Autumn and Handy
Autumn didn't have a really long show career but only because we had other cats we were showing and we can only handle so many cats at any one show. Autumn was shown in 2 shows in CFA for her Champion title. At the show where she received her Champion title, she beat another Curl who had shown much more and had more points. Autumn is a silver patched and white.... or more commonly called calico and white. At the Glendale show we took her to, she took Best of Breed and Best of Color in 4 of 6 rings.
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Curl Essense Sir Kingsley ("Kingsley") is a Supreme Grand Champion in TICA. He is a red silver with very nearly perfect ears for the AC standard. At one of the first shows we took him to in TICA one judge who has been judging in TICA since the breed was first approved made the comment that he had "the best ears" she had ever seen.
Kingsley's father was a silver straight ear domestic named Howie. Grace Ruga (founder of the breed) insisted we incorporate Howie into our breeding program to give us the taller ears with thinner cartilage, but also for genetic diversity. The large, diverse gene pools from breeding Curls with domestics is a major factor in the overall health of the breed. We've been reluctant to use Kingsley because of the potential for straight eared kittens which is why we've used his son (Timmy) more than Kingsley. However, Autumn is out of Procurlharem lines so we're hoping the strong genetics for curled ears in mom will counter Kingsley's SE genetics.
Click any photo to enlarge it.
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Cole... |
Cole is a silver mack tabby. The photos and videos below were taken on 6/9. Because Cole is a single "lit", we've made it a point to dote on him ALOT! Because of all the attention he's getting from us, he will be even more affectionate when he is older. The attention the kittens get from birth to when they go to their new homes, molds their personalities.
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Pics and videos taken on 6/29... |
In the photos and videos on 6/9, Cole is just 5 wks old. Look at how much he's grown since then.
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We brought Cole and his mom into the bedroom a couple weeks ago and put them in one of the 48" cages in the bedroom for him to get a little bigger before we put him in the big 12' double cage.I should stick a picture of this big cage on the website one of these days so you can see it. It's got 2 tall 8ft condos on each end and a 3' condo between them so the kittens have lots of room to climb and romp without worrying about them falling from an upper level and getting hurt. If we let the kittens in this cage too young, they try to crawl through the wire and can get their heads stuck. Cole was like a kid in a candy store when we first put him in the big cage. We took a couple of new videos and still pics this morning so you can see how much he's grown. He was born on 5/1, so he's 2 mo. old in these new photos and videos.
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Mike pulls Cole out every morning when he first wakes up and plays with him on the bed for about half an hour or more. Cole is such an outgoing and social little guy, We aren't letting him interact with the older cats yet, but we will start introducing him to the quieter ones next week. For now, we close the bedroom doors and let him have the run of the room for several hours in the morning, but when it's nap time, he goes back into the big double cage so we can open the doors and let the other cats into the room.
I took 3 short videos of Cole this morning. We buy these little bug toys from a vendor at our cat shows. I usually buy enough to give one to all my new Curl kitty owners. These are a favorite toy for ALL the cats. We visited one of Mike's daughters a couple of months ago who has 2 cats. She said the one cat was very friendly but they couldn't ever get the other one to play with any of their toys. I brought one of these toys with me. It took me a good 15 minutes of teasing the cat with the toy, but for the rest of the day, she was playing with everyone in the house with this new toy. The cats LOVE! chasing the little bugs. They are just small enough to be really interesting and big enough to get their attention, especially for the smaller kitten. Sometimes, the bigger toys can be intimidating, but not these little bugs.
Pics and videos taken on 6/9...
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I'm adding several short videos taken this morning of Cole. I want to show you the progress he makes just in the few minutes we spent with him. This is the first time he's been out of his cage with his mom except, of course, when we've had him out to handle him and walk around with him. Also, it's first time he's seen one of these little "bug toys". For some reason, this little stuffed Olaf always seems to be a favorite of the kittens this age when we bring them out for photos. It could be the size or all the little felt hands and feet because the stuffed bear that's the same size isn't as popular.
Here's video #1.
2nd video. We tried to tease him for a few minutes with the bug then I took a 2nd video.
3rd video. Watch how much braver he gets and his interest in the toy. We were really taken back at how cute he was when we had him out for these videos.
4th video. This is really short, but you can see how he progressed from when we first showed him the bug toy and after we played with him a little bit. We decided he had had enough excitement for one day and put him back with mom, but we let him keep Olaf. BTW, we buy one of these bug toys for all our kittens. They are not available in pet stores. The only place you can get them is from our show vendors. I get these from Chuck at 3 Day Pet Supply. They cost $14 each and you can pick what kind of little bug you want. We have tons and tons of teaser toys, but none are as popular as these little bugs. If you want to buy one for your cat, just let me know and I'll tell you how to order from Chuck. He has these as a "special order" for me on his website.
I'm watching these last couple of videos again, and I can't help but to chuckle when he bounces at the toy. It's not unusual for the kittens at this age to just sit in one place or crouch behind one of the stuffed animals the first time they come out for photos. Or, they just wander around smelling everything to make sure it's safe. After all, until now, they've always had mom around to make sure their environment is safe. We've handled Cole enough that he's just checking out everything, but not in fear... more just curiosity. We brought Cole and mom into a smaller cage in the master bedroom yesterday so he will see us all the time and we can just pick him up whenever we have a free minute or two, since he doesn't have littermates to interact with, it's just us and mom.
Reserving a Kitten.... |
If you are interested in reserving a kitten from a future litter, please email me for a "Reserve Kitten Sales Agreement"....
at psalm0512@yahoo.com for details. |
We are taking reservations for future kittens now. We reserve the right for first pick of any of our litters for ourselves to show, however, if you reserve a kitten from a future litter, you will have first pick (after us of course). I keep track of the sequence that I receive Reserved Kitten Agreements and offer kittens in that same sequence.... in other words, the person who has returned the first Reserve Agreement will have first pick of any new litters. After that, the 2nd person who has returned a Reserve Agreement can select a kitten, and so on. Anyone with a Reserve Agreement can wait for another litter if they want to wait for a kitten from another litter if they want, and the same sequence for selecting a specific kitten will still apply.