When Will You Marry?

(Sorry about the gap between posts-  a family bereavement and other 'stuff'. You know how it is.)

So the time of year has come when I'm thinking hard about who to mate Indigo to next, and equally importantly, when.

Because it's complicated this year. Firstly time wise. My friend gets married in the spring and I am in the bridal party. I can't have a due date cat around that time, or kittens that are too young. I can't have kittens that are due to go home because I won't be about to facilitate that. I could have small-ish, still just about nest- bound kittens or older, independent kittens (both times with an experienced- with- baby- kittens person housesitting) but I wouldn't want to leave toilet training kittens. And given Indigo's illness last year, I wouldn't want to leave a pregnant cat, certainly not in the early stages.

It's ridiculous... I'm only going away overnight, but it's feeling like a military operation! And I KNOW they would be fine with someone else for a night or even a weekend, but... well, you know.

The other option of course is to not have kittens this winter at all, mate her in the Spring and have summer babies but again that would require careful timing because I take a summer holiday. Or I could skip a year entirely. (the idea doesn't appeal...)

The next thing is with whom to mate my girl. Now the problem with Indigo is that as a 5th generation Tonk, she's actually related to quite a few of the local (and by local I mean within a 3 hour drive... lol...) studs, and that won't do at all! I rang up about a stud last week, only to realise it was her grandfather! Not sure how I had missed that!

There's not a lot of choice, is what I am saying.

Now she's had two lovely litters. Her first one, with GrCh Fecheldee Harry, are now what- 18 months?- so its possible to see what they are like as adults, and I'm delighted with them. Good quality, robust cats with no health issues (that have been reported to me, anyway) who obviously give their families a lot of pleasure. So a repeat mating with Harry is a definite possibility, he's obviously a good match for Inds. And he's a proven stud, and a Grand Champion, all to the good.

Harry's an apricot mink, so those kittens could be blue, lilac or caramel (boys), all three in tortoiseshell (girls) and in mink or solid. My instinct is, if I mate Indigo this autumn, to use Harry again.

But then over at Tonkadello, they have a new up and coming stud, Louis. Now Louis isn't available yet, he's only a baby still, born, I think, in February, but by next year he will be available. Now the big selling point for me with Louis is that he is a first generation Tonk, ie his parents will be a Siamese and a Burmese. He represents an entirely new bloodline, (and many thanks to the dedicated breeders who made that happen...) and that would be a good balance for Indigo's 5th generation blood. The Tonk gene pool is small, and it just isn't healthy to get too small.

Mating Indigo to Louis will be a bit of a leap into the unknown as he won't have been a stud for long by the time Inds needs to come, but to be honest that's how it was with Monty too and that worked out really well- my Von Trapps were adorable. So if I waited until the Spring, I'd probably want to use Louis, if he was ready.

These kittens would be chocolate and lilac, if he carries dilute, (which his people may not know until he's had a few litters of course!!) in mink and solid. And yes... if I got a chocolate mink girl of a decent quality I would definitely consider keeping her. There's no hurry to keep a kitten, Inds is three now- I guess she'll have another three litters all being well (which you can't bank on) But latter litters are smaller, fewer kittens mean less choice and you can't guarantee even a female, let alone a female of good type, and then there's the question of your own colour preferences etc. So leaving it to the last litter, never a good plan.

As always I am merely rambling, and your opinions would be very interesting indeed :) Oh- sorry about the pretentious title today, but I love Gauguin and it seemed apt!

Smack The Cursor

Updated to add: animal charity Blue Cross have issued a weather warning to cat owners- gritter salt is highly toxic, and if you suspect your cat has ingested it, take them to the vet. Ditto antifreeze, which seems to be particularly tasty as far as cats are concerned.  http://www.bluecross.org.uk/2000-82588/cat-deaths-prompt-salt-warning.html

Ok... today's entry...

Louisa's favourite game... she also disappears round the back of the computer to try and catch it. Bless her, she can't work out where it's coming from!

I was asked yesterday about my waiting list. Truth be told, I don't keep one. I only breed once a year, you see, and so only advertise then too... and so there's a large gap between having litters available. It's over six months between waving goodbye to one set of babies and even taking Indie off to stud, and longer still before the kittens are ready to leave once again.

No-one would want to wait a year for a litter- with no guarantees even then. For example, I thought I'd get chocs and lilacs this time, thinking Monty was a choc, and he does carry choc so we could have got some, but they were all blues and browns. A breeder with six litters a year might reasonably be expected to produce such and such a colour eventually, but with just the one it's a bit hit and miss!

So if anyone does contact me inbetween, which they do, then I generally refer them on to breeders who I know DO have kittens. My experience of Tonk-world is that breeders generally each other out when it comes to finding and placing kittens. Some have waiting lists, especially in season, but definitely a helpful bunch :) If it's kitten season, when I know there will be quie a few who have kittens, I generally direct people to the Tonkinese Breed Club or the Tonkinese Cat Club, both of whom have breeder lists, so you can pick for yourself which breeders you would like to approach, distance etc.

I don't expect it ever to happen, but if someone decided they absolutely had to have an Indikon kitten then I would be incredibly flattered and I guess what I would advise would be to keep an eye on the ste and contact me in the autumn when they know I have kittens expected. Or Indigo does. You know what I mean! I guess that would be kind of a waiting list- they'd have to wait, at least. But a year round one I don't do.

The Browns

Ok, more colour musings today!

As far as I can tell at this point, I have three brown kittens- Liesl, Kurt and Brigitta. I was pleased to have a good number of browns and chocolates this litter as my last litter were all dilute. No idea what I will go for next year- it depends on the available studs I suppose.

Liesl

Deep brown points with a pale body- Louisa must be a brown mink. This is the colouration of her father Monty (Hylily Priceless Picasso) and she does look awfully similar.

 Brigitta:

Brigitta is my darkest kitten, with noticeably less contrast between her points and body than her sister. She could turn out to be a brown mink, but my guess is that she is a brown solid.

Kurt

And Kurt is somwhere inbetween! The jury is out with Kurt at the moment- I'm thinking mink now but I coud easily change my mind. But he has the 'golden Siamese' look about him- and the golden Siamese were mink cats.

The pens, by the way, are so I can tell which cat is which! When they are all together I can pick out individuals no problem, but when there's just the one it's a bit trickier, plus in years to come, will I necessarily remember just by a photo?

Here's Monty, the kittens' father, owned by Hylily. He's an adult brown mink. A couple of links- and these are not my cats, I'm just using them for illustrative purposes- this is an adult brown solid http://www.flickr.com/photos/cox-on-the-box/2604815833/  and this is an adult brown pointed http://www.mimaperks.co.uk/

Who's The Daddy 2011

Its Monty! Another Monty! Otherwise known as Hylily Priceless Picasso. Isn't he handsome? Not too pleased at having a camera in his face, but still!

He's a brown mink- those eyes- with two challenge certificates to his name so far- three makes a Champion, so he's off to a good start. I do like my lady to have titled beaux! He has a lovely profile dip, to counter Indigo's not so brilliant one, and did I mention those eyes? Absolutely stunning.

He's a very gentle puss, and rather petite, and I was a little concerned he'd be a bit cowed by Indigo who can be... shall we say a trifle forthright at times? But it would seem not. When I picked her up they had obviously been getting on VERY well *grin* and Indigo did not want to leave. She howled the whole way home.

Monty has an interesting story. I first heard of him when I attended a cat show 18 months ago, hoping to meet some Tonk people and get advice before breeding Indigo. Hilary (Hylily) took me under her wing a bit- I didn't know anyone- and gave me lots of useful information that was most helpful when Indigo had her litter with Harry. She also told me she had a kitten that she was intending to keep for stud, and his name was Monty. He wouldn't be ready for that year, but I would be welcome to use him subsequently if I wanted to. Yes please!

Monty didn't take to his stud duties at first. Poor Hilary was just about to 'retire' him (can you retire if you never started?) when he got the idea, and babies were on the way... Monty was a successful stud! He was just a bit of a late developer, bless him *grin* Since then, there have been several more successful matings at Hylily, and I'm very lucky indeed to have been the first outside breeder to bring a queen to stud with Monty. This will be his 5th litter.