Pardalis Ocicats

Lexi woke up on Thursday morning full of miaows.  She was restless all day, if a door was shut she wanted to go through, as soon as she’d gone through she’d turn around and come right back in! Uno, her boy from her first litter, was getting a lot of attention and non-stop washing, as if she was having a trial run for the birth and had suddenly remembered that he was once her kitten

It was very frustrating for me as I realised she was going into labour but she just wouldn’t settle, I wanted her to have some rest, she didn’t sleep all day.  She’d go into the nice cosy box we’d set in the corner of our bedroom, rummage around a bit, sit for a while, then off she’d trot downstairs again only to go through the door routine once more!

Then it dawned on me that once she’d gone through a door she was wanting Uno to follow her, and if he didn’t that was why she was coming back.  So I let him go up with her and she was happy with that but he didn’t want to sit in her box with her, he wanted to explore and play and everytime he moved she’d move with him, give him another wash, follow him around.  He soon got bored and let himself out of the bedroom (he’s a great one for opening doors!) so I put Fizz upstairs with Lexi to keep her company, but that wasn’t good enough, it had to be Uno!

Eventually she went into labour so Uno had to get out of the way.  The first kitten took its time coming, it was breech, but once that one had come into the world the second was only minutes behind.  In all she had four, all Classics, beautiful clear markings, 3 tawnies, 1 chocolate.  Once they were all dry we weighed them quickly as we transferred mum and babes into a new cosy clean bed and attempted to sex them.  One girl, three boys?  Not sure…..jury’s still out.  Days later and we’re now thinking 1 boy, 3 girls!  Or maybe they’re all boys but one’s better endowed :-))

All excellent weights and very even, just a few grams between them still a few days later, and they’re gaining fast. They seem to be a very contented and quieter than our previous litters. They squeak rather than squawk

Meanwhile Uno transferred his attentions back to Fizz :-)  Must be his aftershave!

Lexi and Uno have now both achieved 4 merits each to help move the Ocicat Classic breed recognition on to the next stage.  Uno got the final one needed at the Suffolk and Norfolk Cat Club show yesterday.

A total of six cats have now gained the required number of merits for us to complete the preliminary stage and put in the application for the next and final stage.  The next stage will take longer as more Ocicat Classics and breeders will need to be involved, but the commitment is there and hopefully it won’t be too long before this beautiful breed can be shown on equal footing alongside their Ocicat siblings.

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!