with the maximum safe level being considered to be 25%).  The offspring of an Ocicat to Abyssinian will always have the ticked pattern, like their Abyssinian parent, and are known as ‘Ocicat Variants’.  They can’t be shown in the Pedigree section because the ticked coat doesn’t comply with the Oci standard, but they can be shown as Household Pets, where they’re judged only on condition and temperament (and Grace won the ‘MasterCat’ title as such).  They do carry the spotted and/or classic pattern, though, and any spotted or classic kittens they produce are registered and shown as Ocicats.

 

Grace had two litters for us; from the first we kept Cheeky, who went on to found our Ocicat-outcross in the Asians, and her sister, Breagha, went to Anita for breeding.  Anita also had Bobbi, from Grace’s second litter, though by that point we’d decided to give up breeding Ocis so the others all went as pets.  Grace, unfortunately, developed something of an obsession with chewing cables, and it became dangerous to keep her in a house, so we found her a home, with Breckin, on a farm in rural Aberdeenshire.

Grace x Curry (Redhotcurry of Thickthorn, Cinnamon Ocicat)
Oci B-Litter, born 13/07/12, 5 kittens:

  • Cagaran Brèagha-Anizz (Breagha) – owned by Dave & Pippa Smith
    Cinnamon Ocicat Classic girl
  • Cagaran Bagarach (Maya) – owned by Alistair Wardell
    Cinnamon Ticked Ocicat Variant girl
  • Cagaran Beathag (Nala) – owned by Alistair Wardell
    Cinnamon Ticked Ocicat Variant girl
  • Pr Cagaran Bragoil (Cheeky) – owned by Shae Dunsmore
    Cinnamon Ocicat Classic girl
  • Pr Cagaran Brucach (Bru) – owned by Sharon Russell, missing since 2015
    Tawny Spotted Ocicat boy

Grace x Ben (IGrCh Yesso Barnato, Chocolate Ocicat)
Oci C-litter, born 03/03/13, 6 kittens:

  • Cagaran Cainnt (Hamish) – owned by Liz Mackay, killed on the road 05/04/14
    Cinnamon Ticked Ocicat Variant boy
  • Cagaran Crannag (Harry) – owned by Liz Mackay
    Cinnamon Ticked Ocicat Variant boy
  • Ch Cagaran Ceann-Ciatach (Bobbi) – owned by Tina Swindburn
    Tawny Spotted Ocicat girl
  • Cagaran Caomh (Mia) – owned by Fiona Carson
    Cinnamon Ticked Ocicat Variant girl
  • Cagaran Ceafán (Ru) – owned by Diane Gibbins, killed on the road
    Tawny Ticked Ocicat Variant boy
  • Cagaran Ciarán (Milly) – owned by Pam & Stuart Jenkinson
    Cinnamon Spotted Ocicat girl

Sonia (Ch Gowlaren Sonia Cagaran) - now Sunny

Usual Somali; b: 3rd January 2012
Breeder: George Gow (Gowlaren); owned by Alison Williams
S: Gowlaren Rowan, D: Brizlincoat Shangri La
Inbreeding: 2.3% (over 10 generations)
Carried cinnamon.

 

Sonia was the first Somali we owned, though we’ve had a few of their shorthaired cousins, the Abyssinians.  We went to visit her breeder when Sonia was about four months old, and he’d told us he was keeping her to show.  We commented on how beautiful she was, and next thing we knew, he was asking if we were interested in having her because he knew that we were looking for a Sorrel (cinnamon) Somali for our cinnamon outcross programme and Sonia carried cinnamon.

 

She has an unusual pedigree, going back to a lot of fabulous lines including some very well-known, and beautiful, Somalis.  She was a nice example of the breed and, in the end, we realised that our Ocicat girl, Cheeky, would be a better match for the Asian type, so decided to have a litter of Somalis from Sonia instead.

 

She had two kittens in the litter and they were the messiest kittens we’ve ever had – you could clean their pen, leave the room for two minutes, and when you returned the entire pen would be trashed again, with food in the litter tray and water dish, water in the food dish and litter tray, litter in the food and water dishes, and a paste of all three things all over the bedding.  They were also extremely difficult to litter-train, so we decided we wouldn’t do anything further with the Somali breed, and had Sonia spayed.

 

On her return from stud, Sonia had developed some very inappropriate toiletting habits and, tried everything we could think of to persuade her to go back to using a tray, without any joy.  At the time we had a stud boy, Peachy, who also refused to use a litter tray, so she became his companion until he was neutered, when we found the two a home, in the mountains of Wales, where they could have outdoor access, and they have a great life there.

 

Sonia x Beau (IGrCh Brizlincoat Beau Geste, Usual Somali)
Somali A-Litter, born 11/11/13, 2 kittens:

  • Cagaran Àrraidh-of-Pensam (Harry) – owned by Derek & Irene Houghton
    Usual Somali boy
  • Cagaran Àille-of-Pensam (Molly) – owned by Derek & Irene Houghton
    Usual Somali girl

Ayla (Ch Cagaran Eala-Bianach)

Tiffanie, Chocolate Tortie BCR Silver Shaded; 7th May 2012 – 11th June 2022
Owned by Susan Snoddy
S: Ch Kagura Shogun, D: Ch Cagaran Beannachd-Fionn
Inbreeding: 5.9% (over 10 generations)
Carried non-silver & dilute

Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear)
Eala-Bianach is Gaelic for ‘Furry Swan’, pronounced Ayla-Bee-anach (‘ch’ as in loch).

Ayla was from the first litter that we had out of a cat of our own breeding, making her and her siblings the first ‘second-generation’ Cagarans.  For those familiar with our lines, Ayla is the originator of the ‘Cagaran Ears’ (a habit of holding the ears too high on the head), though she was otherwise a lovely, if petite, example of the breed.

Her first litter was one of the first-generation outcrosses for our cinnamon programme, and she went all the way to Exter to visit an Australian Mist boy.  We kept the boy from the litter, Zuko, and Ayla’s now has great-great-great-great-great-grandkids via his descendants!  We also kept a boy, Cuteness, from her fourth, and final, litter and she has great-grandkids on that side.  Two of the daughters from her second litter had kittens for other breeders (one of which was our vet), but no descendants were kept from either of those and both are now spayed.

When Ayla was a kitten she was very bonded to me (as was her brother, Ticksy), and loved the other cats, whereas her mum, Fiona, wasn’t a big fan of other cats.  We had therefore assumed that when they were spayed, Ayla would stay here, and Fi would need to find a new home.  After they were spayed, however, they switched, with Ayla getting really moody with the calling queens, and Fi seeming not to care a jot, so it was Ayla who ended up going to a new home (alongside Silkie).  Her owners’ house was up above the river Clyde, looking across toward Kilkreggan, with views into Loch Long, and they have lots of lovely photos of her looking out the windows there.  Unfortunately, she started having issues with IBD and eventually had to be put to sleep as a result.

Ayla x Hobson (Gossamyst Binda Hobson, Fawn Spotted Australian Mist)
G-Litter, born 11/09/13, 2 kittens:

Ayla x Donny (IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn, Brown BCR Smoke Asian Smoke)
M-litter, born 09/03/15, 4 kittens:

  • Cagaran Misneach (Simba) – owned by Kerry McNeil
    Apricot BCR Silver Shaded Burmilla boy
  • Ch Cagaran Madainn (Aurora) – owend by Rob & Emily Wallace
    Brown Tortie BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Mineadh (Nala) – owned by Kerry McNeil, missing since 22/10/19
    Brown BCR Silver Ticked Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Maiseach (Maisie) – owned by Violet McInroy
    Brown Tortie BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie girl

Ayla x Brodie (UK IGrCh & UK IGrPr Cagaran Plathach, Black Smoke Asian Smoke)
U-Litter, born 26/09/16, 2 kittens (1 died in early nesting):

  • Cagaran Uiseag (Red, now Sunny) – owned by Ruth Le-Feaux
    Red BCR Shaded Tiffanie boy

Ayla x Landy (Pr Kagura Orlando, Cinnamon Ticked Asian Tabby)
A2-Litter, born 02/09/17, 4 kittens:

Cheeky (Pr Cagaran Bragoil)

Ocicat Classic, Cinnamon Classic; b: 13th July 2012
Owned by Shae Dunsmore
S: Catiators Redhotcurry of Thickthorn, D: Cagaran Altachdainn [also MC Grace]
Inbreeding: 6.2% (over 10 generations)
Bragoil is Gaelic for ‘Cheeky’ – named for her cheeky temperament.  It’s pronounced bragawl.

 

Cheeky was from our first litter of full Ocicats, our previous Ocicat litter having been all Variants, with an Abyssinian sire.  Our friend, Anita, had asked for a kitten from the litter and, since she was going to be continuing with Ocicats, whereas we’d decided to give up, it made sense for her to have the best kitten, Breagha.  We did, however, want to keep something from our foray into Ocicats, so we kept Cheeky.

 

The reason Cheeky wasn’t a very good Ocicat is because her head was rather too round for Ocis, her profile had too deep a break, and her eye shape was fuller than would be ideal.  As she grew, her type continued to develop in an increasingly Burmese direction, so we decided to include her in our Asian cinnamon outcross programme, instead of the Somali girl we’d bought for the purpose (because the latter was much further from Asian type).

 

Unfortunately, Cheeky was a terrible mother and rejected her single kitten.  Luckily, Ayla‘s two kittens from the other outcross, to Australian Mist, had been born just a few weeks previously, and so she adopted Cheeky and raised her alongside her own kittens.  Thankfully, Cheeky’s kitten, Hailey, inherited her dad’s relaxed and gentle temperament instead of her mum’s rather more highly-strung one.

 

We spayed Cheeky and showed her up to Premier while we waited for the right home to come along.  She and her brother, Bru, went to a new home together, from which her brother escaped and went missing a couple of years later.  In July of 2016 his owners contacted me to say that they’d had their grandkids move in with them and that Cheeky was so upset by this that she’d started peeing on their bed.  the asked for my help in re-homing her and I spoke to the couple who had owned her grannie until she died of HCM.  They were delighted to take her and she’s still with them, living the life of Riley and reminding them of the beloved girl they lost.

 

Cheeky x Ticksy (Ch Cagaran Éiteag-Bàrr, Cream BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie)
Asian H-Litter, born 09/10/13, 1 kitten:

Tilly (GrCh Anizz Tilleadh Gu Cagaran)

Tiffanie, Chocolate Silver Shaded; 2nd October 2012 – 23rd June 2023
Breeder: Anita Bryce (Anizz); owned by Vikki McOuat
S: Tresbeau Kazaura Jasper, D: Ch Cagaran Cailin-Anizz
Inbreeding: 5.7% (over 10 generations)
Carried non-silver, non-agouti, dilute, and BCR
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear)
Tilleadh Gu is Gaelic for ‘Return To’, pronounced Tillay Goo – she’s named that because we bred her dam, so she was bringing our line back to us ‘Return to Cagaran’.

 

Tilly is the granddaughter of our first queen, Katie.  Her mum, Cailin, was from Katie’s second litter (to Shogun), and went to live with our friend, Anita.  When Katie died the following year, Anita offered to let us have a girl from the litter she was planning to have from Cailin in the autumn, in order to give us back something of Katie.  Tilly was therefore from the first litter with a Cagaran parent to be born to anyone other than us.

 

Tilly had a very different temperament to our other Tiffs – much busier and more demanding.  She loved to play games like ‘Toss the Tilly’, where we had to throw her from person to person – she’d do little jumps to try and encourage us to throw her and, if you didn’t, she’d eventually just launch herself at the other person and then try getting them to throw her back.  She was also, however, extremely loving and demanding of affection.  People who have owned a Tilly offspring as well as other cats (including Asians) often comment that they’ve got the biggest personality, but that they’re also ‘a lot’ because they’re so demanding!

 

Tilly had three litters for us and was an excellent mum but she was always difficult with other cats.  For most of her life here, she lived as one of the ‘three amigos’ (Lhasa, Tia, and herself) because they all didn’t like being in the big group but were okay with just a couple of others.  When she was spayed, therefore, we found her a home with one of her kittens.  They were later joined by two of our other retired girls and, with careful introductions, were quite happy as a little group of four.  Tilly unfortunately developed kidney issues (the vet isn’t entirely sure if it was an infection or something that would always have happened, though she was tested clear for the Polycistic Kidney Disease gene) and had to be put to sleep when she was 10.

 

We kept a daughter, Niamh, from Tilly’s second litter, and Niamh’s daughter, Leerie, is very like her grannie in being higher-energy and more demanding than an average Tiff, but also incredibly loving.  One of our neuters, JL, is Leerie’s great grandson and shares a lot of her (and, therefore, Tilly’s) good points, whilst also being a lot more laid-back than either of them!

 

Tilly x Donny (IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn, Brown BCR Smoke Asian Smoke)
I-Litter, born 22/05/14, 4 kittens:

  • Cagaran Impich (Jake) – owned by Fiona Carson
    Chocolate Silver Shaded Burmilla boy
  • Cagaran Ìla (Isla) – owned by Maura Lenihan
    Black Smoke Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Ifrinnach – owned by Wilson Logan
    Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded Burmilla girl
  • Cagaran Iùmh-rud (Horatio) – owned by Rob & Emily Wallace
    Brown BCR Smoke Tiffanie boy

Tilly x Donny (IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn, Brown BCR Smoke Asian Smoke)
N-litter, born 02/07/15, 6 kittens:

  • Cagaran Nagair (Romeo) – owned by Jo Hughes
    Chocolate Ticked Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Neòinean (Daisy) [also MC Daisy] – owned by Tom Bonar
    Brown BCR Asian Variant girl
  • Cagaran Niamh (Niamh, now Regina) [also MC Niamh] – owned by Stephanie Gray Chocolate BCR Asian Variant girl
  • Cagaran Neulach (Neulach) – owned by Julie Wicklow
    Chocolate BCR Smoke Asian Smoke girl
  • Cagaran Neònach (Ace) – owend by Coral & David Gordon, killed on the road 01/10/16
    Brown BCR Silver Ticked Asian Tabby boy
  • IGrPr Cagaran Neultach (Storm) – owned by Tom Bonar
    Black Smoke Asian Smoke boy

Tilly x Peachy (Ch Kagura Apollo, Apricot BCR Silver Shaded Burmilla)
Q-Litter, born 18/06/16, 5 kittens:

Small (Ch Cagaran Fileánta)

Tiffanie, Cream Shaded; b: 9th May 2013
Owned by Kati Wilson
S: Ch Cagaran Éiteag-Bàrr, D: IGrCh & GrPr Dayjoy Orla
Inbreeding: 15.5% (over 10 generations)
Masked lilac
Burmese Hypokalaemia status unknown but her daughter was DNA-tested clear
Fileánta in Gaelic for ‘Poetic’, pronounced Fee-lawnta.


When we did the mating that produced Small, we didn’t plan on keeping any of the kittens.  However she was born a week late, by C-section, so we decided to have Dàrna spayed, making her Dàrna’s last kitten.  We kept her, resolving to make sure we put her to a totally unrelated cat next time (which is why she went to a Burmese for her only litter).

 

The reason she was called Small was because there isn’t an obvious abbreviation for her pedigree name and we didn’t want to come up with anything more personal until we’d decided whether she was staying.  By the time we decided she was, ‘Small’ seemed to have stuck and, since she was a big girl we quite enjoyed the irony.

 

One of the ladies who came to meet her kittens fell in love with Small herself, instead of any of the kittens, and the feeling seemed to be mutual, so we had Small spayed and let her go to live with them.  We kept Lura from that litter and, via her son’s daughter, Zorvi is her great great grandson.

 

Small x Quinn (IGrCh Mainman Quintessence, Cream Burmese)
L-Litter, born 10/10/14, 6 kittens (1 died in early nesting):

Hailey (Cagaran Haillie-a-Jo [also MC Hailey])

F1 ‘Cat of Asian Type’ Asian Tabby, Chocolate Tortie Classic; b: 9th October 2013
Owned by Hannah Nystrom
S: Ch Cagaran Éiteag-Bàrr, D: Pr Cagaran Bragoil
Inbreeding: 0.0% (over 10 generations)

Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by parental DNA test)
In Gaelic, ‘H’ is always used after another letter (e.g. mh, bh, etc.) so we decided to use old Scots words to name our ‘H’ litter.  Haillie-a-Jo is old Scots for ‘Totally a Sweetheart’ – so named due to her adorable temperament.

 

Hailey was from our second outcross, to Ocicat (the first having been to Australian Mist).  Neither parent started life with the intention that they should be used for breeding (Ticksy only stayed with us because he failed to find a pet home, and Cheeky was going to be a neutered pet here), but they produced a wonderful kitten, in Hailey.  Originally we’d been intending that our second outcross would be to Somali, and had bought in a girl for that purpose, but she was rather a good example of the Somali breed and therefore quite a long way from Asian type.  Hailey’s mum, on the other hand, was too round and short in the wedge for an Ocicat, and also had a deeper break and fuller eyes than an Oci should have – she was perfect as an Asian outcross!

 

Hailey’s mum was an awful mother, and nearly killed her daughter at birth, then abandoned her.  As a result, Hailey was raised by Ayla, who had a litter of kittens (our other outcross, to Australian Mist) who were a few weeks older than Hailey.

 

Although most girls want mated by the time they’re between a year and 15 months old, Hailey consistently refused to allow any boy to mate her until she was over three years old (and it wasn’t for lack of trying – she’d had four other boys by that time!).  We she turned three, in October 2016, we decided just to let her live with Brodie, who was a year old and still living in the house, and said that if she hadn’t conceived by the end of the year, we’d spay her and go back to the drawing board for a second outcross.

 

Either she heard us, or she’d been saving herself for Brodie (I mean, who wouldn’t want a Brodie!), though, because she allowed him to have several good matings with her on the 19th of December 2016, and she gave us four gorgeous kittens on the 22nd of February 2017.

 

When we decided to start the outcross programme, one of the rules that we set ourselves was that, no matter how well they fitted into the house or how attached we were to them, we would be strict about re-homing outcross cats once they’d done their bit for the programme.  This was because we did two outcrosses, and would be keeping two kittens at each generation of each one, meaning that we’d end up with 14 cats just from the outcross programme.  That would be unfair to the cats, and also mean that we didn’t actually have the space in our house to continue to breed on after the outcross.

 

Hailey therefore had to be found a new home, and the day that I dropped her off I turned up on her owner’s doorstep red-eyed and covered in tears.  They said they’d understand if I wanted to pull out!  She is, however, is deliriously happy in her new home, and even has her own Instagram page, at https://www.instagram.com/pumpkin.pepper/

 

Hailey x Brodie (UK IGrCh & UK IGrPr Cagaran Plathach, Black Smoke Asian Smoke)
V-Litter, born 22/02/17, 4 kittens:

Lura (Cagaran Lurach [also MC Lura])

Burmilla, Cream Shaded; b: 10th October 2014
Owned by Stephanie Gray
S: IGrCh Mainman Quintessence, D: Ch Cagaran Cagaran Fileánta
Inbreeding: 2.8% (over 10 generations)
Masked lilac, carried longhair
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear)
Lurach is Gaelic for ‘Exquisitely Beautiful’ or ‘Jewel-Like’, pronounced Loorach (‘ch’ as in loch).

 

Since Lura’s mum was the result of a grandmother/grandson mating, we wanted to take her to a boy who was as unrelated as we could find.  Quinn had never been used in Asian breeding, and nor had his ancestors for multiple generations behind him, so he was a good choice.  Unfortunately, although the type and temperament of the kittens was excellent, all five had tail faults (where the last joint or two of the tail are kinked to the side – it’s a hangover from their distant Siamese ancestors, behind the Burmese).

 

Lura was one of three girls in the litter and was the one that chose us, fortunately also having one of the less-pronounced tail faults in the litter.  We tried her in the pedigree classes three times, as an adult, and once after being spayed, but the judges picked up on the tail fault every time, so in the end we showed her up to MasterCat in the Pedigree Pet section (where tail faults don’t matter because they’re only judged on their condition and temperament).

Lura and Niamh were very close and had their litters together in early 2017.  Lura would probably have been okay to stay in the house but Niamh was not happy in the group once they were spayed, so we were fortunate to meet Stephanie, who took both girls, enabling them to stay together.

One of our friends was desperate for a lilac tortie silver shaded Tiffanie and we’d hoped that Lura might oblige.  In the first litter a kitten got stuck across the birth canal and we had to take Lura for a C-section, in which the boy (who’d been the one jammed across the opening) died but his sister survived.  She was a lilac tortie silver shaded but shorthair, so we initially kept her in case we couldn’t have another litter from their mum.  Thankfully Lura made a full recovery from her C-section and we kept Zoli from her second litter, who fathered Fudge, Dusty, and Flash, among others.

Lura x Keeks (IGrCh Cagaran Keekers, Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie)
R-Litter, born 21/06/16, 2  kittens (1 died during the C-section):

Lura x Keeks (IGrCh Cagaran Keekers, Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie)
X-Litter, born 07/03/17, 3 kittens:

Niamh (Cagaran Niamh [also MC Niamh])

Asian Variant, Chocolate BCR; b: 2nd July 2015
Owned by Stephanie Gray
S: IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn, D: GrCh Anizz Tilleadh Gu Cagaran
Inbreeding: 4.2% (over 10 generations)
Masked ticked, carried longhair
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by parental DNA test)
Niamh is Gaelic for ‘Beautiful’, pronounced Neev, like the human name.

 

Niamh was from Tilly’s second litter by Donny and we’d hoped to keep a Tiff (the previous year the same mating gave us two Tiffs and two shorthairs), but all six kittens in the litter were shorthair.  Niamh was the one who chose us, taking about 30 seconds to find her way onto our bed once the kittens were big enough to come out of the pen, and sleeping in it every night thereafter.  She was also, fortunately, the best in the litter, though she couldn’t be shown as an Asian, due to being a Variant (identical to a Burmese in appearance), whereas some of her siblings could have been.

 

We mated her to Spots, one of the boys from our Australian Mist outcross line, and kept her daughter, Leerie.  Prickles and JL are both descendants of hers via Leerie.  After being spayed we showed Niamh up to MasterCat (she can’t be shown as an Asian but she can be shown as a Pedigree Pet, judged only against condition and temperament) but she didn’t appreciate the downwards shift in status within the cat hierarchy that follows neutering, and so wasn’t happy with the group.  When they were raising their kittens together, she’d become very close to Lura, so we found them a home together and they’re very happy as a pair.

 

Niamh x Spots (Cagaran Ogha [also MC Spots])
W-Litter, born 05/03/17, 5 kittens:

  • Cagaran Wattergaw (Lola) [also MC Lola] – owned by Lesley-Ann Logan
    Chocolate BCR Smoke F3 Asian Smoke girl
  • Cagaran Whigmaleerie (Leerie) – still here with us
    Chocolate BCR Smoke F3 Asian Smoke girl
  • Cagaran Wansonsie (Luna) – owned by Lesley-Ann Logan
    Brown BCR Asian Variant girl
  • Cagaran Waulie (Ozzy) – owned by Isla McLeod
    Brown BCR Silver Spotted Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Wheeriorium (Eevie) – owned by Aliyah Ajmal
    Chocolate BCR Ticked Asian Tabby girl

Silkie (Pr Cagaran Pòigean)

Tiffanie, Brown BCR; b: 13th October 2015
Owned by Susan Snoddy
S: IGrCh Rainsong Jolly-Jack-Tar, D: Ch Adelfsh Amar Stella
Inbreeding: 1.8% (over 10 generations)
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by parental DNA test)
Pòigean is Gaelic for ‘Little Kiss’, pronounced Pawkan.

 

Silkie was one of six kittens in Lhasa’s second litter with us, though both the only girl and the only Tiffanie.  We nearly let her go to Clive Greatorex, who bred her great great grandmother, or indeed to Sarndra, who owned and bred her dad, but she burrowed her way into our hearts with her cuddles and purrs, and so stayed here instead.

 

Her brother, Brodie, was meant to go to live with Sarndra as a stud to replace their dad but this didn’t happen and we therefore ended up with a couple of litters from him, so we only had one litter from Silkie, in the end.  That litter gave us Sweet and Sour, who both stayed with us for years, because it took us ages to decide which one to breed from, though we settled on Sour in the end.

 

Silkie had a fabulous temperament as a kitten but became quite moody with hormones, and couldn’t be shown once they kicked in.  We started to show her as a neuter, and got her up to Premier, but she really didn’t enjoy being in the group and so, in the end, we found her a new home with one of our other girls, Ayla.  Her owners’ house has fabulous views out over the Firth of Clyde and she loves to sit and watch the world go by.

 

Silkie x Donny (IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn)
Y-Litter, born 28/03/17, 3 kittens (1 died in early nesting):

Chatty (Ch Frilford Marron Glace)

Tiffanie, Brown BCR Silver Shaded; b: 11th March 2016
Breeder: Lady Bruce-Gardener (Frilford); owned by Vikki McOuat
S: IGrCh Wellbrand Ghostbuster, D: Ch Frilford Frollini
Inbreeding: 7.2% (over 10 generations)
Carries non-silver, dilute, chocolate, and classic
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by pedigree DNA-testing)
Chatty was called ‘Silky’ by her breeder but since we already had a girl by that name, we had to come up with something else for her.  While we tried to make up her mind, we started calling her Chatty-cat, because she was very talkative, and that then stuck.

 

I met Chatty’s sister at a show and, after a chat with her breeder revealed that there were still other kittens at home, we arranged for one to come and join us.  We travelled deep into the Welsh Valleys to collect her and when she was handed to me she just curled tightly into my neck and clung on.  She was always very shy, which I originally assumed was due to the very quiet surroundings in which she grew up, but it turned out to be genetic (some of her half-siblings, from the same sire, are also very shy).  She was incredibly sweet, though, and so were her kittens, so I reckon a bit of shyness isn’t too much of an issue.

 

Although we focus our breeding on Tiffanies, there aren’t enough of them around to mate Tiff to Tiff, most of the time.  Chatty’s first litter was only our sixth Tiff to Tiff mating, though it was our 29th Asian mating – the others having been Tiffs to Asian Shorthairs or Burmese, or Asian Shorthair to Asian Shorthair.  I wish we’d kept the girl from that litter but, unfortunately, we let her go to someone we thought was a friend, and I think her line has now been lost to the breed.  Chatty’s second litter was only one kitten who was a bit of a disaster – exceptionally shy, with a hernia and a very bad tail fault; the vet guessed that Chatty had maybe been exposed to something toxic during the early stage of her pregnancy, though we’ve no idea what that would have been.  Thankfully her third litter, though again only one kitten, gave us a nice son, and we had her spayed shortly thereafter.

 

It was obvious that with her shyness she would benefit from a quieter home environment than we could offer, so when Vikki (who already owned Tilly and Tonks, from us) mentioned that she’d be intersted in taking Chatty and Sami, with whom Chatty had become close while they were raising their kittens together, we jumped at the chance.  She’s now called Fleur and, though still very shy, is much happier in her little group.

 

Chatty x Keeks (IGrCh Cagaran Keekers)
C2-Litter, born 01/04/18, 5 kittens:

  • Ch Cagaran Caochán Caomh-Miakush (Stream) – owned by Dawn Peck
    Blue BCR Smoke Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Caoran Donn (Rowan) – owned by Des & Judy King, killed on the road 17/07/21
    Brown BCR Silver Classic Tabby Tiffanie boy
  • Pr Cagaran Ciontach Tutag (Ori) – owned by Nicole Bell & Jack Irvine
    Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie boy
  • Cagaran Cionált an-Ciùin (Bailey) – owned by Nicola Brereton
    Lilac BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie boy
  • Cagaran Calma an-Fallain (Brodie) – owned by Des & Judy King, killed on the road 06/10/21
    Chocolate BCR Silver Classic Tabby Tiffanie boy

Chatty x Brodie (UK IGrCh & UK IGrPr Cagaran Plathach)
K-litter, born 11/05/19, 1 kitten:

  • Cagaran Keeking Kimmer – owned by Bex Carter
    Chocolate BCR Tiffanie girl

Chatty x Cuteness (Ch Cagaran Altram Seoclaid)
M-litter, born 30/03/20, 1 kitten:

Quirkie (Cagaran Quirklum) - now 'Tonks'

Burmilla, Caramel Tortie Shaded; b: 18th June 2016
Owned by Vikki McOut
S: Ch Kagura Apollo, D: GrCh Anizz Tilleadh Gu Cagaran
Inbreeding: 6.6% (over 10 generations)
Carried BCR
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by parental DNA-test)
The letter Q doesn’t exist in the Gaelic alphabet, so we decided to use Scots words to name our ‘Q’ litter.  Quirklum means ‘Puzzle’, and we called her that because she kept us guessing about what colour she was.

Quirkie’s dad preferred to cuddle the girls, rather than mating them, so although we’d had him since 2012, this was the first time we’d had a chance to keep something to continue his line.  Since he wasn’t exactly an effective stud, we had him neutered when we kept Quirks.  Her mum had given us two previous litters, and we’d kept a daughter from the second of those, so we also spayed Tilly, when we kept Quirks.

Unfortunately, hormones didn’t agree with Quirkie, and she had a tendency to try and bite when she was in season.  We gave her a couple of calls to see if it would calm down but there was no sign of improvement so we decided to have her spayed.  We’d let two of her siblings go for breeding so we thought we’d be able to get something back, but it turned out that her brother was rather like her dad in preferring to cuddle instead of mating, and her sister’s owners decided to give up breeding shortly after getting her, so we ended up with nothing to show for the five years we owned her dad!

Tilly had always been difficult with other cats (we used to keep her separate, with Tia and Lhasa, who also didn’t enjoy being in the big group), so we decided to re-home her, and she and Quirkie went together.  They were later joined by Sami and Chatty.

Frost (Ch Cagaran Reòdhta)

Burmilla, Lilac Tortie BCR Silver Shaded; b: 21st June 2016
Owned by Graeme McGregor & Katie Watt
S: IGrCh Cagaran Keekers, D: Cagaran Lurach [also MC Lura]
Inbreeding: 10.3% (over 10 generations)
Carried non-silver
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by pedigree DNA-testing)
Reòdhta is Gaelic for ‘Frosty’ – named both for her icy colouring and her habit of keeping herself apart from the other kittens as if she was determined to remain a singleton even though she was in a nest with six other kittens.

 

Frost was born by C-section, after her brother got wedged sideways across the birth canal and, sadly, passed away at the vets shortly after being delivered.  She was born the same day as our S-litter, and was raised in the nest with those kittens.  We’d really been hoping for a Tiffanie from the mating and Frost wasn’t a particularly good example of the breed but, at the time, we didn’t know whether her mum would be able to have another litter, and she’d been our keeper from a litter from a Burmese stud, so we didn’t want to lose the line.

 

Lura had a succesful litter the following year, however, and we kept a Tiffanie boy from that, so we were going to spay Frost.  However, we’d just got a lilac shaded Tiffanie stud (a son of Donny’s) from Claire James (Kapalsa), and mating him to Frost would give us a good chance of finally getting the lilac tortie silver shaded Tiffanie that one of our friends had been waiting for, so we kept her entire for that.

 

In the end, not only did her litter not give us female Tiffanie (of any colour), but it turned out to be a very unlucky litter, starting with one of the girls fading at a couple of days old.  The remaining girl, a beautiful Burmilla, got her head through a hole in the side of one of the fabric ‘nest boxes’ on a scratching post, and hung herself at 11 weeks old.  The only Tiffanie, a boy, suffered from aspiration pneumonia (breathed in milk during suckling and then got an infection as a result) and had to be on antibiotics and tube-fed, but he never fully recovered, and died at four months old.  The one remaining kitten, however, landed on his paws with lovely owners who even built him his own playroom.

 

Frost never enjoyed the hurly burly of our breeding household and so when she was spayed we found her a lovely home, where she lives with Solas, one of the kittens she grew up with as littermates.

 

Frost x Flump (Ch Kapalsa Tear In My Heart)
D2-Litter, born 04/04/18, 4 kittens (1 died in early nesting):

  • Cagaran Daoimeon Drisleach (Diamond) – hung on the scratching post 23/06/18
    Lilac BCR Silver Shaded Burmilla girl
  • Cagaran Deinnseár Dàn (Egan) – owned by Paddy & Dange McHugh
    Cream BCR Silver Shaded Burmilla boy
  • Cagaran Diùlanta Caden (Cayden) – died due to infection 30/08/18
    Lilac BCR Shaded Tiffanie boy

Solas (Cagaran Solas [also MC Solas])

F3 ‘Cat of Asian Type’ Burmilla, Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded; b: 21st June 2016
Owned by Graeme McGregor & Katie Watt
S: Cagaran Òrail, D: Ch Adelfsh Amar Stella
Inbreeding: 2.9% (over 10 generations)
Carried cinnamon & classic
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by pedigree DNA-testing)
Solas is Gaelic for ‘Light’ – she was named this both for being the palest in the litter (she was the only chocolate in a litter of browns), and for her sunny temperament.  It’s pronounced as it looks.

 

The litter Solas was in were the third generation of the Australian Mist outcross, and the third, and final, litter that we had from Lhasa.  As is often the case, they were delivered in the middle of the night and the first five arrived uneventfully over a couple of hours.  After that, Lhasa took a bit of a break, which was fine, but when she restarted she went an hour of pushing without producing a kitten, so we made a trip to the emergency vet (it was around 4am).  The vet gave her a shot of oxytocin and sent us home and another two kittens had been delivered in the car on the way home, one of which was dead in its sack (the other was fine).  Mostly mums can deal with the births fine but if they get two kittens delivered in quick succession, as obviously happened there, sometimes it’s too much for them to deal with.  I will never know whether the kitten was alive when it was born, and therefore could have been saved if I’d got it out of the sack, and it’s bothered me ever since.

 

The fourth kitten had to be put to sleep six days later due to a heart murmur (he wasn’t growing as expected so I’d taken him in for a checkup), but the remaining kittens were big and strong, and were a delight, with lovely temperaments.  Solas, and her brother, Smudges, were the cuddliest of a cuddly group and stayed to continue the outcross line.  Eight months later, however, we had a litter from their dad’s litter-brother, and decided to keep Leerie, since she had better type than either Solas or Smudges.  Smudges was spayed at that point, but Solas went on to give us our first cinnamon Asians, who were also our first showable Asians from the Mist outcross!

 

As one of the outcross kittens it was always intended that Solas would be re-homed when she’d done her bit for the breed, and so she went with Frost, to a lovely home with friends of a friend.  The girls have always been close and remain so even now – we get periodic updates of the two cuddled up together.

 

Solas x Landy (Pr Kagura Orlando)
B2-Litter, born 15/10/17, 7 kittens:

  • Cagaran Bluegrass Babe (Babe) – owned by Jingyu Zhu & Yu Zhou
    Chocolate BCR Ticked Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Bewitched (Luna) – owned by Harriett
    Chocolate Ticked Asian Tabby girl
  • IGrCh Cagaran Beguiled – still here with us
    Cinnamon Classic Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Bohemian Rhapsody (Gypsy) – owned by Maura Lenihan
    Cinnamon BCR Shaded Burmilla boy
  • Cagaran Besotted (Bea) – owned by Steve Crow & Tommy Goss
    Cinnamon BCR Spotted Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Band of Gold (Juno) – owned by Cesar Tomes & Virginia Munoz
    Chocolate BCR Mackerel Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Boogie Woogie (Boogie) – owned by Ewan & Kay Carr
    Cinnamon BCR Spotted Asian Tabby girl

Pixie (Ch Shadows Pixie of Cagaran)

Asian Smoke, Black Smoke; b: 25th November 2016
Breeder: Cyndy & Lucy Robertshaw (Shadows); owned by George Dyce
S: Inyanga Fandango Hamish, D: Shadows Kalla
Inbreeding: 8.0% (over 10 generations)
Carried non-silver, chocolate, BCR and longhair
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by pedigree DNA-testing).

 

Most Asian Smokes have what we call ‘bleed-through’, where the silver is visible through the coat.  An ideal Smoke should look like a Self until you turn the coat back and find it to be ‘sparkling silver’ (bright white) underneath.  Pixie was a rare ‘secret smoke’, where you really wouldn’t have known she was a smoke unless her fur was parted.

 

Whenever we showed Brodie (who was about 15 months the first time I saw a picture of Pixie), judges would wax lyrical about how clear his smoke was, and here was a girl who was even clearer!  To the best of my knowledge there had never been two exceptional Smokes around at the same time and so I was really excited by the idea of putting the two together and seeing if we got more excellent Smokes.

 

I contacted Cyndy but Pixie was already reserved, so it seemed my dream of trying Smoke to Smoke wasn’t going to be possible.  Then her intended home fell through and so she came to us.  Her type wasn’t very great and she was very shy, but her pedigree was very different to our other cats so she’d be a good new bloodline as well as having that spectacular smoking.

 

Her litter to Brodie gave us five kittens, all Smokes (two Tiffanie, and two shorthair).  Unfortunately two lagged behind the others in growth and had to be put to sleep because their hearts hadn’t developed correctly.  The others, though, grew up to be spectacular Smokes as I’d hoped, but the girl that I’d wanted to keep for breeding (she had a much better temperament than her sister) had a heart murmur at her vaccinations and I didn’t dare keep her for breeding, given the issue with her siblings.

 

I didn’t want to risk repeating the mating to Brodie, in case the issue had been an incompatibility between them, so for her second litter I put her to Zoli, a smoke Tiffanie boy.  We kept one of the girls from the litter, and the other went to our friend, Charlotte, to be the foundation queen of her ‘Ifrinnach’ prefix.  We then had Pixie spayed and, since she was very moody around the other cats, found her a home where she was the only cat with an older lady who dotes on her.

 

Pixie x Brodie (UK IGrCh & UK IGrPr Cagaran Plathach, Black Smoke Asian Smoke)
E-litter, born 30/07/18, 5 kittens (2 put to sleep during nesting):

  • Cagaran Eighre Dubh (Eyre) – owned by Elaine Davis
    Black Smoke Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Eileon Socair (Eilidh) – owned by Nancy MacLachlan
    Black Smoke Asian Smoke girl
  • Cagaran Eacarsaich Bòidheach (Bodhi) – owned by Derek & Sarah MacLachlan
    Brown BCR Smoke Asian Smoke boy

Pixie x Zoli (Ch Cagaran Xolani, Apricot BCR Smoke Tiffanie)
I-Litter, born 29/03/19, 4 kittens (2 died in early nesting):

Sami (Ch Rossikhan Samirah)

Burmese, Brown; b: 15th December 2016
Breeder: John & Janet Wilshaw (Rossikhan); owned by Vikki McOuat
S: UK OG IGrCh Rossikhan Sweetbaby James, D: IGrCh Rossikhan Blanque Czech
Inbreeding: 17.0% (over 10 generations)
Carried chocolate and dilute
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear).

 

I’d admired the Rossikhan Burmese for many years and, since I’m always on the lookout for new lines to help keep the genetic diversity going, had mentioned to Janet that I’d one day love to take a girl to her boy Jimmy, who is both incredibly handsome and has the most wonderfully placid temperament.  When Janet sent me a message to ask if I’d be interested in a Jimmy-daughter, I jumped at the chance, especially since her mum’s side of the pedigree included a recent European import, and also hadn’t been used in Asian breeding.

 

Sami was the smallest girl we’ve ever bred from but boy was she mighty!  Her first litter was eight kittens and, being as there were so many crammed into such a little cat, they were all very small and I fully expected to lose at least some of them.  The smallest kitten I’d had survive up to that point was 57g, but this litter had two at 47g and yet all eight thrived.  Admittedly Pixie did most of the work in feeding the kittens (she had her two I-litter kittens at the same time), but Sami still deserves some credit.  I’d planned to keep one of the girls but, at six months old, she chose herself a different owner whilst on exhibition at a show – she and Jenni were basically inseparable the entire day and I decided not to fight it, since we still had both parents.  I dropped her off a couple of weeks later, once she’d been spayed.

 

Sami’s second litter was born exactly a year later, four days into the original Covid-19 lockdown.  That was a more sensible six kittens and all thrived though, once again, she left her companion, Chatty to do most of the work (Chatty had her M-litter singleton at the same time).  A friend in America was looking for a ticked tabby stud cat and ticked tabby was a likely outcome of the mating (the first litter was entirely ticked tabbies but we hadn’t known Margaret was looking for one at that point), so had agreed that she could have a ticked boy, if there was one.   There was only one, so he was reserved for Margaret, and we decided to keep the boy with the best type, Sprite.  As it happens, Sprite turned out to be infertile, whereas all the lockdowns meant that Laphroaig stayed here for three years and sired a few litters for us, so we’ve kept two Sami-grandkids via him, and both boys are now neutered and living as extremely happy pets.

 

Sami had become very close to Chatty, while they were raising their kittens together but Chatty was very shy and it was clear would benefit from a quieter home environment.  One of our friends, who already had two girls from us, offered to take the pair of them and so both girls were spayed and went to live with Vikki, where they’re very happy, if a little plump!

 

Sami x Cuteness (Ch Cagaran Altram Seoclaid, Chocolate Spotted Asian Tabby)
H-Litter, born 27/03/19, 8 kittens:

  • Cagaran Hamely Hunk – owned by Lucy Campbell
    Chocolate BCR Ticked Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Hempie Hallion (Wilbur) – owned by Lucy Campbell
    Chocolate BCR Ticked Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Haet-o Heul (Tiny) – owned by James Brett
    Chocolate Ticked Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Haiverin Halloch (Rosie) – owned by Nesta Christie
    Brown BCR Ticked Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Hairy Haggis (Pudding) – owned by Lucy Campbell
    Chocolate Ticked Asian Tabby boy
  • Cagaran Harin Hizzie (Pixie) – owned by Jenni Patrick
    Chocolate Ticked Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Hair-o Couries (Molly) – owned by James Brett
    Brown BCR Ticked Asian Tabby girl
  • Cagaran Halely Luesome (Luna) – owned by Aliyah Ajmal, PTS due to illness 09/09/20
    Lilac Ticked Asian Tabby girl

Sami x Cinna (Coomakista Ascinnfulascinn [also MC Cinna], Cinnamon Silver Shaded Tiffanie)
L-litter, born 27/03/20, 6 kittens:

Virly & Mouse (Cagaran Virls & Cagaran Vairtie [both MC])

F2 ‘Cats of Asian Type’

Virly: Asian Tabby, Black Tortie Classic
Carried cinnamon; did not carry longhair
Mouse: Burmilla, Brown Tortie BCR Silver Shaded
Masked classic, carried cinnamon, non-silver & longhair
b: 22nd February 2017
Both owned by Sarah Ward
S: UK I GrCh & UK IGrPr Cagaran Plathach, D: Cagaran Haillie-a-Jo [also MC Hailey]
Inbreeding: 1.3% (over 10 generations)
Neither carried Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by pedigree DNA-testing)
‘V’ is another letter that doesn’t existing in the Gaelic alphabet, so we decided to use Scots words to name our ‘V’ litter.  Virls is Scots for ‘Rings’ (she has rings on her sides due to her pattern), and Vairtie means ‘Early Up/Early Stirring’ because she was always the first to respond to anyone entering the kitten room.

 

Virly and Mouse are the girls that we kept for the 2nd generation of the Ocicat part of the outcross programme.  We liked the idea of Virly because she had the classic pattern but, in the end, we bred from Mouse because she had by far and away the most stable temperament of the two.  We kept two daughters of hers and therefore didn’t need to bring Virly into the programme so both girls were spayed after Mouse’s kittens had passed their vaccinations successfully.  We showed them up to MasterCat while we waited for the right home to come along and they found a wonderful owner to keep the two of them together, who says that the girls were the only reason she survived lockdown.

 

Mouse x Zoli (Ch Cagaran Xolani, Apricot BCR Smoke Tiffanie)
G2-Litter, born 01/01/19, 5 kittens:

Sweet (Ch Cagaran Yaara)

Tiffanie, Brown BCR; b: 28th March 2017
Owned by Annie Connolly
S: IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn, D: Pr Cagaran Pòigean
Inbreeding: 5.0% (over 10 generations)
‘Y’ is yet another letter that doesn’t exist in the Gaelic alphabet, so we tried to find names in Scots but ended up having to look at other languages as well.  Yaara is Hebrew for honeycomb/honeysuckle, which seemed appropriate, since we’d been calling her ‘Sweet’ since she was a few days old.

We’d wanted to have a ‘longhair Burmese’ that we could take to events like the ‘Meet the Cats’ area at the London Pet Show, because seeing a cat that looks exactly like a Burmese, only longhair, helps people to understand where the Tiffs fit into the cat world.  Unfortunately, Sweet’s mum had decided that she didn’t like shows, so we mated Sweet’s parents in the hope of getting another brown.

There were two near-identical girls in the litter and, initially, the only way you could really tell them apart was that one would just sit in your hands for as long as you held her, whereas the other would start squeaking to go back to mum after maybe 20 seconds (this is a typical response, sitting quietly is not).  We started calling the quiet kitten ‘Sweet’ and, within a few days, they had become ‘Sweet and Sour‘.

As they grew up, Sour actually became one of the sweetest kittens we’d ever bred (and remained ‘Sour’ as an ironic name) and we really struggled to decide who to keep.  Sour had the sweeter temperament and better type, but Sweet was bigger and more elegant in build (and still had a lovely temperament).  Towards the end of 2019, we decided that we’d put one of them to one of our own boys and the other to an outside stud, but lockdown scrapped that plan.

During lockdown I got talking to a lovely family who were interested in having Zoli and whichever of the girls we decided to spay, but still I couldn’t decide.  In the end, we decided that since Sour was slightly more bonded to us, we’d spay Sweet and so I dropped her and Zoli off with her new owners in Gloucester on my way to meet Matt for the first time!

Alpha (Cagaran Ogsaidean Spìonadh)

Tiffanie, Chocolate Silver Shaded; 14th April 2021 – 19th April 2022
S: Coomakista Ascinnfulascinn [also MC Cinna], D: GrCh Cagaran Julie-Jo
Inbreeding: 5.2% (over 10 generations)
Carried cinnamon
Did not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (clear by pedigree DNA-testing)
Since Alpha was the only kitten in our ‘O2’ litter, we decided to call her something to do with Oxygen, and Ogsaidean Spìonadh is Gaelic for ‘Snatched Oxygen’ or ‘Stolen Breath’.  We meant it in the sense of ‘Take my Breath Away’.

 

Alpha’s mum miscarried her first litter after falling off a windowledge (due to a kamikaze blackbird flying into the window next to her) around a week before she was due.  She then lost the second litter around the same point in her next pregnancy, after being attacked by Leerie who, we later learnt, was in pain due to a metritis (uterine infection) caused by one of her kittens having detached from its placenta and started to rot.  As a result, we twice had the experience of doing two-hourly feeds, day and night, for several days, only to lose all the kittens one by one.

 

Alpha was the last attempt to get something from Julie and so, for the first time ever, we let her mum kitten in the downstairs bedroom, instead of up in the kitten room, figuring we’d try and keep everything as normal as possible.  Alpha was the first kitten that Matt held, and he named her Kitten Alpha, assuming that there would be a Beta, and so on, but Julie only had the one this time (though her previous litters had been 5 and 3).

 

From the start, the other girls doted on Alpha, and she had them all wrapped around her little paws.  Singletons are always monsters but Alpha was a singleton who grew up with six mums and so she was a devil-child, but she was also the cutest thing on four paws and had a huge purr that she used to good effect any time you were considering being angry with her.  She wasn’t the best example of the breed but she was incredibly pretty and had such a lovely temperament that we didn’t give a damn.  She was such a dominant force in the house that ‘Alpha’ suited her, and so the name stuck.

 

Unfortunately, when Alpha was just over a year old, she became suddenly extremely ill, going from playing to unable to lift her head in a matter of about 24 hours.  We rushed her to the vet and they tried to operate to insert a feeding tube (she was too dehydrated for them to get an IV line in to give her fluids) but she died on the operating table.  A necropsy showed that she’d died of sepsis (‘toxic shock’), but there was no obvious cause.  She had a small scratch on the roof of her mouth, probably from one of the sticks that she liked to remove from the fireplace (the birds would drop them down the chimney, whilst trying to make nests up above), and one possibility is that one of the sticks had something on it that got into her blood stream from that scratch, and overran her system.  It was a terrifying example of just how fast things can go wrong, even in the best of conditions.

 

Both Alpha’s parents had been neutered by the time she died, so her mum’s line ended with her.  Thankfully we had kept an older half-brother from her dad, so at least his line continues.  When we took her dad to his new home, his owners had a bird’s nest on their coffee table (they’d found it in the garden but kept it as a centre-piece), and he demolished it the first night, so that he could play with the sticks all round their livingroom.  That made us both smile because it answered the question of where Alpha got her stick obsession.