Feline team building

[flexagon]

I don't even know which of my two cat announcements to be more excited about.

So to start with the ocicat kitten: after many long emails back and forth with Dreamsong Cats in Atlanta, today I sent a deposit (and signed an agreement) putting me on the list to choose one of these babies when they are old enough. Right now they are two weeks old; they comprise three kittens out of a litter of five, and they have the coloring I want.



They were born to Pandemonium (mother) and Oberon (father), both of them award winning... as if I give a flying fuck about that, but Pandemonium is beautiful. Her ebony silver babies will look like she does.

There are uncertainties here; the breeder herself may keep any of the kittens, there's one home choosing a kitten from this litter before me (unsure if they, too, are set on this coloring), and it is possible that not all kittens will survive to adoptable age. But odds are good, because there are three. If I don't take one from this litter, then we wait for a later one.

On her advice, we started on Friday to look for a companion cat for said ocikitten. Apparently they are very active and will run wild if their only companions are sluggish; and we were urged against getting a shelter kitten since their personalities can change over time and we're not guaranteed a fit. Breeder lady urged us strongly to get a young adult as a companion for the kitten: young, as playful/energetic as possible, and easygoing.

We found EXACTLY that on the internet:

Willy was rescued at the old Malden Hospital. He showed up at a home looking to come in from the cold.... We brought him in and found a foster for him.

Willy is a young energetic cat that loves his toys. It took quite awhile just to get these pictures until we figured out that if we tired him out with his toys then we might get a couple minutes to take pictures.
Willy is a young neutered male with up to date shots. If you're interested in Willy then please contact MHS.

We Zipcarred to Revere to see him this afternoon, with no intention of bringing him home today; then we brought him home. :P Could have happened to anyone. He was so, so playful, dashing around the dreary and cobwebby basement just wanting to run and leap at his feather toy and purr. Not bringing him home would only have meant an extra trip. He is easygoing and super curious about everything:



And his coat is an extremely unusual solid orange... maybe subtly ticked. He has tabby striping, but only on his face and legs. It blows my mind that we were the first sniff of interest on this cat in his whole month of being fostered! Anyway, he's here now; not officially adopted yet, and not introduced to Nala yet, but we've provided all the comforts of home in the office, and has already snuggled heisenbug some. Paperwork maybe on Thursday, when dude from the humane society comes over to meet us and make sure our home seems okay.

Comments

[miyyu.livejournal.com]

What a lovely solution to the breed vs. rescue dilemma! I love the ticking in Willy's fur. Are you going to keep the name? And ocicat mama is breathtakingly beautiful.

[flexagon]

She is, isn't she?

I said so, and crazy ocicat lady said: She is, obviously, a show quality kitty. Which makes me wonder if you've ever seen a pet quality Oci?

Ohhh, cat snobs. I did some research; usually the thing that makes a spotted ocicat into "pet quality" is if some of the spots are blended into bands, which I can't say I mind much.

Not keeping the name Willy; names are under consideration now.

[miyyu.livejournal.com]

Ugh. There are lots of dog people snobs too. I spent a lot of time on the dog show circuit as a child and young teenager. That "Best in Show" movie isn't far off the mark. There is a similar standard for Dalmatians and their spots. Daphne is "pet quality" because of her ear patch, which I think is adorable nonetheless.

I'm glad you're not keeping the name. It doesn't suit him, at least based on looks.

[flexagon]

I'm torn, at least in theory, because ocicats would not have come into existence if not for people like crazy lady. And she does have rescue cats in her home, and loves ALL her Oci babies and will not let them go to homes she doesn't think will be good. At the same time, she has a loyalty to the breed that outweighs her loyalty to individuals, which is a high-level thing I don't happen to intuitively share at all.

I am kind of glad there are people like her -- the ocicats of 30 years from now will be more consistently spotted and less tabby-banded than today, which is sort of a common goal of the community, and that's not bad... it might even be good, in that the world will have ever more varied cats to look at. But I don't personally, intrinsically see a big difference in beauty between these pet and show quality cats.

It shouldn't surprise me about there being similar things with Dalmations. I tried to look this up briefly, and the page I found said: The things that make a dog Pet Quality rather than Show Quality are often features that only other show people would notice.

Yep.

[miyyu.livejournal.com]

Responsible breeders (dog or cat) do make important contributions. They breed for health and temperament, which matter tremendously not only over the life of the individual animal but for the breed as a whole as well. With dogs it can matter even more because most breeds were conceived as working animals with a specific purpose and those instincts can mean a lot when you are choosing a dog, for a pet or for a job. But there are so many breeds now whose genetic lines are just wrecked and there is such an overpopulation of shelter pets. It's hard to know when you are reinforcing a breeder who is doing something good in the long-term or not.

I think our next dog is going to be another shelter pit puppy. We both like the temperament and have no issues with the stereotypes. That said, I suspect there will be more Dalmatians in our future too. Ironically, our shelter cat has proven to be the most expensive animal we've ever had, thanks to his bladder surgery. So there really aren't guarantees no matter what.