Pardalis Ocicats

Our third showing of Lexi to get another merit brought us to Maidenhead last Saturday.  Only three cats in the Assessment this time but our beautiful girl walked off with the Best Assessment Exhibit earning her a large bag of food and a helium balloon to play with and us £20 and a bottle of bubbly - very nice! Her side classes were a good size and she got thirds in each of them, so we were very happy with that.

Saturday saw us heading down to Reading for the Southern Counties Cat Show to try and get Lexi her 2nd merit.  Not only did she get it with a glowing report from the judge, she won 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in her three side classes.

Lexi’s mum, Thickthorn Meadowsaffron, won her Imperial Grand Champion Class, the first entire Ocicat to win that accolade - well done Saffi!

Saturday was an important day for the Ocicat Classic.  It was the first show in which the new breed could be entered.  We took Lexi and Uno along and they, together with Ameeka’s Thickthorn Calypso (Jazzy, the first Classic to be registered for breeding) gained their first merit certificates with glowing judges reports.

Lexi seemed a bit put out not to have her usual double-sized exhibition pen with the nice curtains to hide behind.  She’d only been in her pen for a minute when she decided to squeeze under the water dish that we’d hung on the side and tip it all over her back and bedding!  Then, later, when we’d put food down for them after the judging, Uno decided to bury his lunch with the cat litter.  He has a habit of scratching the floor around his food, to hide and save a bit for later.  Normally the cat litter is on the other side of the room at home though and he looked a bit flummoxed when he’d actually been successful in burying it! He looked at us as if to say, ‘how do I eat that now?’ So, they’d both managed to make a nice mess of their pens

We need six individual Ocicat Classics to each gain four merits before we can go on to the next stage and then finally attain championship status.  We also entered Foreign breed side classes and Uno got two seconds and a first, as did Jazzy.  Lexi got a second, third and fifth.  They were big classes though! It was a fantastic start to the breed’s showing career and the judges all seemed very impressed with the beautiful tabby pattern on the sleek, muscular Ocicat, saying what a lovely combination it was and how good it was to finally see them on the show bench.  Onwards and upwards!

Last Saturday saw the 3rd annual Ocicat Championship Show. This year it was twinned with the Tabby Cat Club in a lovely hall in beautiful Alcester, Warwickshire. We took Lexi on exhibition and put her son, Uno, in with her for company. They both spent most of the time hiding behind the curtain!  We also took our moggy, Kolo, for his first ever show at the grand old age of 5 or 6 (we’re never sure as he was a rescue cat).  He wasn’t impressed at being kept in the night before so we could ensure he’d be around when we wanted to leave at some silly hour soon after dawn. He settled in his pen without any complaint when we got there but refused to eat or use the litter tray in protest!  We’ve always known he’s a gorgeous looking cat with a rich coloured coat and beautiful temperament, now we know the judges agree with us :-)) He won all his classes and got the ultimate accolade of Best Household Pet.  As soon as he was transferred to his plush winner’s pen with it’s black interior and gold curtains he looked very smug and much more comfortable!

Also at their first shows were three of Lexi’s other kittens.  Lorraine and her family brought Florence (Pardalis Genesis), a beautiful chocolate kitten, and Gillian brought Ossie (Pardalis Kanati) a very handsome Classic patterned boy, and very cute Selu (Pardalis Selu). It was lovely for us to have our prefix represented for the first time and we’re very grateful to Lorraine and Gillian for taking the time (not to mention the expense!) to bring them to show. They all did really well, with Florence winning her Open Class and Best of Breed and 2 of her 3 side classes, then going on to earn the title of Best Female Kitten and her place on winner’s row.  Selu was just pipped to the post in the Open by her sister but gained 1st, 2nds and 3rds in her side classes. Ossie was in the new Ocipet classes as, being a Classic, he can’t be shown with the spotted Ocicats. We should hear this month whether the separate breed of Ocicat Classic has been accepted and can be shown in its own right in preliminary classes very soon.  Ossie won all his classes and had his pride of place next to Kolo’s pen also on winner’s row as Best Overall Exhibit.  All in all a very successful day!!

Uno is relishing his position as the ‘big’ kitten.  He’s only ten weeks older than Fizz’s kittens but he looks enormous against them! He loves to wrestle them and bounds towards them, knocks them over then grabs them in a headlock and nibbles their ears :-)  They squeak a bit if he gets too rough….. Fizz doesn’t seem too worried and just watches with a bemused look on her face.  She wasn’t too happy to find Uno still here when she first came downstairs with her kittens but from the looks of things she’s accepted him as one of hers!

Uno had a trip to the vet this week, to be neutered. He was starting to take an unhealthy interest in his mum.  So, while he’s still a little young to actually sire a litter, we weren’t going to take any chances!

Lexi’s kittens have all found their new homes now.  We made sure Lexi saw each one go into it’s carrier in the hope she’d have some understanding of where they’d disappeared to.  In some cases she got into the carrier first to make sure it was suitable :-)  All her kittens went to lovely homes and we’re looking forward to hearing how they’re settling and seeing photos of them as they grow.  One, Florence, a chocolate spotted girl, is going to be shown and will be at the Ocicat Club Show in October which will be very exciting for both the new owner, who hasn’t shown before, and us of course!

Uno is staying.  He’s our first born, a Classic boy, who we’ve recently discovered is in fact Cinammon and not Chocolate in colour.  He’s wormed his way into all our hearts and is now the responsibility of our eldest son!

Fizz’s kittens are now downstairs.  They started on solid food a couple of days ago and all seem to have got the hang of it really quickly.  We’ve even had some success with the litter tray so we’re really pleased with their progress.

I guess there’s always one in every litter!  In our case it’s the largest male, the first born.  We’ve nicknamed him Uno in honour of that. He’s the one who’s always the first to stick his nose in to see what you’re doing.  The first to greet us in the morning. If I feel a kitten sitting on my foot while I’m at the computer, it’s Uno.  If there’s one climbing up my back - Uno again. If there’s a crash, it’s him.  First to the dinner bowl - Uno.  He’s usually the first to wake up when they’ve all had a snooze too, then he’ll nibble on the nearest kitten’s ears and the back of it’s neck until he or she wakes up and plays with him.  Needless to say we’ve all got a really soft spot for him.  He might not have the best Classic pattern but he’s a very handsome boy nonetheless and a superb colour.

On Sunday there was a clatter and crash coming from the conservatory. We went to investigate, only to find a bowl of biscuits scattered to all four corners of the room. We just assumed it was Uno…….. Probably aiming to jump on one of his sibling’s backs and landing on the bowl instead. After clearing up he proved us right by limping very badly.  He’d obviously had a bad landing and done himself a mischief.  He had a nap, and when he woke up he wouldn’t put any weight on one of his front paws at all.  It didn’t seem to worry him, he still dive-bombed the others and made it first as usual to the food bowl.  Later we noticed he was sitting with it at a very strange angle and it seemed to be limp from the joint downwards.

He was still limping in the morning so I took him to the vet.  He thought it could be a folding fracture above the joint, one of the two bones he could feel was fine but he wasn’t sure about the other without an x-ray.  Two hours and £93 later I was told he didn’t have any broken bones at all and to let nature take it’s course! I was also told he’d been sedated and that he’d be sleepy and wobbly on his legs for a while. As soon as he got home I placed him on the beanbag where the others were napping expecting him to curl up with them and sleep of the sedation.  He had other ideas, a few nips of ears and jumping on unsuspecting kitten’s backs he soon had them all tearing around the house again.  He was even putting some weight on the bad leg - Monkey!  He couldn’t have done that a few hours earlier and saved me £93 !!! I watched him for a while for wobbliness but gave up after he’d jumped in and out of the waste paper basket waiting for another kitten to walk by and get jumped on, he was going to be just fine!

Where does the time go?  The kittens are running around the house, getting under our feet and being gorgeous, furry bundles.  They’re getting lots of visitors, even the neighbours grandkids are getting dragged in to help the socialising.  We’ve got homes for all bar 2 now, both Classic patterned, one girl, one boy.  The girl is a mini-Lexi, just as beautiful.  The boy doesn’t have the best of patterns but is a very lovely creamy chocolate colour and has the most wonderful purrsonality.  He’s the first to greet us, always wanting to see what we’re doing.  If one’s climbing up my back, helping me clean the litter trays or trying to read what I’m typing on the computer -it’s him!  If there’s a clatter, something’s fallen over, it’s him!  He’s naughty, he’s cute and he’s very, very, loveable and I really won’t mind if I can’t find a suitable home for him……I know I need to be sensible though, if I keep every kitten that steals my heart I’ll have to keep them all! These are the two we’re still looking for homes for, they can’t leave before 2nd September so plenty of time yet.

We’d put a barrier up on the kitten pen so Lexi could come and go but the kittens were kept in safe while they’re still small.  The last couple of days one or two have managed to climb over but only wanted to do it when one of us was sat by the pen.  Today the biggest 4 climbed over so I thought I might as well take that barrier down and let them explore.

They were having great fun exploring the conservatory and settled down with Lexi for a feed at the bottom of the big cat tree. When I came back in later to put food down for them all I realised one of the kittens was missing.  I looked everywhere!  I pulled the desk out and had the room upside down.  I convinced myself she must have escaped through my legs when I left the room an hour or so earlier, even though I’d been really careful. I’d had the back door open for a while and started to really worry that, as I couldn’t find her in the house, she must have got out somehow. I spent 2 hours looking for her, I think I looked everywhere at least 6 times. then phoned Graham in a panic.  He asked if she could have got inside the settee. Doubt it I said, don’t think there’s a way in……….it’s a bed settee, and where the back joins the seat there’s a tiny gap.  So I gingerly opened it and found her looking really comfortable nestled in the spare bedding without a care in the world!!  Phew!

I dare say they’ll give me a few more scares over the coming weeks and then I get to do it all again with Fizz’s litter!  She’s pinked up nicely and should be due around 12th August.

Yesterday we decided to bring the kittens downstairs. They’ve got a nice roomy pen now and will stay in there until they’re ready to explore a bit further. We’ve also started weaning, just tiny amounts to see if they’re ready. After a few sucks at a saucer of mashed kitten food I put one of them in the litter tray and scratched her paw in the tray. A few seconds later she performed! She promptly sat back down in it and poor Lexi and had even more mess to clean up! Ah well, they’ll get the hang of it soon enough.  We’re half way there with trying to get them to eat solid food and litter train - they’re eating the litter (glad I switched to a non-clumping paper-based sort!)