January – first show of the year for us, and the most local, the Celtic LH & SLH which is held in Chepstow, we decide to just take our new kittens to their first show. Esaya Kittah-Zeus our gorgeous seal kitten, soon to be our new stud boy when he gets older, doesn’t quite know what to make of it all but wins all of his classes, whilst our blue girl Kittah Nemesis has obviously inherited her grandmother’s talent and also wins her open class, as well as getting best of breed
March – Had a fabulous day at the Southern and South West Birman Cat show. Our favourite cat show of the year, Kittah Artemis, looking as stunning as ever, is BIS female adult, whilst Zeus excels himself by being BIS male kitten (thus regaining the trophy that Khatijem Lalique won at his first ever show back in 2004!) Kittah Thalia and Khatijem Lalique also won their Olympian classes, which meant that our cats won 3 of the 4 highly prestigious Olympian classes on the day.
March – Kittah Minerva had our first litter of the year. The mating with Kittah Kedalion produced 5 fabulous healthy blue kittens all carrying the deep blue eye colour inherited from their parents and grandparents.
April – A good day out at the Kernow Show, Kittah Artemis came first in a large all breed Olympian class. She is now well on her way towards collecting enough awards to being made up to an Olympian silver. Later on in the day, she excelled herself by becoming BIS SLH. Esaya Kittah-Zeus and Kittah Nemesis both did well in their last show as kittens, both winning their open classes and gaining best of breed.
May – Our first and only kitten from Kittah Briseis was born, a beautiful red girl, Kittah Castalia. It also proved to be the only red kitten sired by our stud Esaya Von Richtofen, who was never really happy living the solitary life of a stud and just wanted to be in the house getting cuddles. We reluctantly ended up getting him neutered and rehomed so that he could enjoy the life of being a pampered pet.
Two of last years Kittah kittens were both starting to enjoy success on the show bench. Kittah Palindrome Aires, owned by Tina Johnson, and Kittah Astvale Charlemagne, owned by Jenny and Paul Veal, both achieving their first titles of Premier during the month
June – Kittah Helenofsparta gives birth to 4 beautiful kittens, a blue and a seal tabby and a blue and seal. We decide to keep Kittah Kallisto the blue tabby girl whilst Kath Instone has the seal tabby girl, Kittah Lordstones Helena
July – Kittah Circe gives birth to 5 kittens. 2 are stillborn, whist we lose a third kitten at around 6 weeks old. Utterly heartbreaking, and just highlights that breeding isn’t always plain sailing. The remaining girl, although a little on the small side, is perfectly show marked, something that is so hard to achieve. Given the trauma of Circe’s litter (her second) we are now unsure whether we will mate her again, so in the end we decide to keep the blue girl, another blue tabby, Kittah Xanthe.
August/ September – Congratulations to our friend Tina Johnson, Kittah Palindrome Aires gets made up to Grand Premier in three shows and then at the following show, not only does he win his first Imperial Class but he is also best of Variety at the same show!
November – We find out that UK & IGRCH & IGRPR Kittah Thalia is suffering from severe kidney problems and in the space of a few days goes rapidly downhill. We do everything we can to save her and she spends the last 4 days on a drip in the local vet hospital. However, she continues to get worse and we have to let her go.
We attend the Birman cat club show which is the main show of the year for Birman Breeders. It’s a bittersweet moment as, under normal circumstances, we would have taken Thalia, who not only enjoyed being shown but likes the overnight stay in the Holiday Inn afterwards. We take 4 of our own cats with us whilst there are 4 other Kittah cats there as well. Kittah Nemesis, Thalia’s granddaughter wins her third open class in a row so gets made up to Champion and also beats 8 other cats gain best of breed. She looks absolutely stunning and has inherited her late grandma’s good looks. However, the comparisons stop there as she didn’t really seem to enjoy being shown at all. We also took Sunny (Kittah Chriseis) who is the only cat in the household that is just kept as a “pet”, as we aren’t planning to show or breed with her. In her first show for 2 years she amazes us by winning her first open class as well as getting best of breed and seems to thoroughly enjoy her day out. Later on in the afternoon Artemis goes on to become BIS Female Adult (she also won this last year) and Kittah Palindrome Aires is BIS Male neuter, a big congratulations to Tina Johnson.
December – In the last show of the year we decide to go to the Maidstone and Medway, even though we are both still feeling down about Thalia. Unexpectedly Artemis wins another Olympian award (we later get a letter from the GCCF to confirm she is now made up to Olympian Silver) and Kittah Kallisto, in her first appearance on the show bench, wins her open as well as getting Best of Breed. So, all in all, another successful show year.
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