Previous Studs

This page introduces all of the ‘studs’ (breeding boys) 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:

Peachy (Ch Kagura Apollo)

Burmilla, Apricot BCR Silver Shaded; b: 2nd December 2010
Breeder: Steve Crow & Tommy Goss (Kagura); owned by Alison Williams
S: IGrCh Kagura Nirvana, D: GrCh Kagura Opalesque
Inbreeding: 8.7% (over 10 generations)
Masked blue, carried chocolate, non-silver & non-agouti, did not carry longhair
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear).

 

We’d admired Peachy as a kitten, at shows, and asked if we could take Dàrna to him when he was old enough.  He started spraying heavily, however, after his first mating to one of their girls, and they didn’t have a spare run for him so Tommy called to ask if we had anywhere we could put him.  We converted the neuters’ old play run into a stud house and he came home with us from a show a few weeks later.  Over the next four years we tried him with various girls, including one of Steve’s and another owned by Anita, but he always preferred to welcome the girls with a cuddle, rather than actually mate them.  We kept trying and, eventually, after four years, Tilly had five lovely kittens by him.

 

We gave one of the girls back to Steve and Tommy, let a boy go to Lynsey Thomas, and kept a girl for ourselves.  She had the worst type in the litter but we kept her for her incredibly sweet temperament.  Unfortunately, however, hormones didn’t agree with her and she was aggressive when in season, so we had her spayed.  We thought we’d have been able to get something back from one of her siblings but Steve and Tommy stopped breeding around that time and never had a litter from Quest, and Rio turned out to be rather like his dad, preferring to cuddle the ladies rather than mate him, so Peachy’s line has gone.

 

Peachy, like his dad before him, didn’t like to use a litter tray, and so had to live in an outside run here.  Our Somali girl, Sonia, was the same and so the two of them lived out there as neuters for a bit over a year, before we eventually found them a home where they could safely have outdoor access.  They now live way up in the mountains of Wales (several miles up an unmade track), and have a wonderful life.

 

Peachy x Tilly (GrCh Anizz Tilleadh gu Cagaran)
Q-Litter, born 18/06/16, 5 kittens:

Donny (IGrCh Cagaran Deathach-Donn)

Asian Smoke, Brown BCR Smoke; 24th August 2011 – 27th July 2023
Owned by Ashleigh Polland
S: IGrCh Bambino Nationalvelvet, D: IGrCh & GrPr Dayjoy Orla
Inbreeding: 3.1% (over 10 generations)
Masked ticked; carried dilute & non-silver
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear)
Deathach-Donn is Gaelic for ‘Brown Smoke’, pronounced Detach-Dawn (where the ‘ch’ is pronounced as in ‘loch’).

 

Donny was the first boy we kept of our own breeding, and also the first cat we’d owned who had two Imperial-titled parents.  We’d actually planned to keep a girl from the litter but his sister had a heart murmur at the first vaccination and, although this can be developmental (caused by different parts of the heart growing at different rates) and resolve later, we decided not to risk it.  Quinn, as it happens, was fine by the time she was six months old but we’ve never regretted keeping Donny because he was a lovely boy and gave us some wonderful kittens.

 

Donny never sprayed, and so was able to stay in the house right up until he was neutered.  For part of that time he lived with Ticksy, who also didn’t spray (possibly as a result of Donny’s influence, though both boys’ sires also didn’t spray, so it could be genetic), but our luck unfortunately ran out after that, and subsequent boys have had to live outside!  He and Ticksy shared the kitchen and Donny had the amazing ability to somehow end up in the arms of anyone who walked into the room.

 

He carried that temperament through to shows, giving judges lots of kisses and cuddles, and was also a good example of a Smoke, so did well at shows.  He picked up a few Best of Varieties (including Best Kitten at the Asian Group Cat Society, our second of three in a row) and going on to become the first Asian Smoke to win the Imperial title.  He was also the first Cagaran Grand Champion.

 

Donny had four litters for us as well as two for Claire James.  We kept a girl from his third litter, had a boy back from his second litter for Claire (his fifth), and then also kept a girl from his last litter.  One of the daughters from his second litter went to live with our vet (along with a neutered boy from her first litter), and had two litters of her own.  Claire also let one of his daughters go for breeding though I don’t believe she ever actually had kittens due to the breeder giving up shortly after getting her.

 

Once he was neutered we’d thought that Donny would likely stay here but he never quite settled in the group.  It’s not that he was miserable, but we wanted more than just ‘okay’ for him.  Our vet’s cleaner had fallen in love with his son and daughter, and then fell in love with him when he spent a few hours in the vet getting a dental, so she asked to take him and one of the kittens that we had at the time.  He lived a very happy life with them until getting a kidney infection a couple of months before his 11th birthday.  He died under anaesthetic while the vets were investigating the issue.

 

Donny x Tilly (GrCh Anizz Tilleadh gu Cagaran)
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

Donny x Ayla (Ch Cagaran Eala-Bianach)
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

Donny x Tilly (GrCh Anizz Tilleadh gu Cagaran)
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

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

Ticksy (Ch Éiteag-Bàrr)

Tiffanie, Cream BCR Silver Shaded; b: 7th May 2012
Owned by Martin O’Sullivan
S: Ch Kagura Shogun, D: Ch Cagaran Beannachd-Fionn
Inbreeding: 5.9% (over 10 generations)
Masked lilac & spotted; carried non-silver & classic
Does not carry Burmese Hypokalaemia (DNA-tested clear)
Éiteag-Bàrr is Gaelic for ‘Cream Quartzite’ pronounced Ehtik-Bawr – named for his colouration.

 

Ticksy was litter-brother to Ayla, from Fi’s first litter, and we hadn’t been intending to keep him since our plan had been to keep a girl.  Due to the poor economy at the time, however, we had very few enquiries and Ticksy was still here by the time he was over four months old.  At that stage, his type had really developed well, and I realised that his strong nose-break would be ideal for our cinnamon outcross programme, because the breeds that we were looking at as outcrosses don’t have nose breaks.  We therefore decided to keep him with the intention of having just the one litter from him.

 

He mated his grannie when he’d just turned eight months old and then was mated to our Ocicat Classic girl, Cheeky, to sire the first generation in the Ocicat outcross line.  Since the kittens from those first two matings had been so lovely, in both type and temperament, we decided to mate him to our two, new, bought-in girls, and ended up keeping a kitten from each of those as well.  At that point, Ticksy had well-and-truly done his bit for our breeding programme so we were going to have him neutered but the Irish breeders asked if they could have him because they were desperate for new bloodlines.  He therefore went over there with two girls, and sired some lovely kittens for Maura, Ger and Martin, with whom he now lives as a neutered pet.

 

Ticksy x Dàrna (IGrCh & GrPr Dayjoy Orla)
F-Litter, born 09/05/13, 1 kitten:

Ticksy x Cheeky (Pr Cagaran Bragoil)
H-Litter, born 09/10/13, 1 kitten:

Ticksy x Tia (GrCh Skampaws Ashputtel Galatea)
J-Litter, born 03/07/14, 7 kittens (2 died in early nesting):

Ticksy x Lhasa (Ch Adelfsh Amar Stella)
K-Litter, born 04/07/14, 7 kittens:

  • Ch Cagaran Kittling-o-Hinnie (Honey) – ownedy by Martin O’Sullivan
    Chocolate Tortie BCR Classic Tabby Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Kelpie (Kelpie) – owned by Catherine Rushforth, killed on the road 22/07/15
    Brown BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie boy
  • Cagaran Karriewhitchit (Oliver) – owned by Des & Judy King, killed on the road 29/09/17
    Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie boy
  • IGrCh Cagaran Keekers (Keeks, now Kit) – owned by Annie Connolly
    Chocolate BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie boy
  • Cagaran Kievie (Keevee) – died during surgery to remove a gut blockage 22/08/14
    Chocolate Tortie BCR Silver Shaded Tiffanie girl
  • Cagaran Killiemahou (Killie) – owned by Catherine Rushforth
    Chocolate BCR Silver Spotted Tabby Tiffanie boy
  • Pr Cagaran Kenspeckle (Finley) – owned by Elysé Smith
    Brown BCR Silver Spotted Tabby Tiffanie boy