A little about us....
In the beginning....
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When we started breeding American Curl cats in April 2004, we had no idea how addictive these American Curl Kittens would become or how they would change our lives. So when people who buy our kitties tell us the same thing after they bring our babies into their homes, we totally relate. Now we tell new Curl owners that Curls are like Lays potato chips....
"You can't stop at just one!" So, how did we get into this? Well, it's kind of a long story. Here's the short version. About 20 yrs. ago, our daughter's boyfriend asked us to "cat sit" for his friend's pair of "American Hard Ear" cats. Well, they weren't American Hard Ears. They were American Curls with straight ears. And "temporary" became permanent. This initial accidental experience with Curls (or was it a divine direction??? you decide after reading our story) produced an admiration for this fascinating breed.
We purchased our first breeding cats with the condition that we would show the cats in CFA at cat shows. We had never seen a cat show... we didn't even know there was such a thing. |
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We were really "dog people"...not "cat people"We had at least seen dog shows on TV, however cat shows are rarely, if ever, televised and up to now, all our cats had been strays that just showed up on our doorstep. We had both grown up with at least one dog in the family all our lives. If you asked, Linda would tell you that she grew up with a dog sleeping on her bed from her earliest memories. The family dogs were just part of the family. They went everywhere with her family. But to meet the conditions of the purchase of new kitties, we started taking our cats to the local CFA cat shows. (What an experience that was for us!)
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And so it began....
At first, Mike only went as the 'dutiful husband' who tags along to help his wife... and only on weekends that didn't have an important football game on TV. But then, at one of the shows, one of our boys started winning... a lot! Mike's competitive genes kicked in and he was hooked too. That was our first grand Champion boy, Curl Essence Cinnamon. ("Cinns" is now in Brazil populating that country with pretty little red American Curls... and we couldn't be prouder of him if he was the first male child in our family to get a Masters Degree). "Cinns" is shown on our Champion Hall page . He's also in the photo to the right. (ok, so now's the time you comment to yourself "what a pretty boy!" We still do whenever we look at these photos of him when he first granded. ("Granded" means he earned his title as a Grand Champion in CFA.) Cinns always had a great temperament which he passed on to all his offspring. We continually comment to each other about the great temperaments of our red cats. It all seems to stem back to this pretty boy.
We continued to show in CFA, and now, we also show in TICA (The International Cat Association). We have cats as pets and as show cats around the world. We love to hear from our new Curl owners with stories about how they've changed their lives. Some of the stories are on our Testimonial Page our visitors. We can go on and on about how we "socialize" our kittens so they fit into their new families, but we would rather you read about it from the people who have our kitties.
We continued to show in CFA, and now, we also show in TICA (The International Cat Association). We have cats as pets and as show cats around the world. We love to hear from our new Curl owners with stories about how they've changed their lives. Some of the stories are on our Testimonial Page our visitors. We can go on and on about how we "socialize" our kittens so they fit into their new families, but we would rather you read about it from the people who have our kitties.
That was then. This is now...
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This is a picture of Curl Essence Sir Kingsley (or "Kingsley"as we call him),
our first Supreme Grand Champion in TICA. |
We love spending the day with our cats at cat shows. However, we've come to realize that not all kitties are what we call "show-able"... not because they don't have great features, but some just don't have the personality for it. They don't like the noise and activity, and they don't like strangers handling them. They love their humans, but they don't enjoy the strange environment and activity. It can be scary to them. On the other hand, there's cats like Cinnamon, Handy, Kingsley who LOVE the attention. They get to spend the entire day with their humans without having to share us with the other cats in the house. We used to laugh at Handy at the shows... it was like he KNEW he was pretty. He would actually pose for spectators at the shows so they could compliment him on how pretty he was. He was a really fun cat to grand.
Then there's Storm... OMG! He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the shows. He recognized the pre-show activity of grooming and packing for the show. He would get visually excited in anticipation. We would always ask to be benched right by the front door so he could people-watch. He loved playing with the judges, and he loved it when spectators would stop by and play with him or just admire him. You may think they don't notice, but they do. |
From our first days in the show halls, we became aware of how few people knew about the American Curl and what a great family pet they are even though the breed was 25-30 years old. So we decided to make it our mission to educate the public about breed.
We have been blessed with the unique access to the founders of the breed as our mentors. We had gone from two people who knew little to nothing about the American Curl to CFA Breed Council Secretary (Mike) and 1 of 3 Breed Committee Members for TICA (Linda). Over the years, we have helped new breeders around the world as mentors with their breeding programs and for showing their Curls. As Breed Council Secretary for CFA, Mike has initiated several vital revisions to the CFA American Curl Standard. In 2015, we created the CFA "Breed Presentation", a 64 page full color power point presentation which is sent to all CFA judges and is also posted on the www.CFA.org website as a constant reference instructing judges on how to evaluate every feature of our breed. Mike also worked with Grace Ruga at the World Cat Congress in Las Vegas in 2017 to put on a Breed Presentation to judges from all the different feline associations. The Breed Council Secretary is "the voice" for the breed. The BCS is the deciding voice for questions or misunderstandings regarding the American Curl in CFA, and is elected by the other Breed Council members.
Linda was elected to the TICA Breed Committee in 2018 along with Joe and Grace Ruga. Together, they are actively working to update the TICA American Curl Standard to remove obsolete text and to train the TICA judges on how to properly evaluate this breed. Linda realized that very few Curl breeders in the world would have the access to Joe and Grace and to be trained by them as we have so she created a separate website at www.theamericancurlstandard.com to educate new breeders around the world on how to evaluate their cats for breed/show or household pet.
We continue to promote the American Curl by educating the public on this special breed. We maintain a wide variety of bloodlines, probably second only to Joe and Grace, (founders of the breed) to ensure healthier cats while continuing to breed for better show cats. We still meet people at the shows who tell us they have never seen a Curl in person... some still tell us they've never heard of the breed always commenting on the cute ears and demeanor. We firmly believe that the American Curl makes the very best feline pet, and it's our goal to convince an unsuspecting public that we're right.
Linda was elected to the TICA Breed Committee in 2018 along with Joe and Grace Ruga. Together, they are actively working to update the TICA American Curl Standard to remove obsolete text and to train the TICA judges on how to properly evaluate this breed. Linda realized that very few Curl breeders in the world would have the access to Joe and Grace and to be trained by them as we have so she created a separate website at www.theamericancurlstandard.com to educate new breeders around the world on how to evaluate their cats for breed/show or household pet.
We continue to promote the American Curl by educating the public on this special breed. We maintain a wide variety of bloodlines, probably second only to Joe and Grace, (founders of the breed) to ensure healthier cats while continuing to breed for better show cats. We still meet people at the shows who tell us they have never seen a Curl in person... some still tell us they've never heard of the breed always commenting on the cute ears and demeanor. We firmly believe that the American Curl makes the very best feline pet, and it's our goal to convince an unsuspecting public that we're right.
Contact us by email at Psalm0512@yahoo.com or by phone at 951 743 8230
CurlEssence... an American Curl Breeder since 2004
CurlEssence... an American Curl Breeder since 2004