Our Neutered Pets
We have nine neuters, across a variety of breeds. All of them have been shown on at least three or four occasions - some more successfully than others! Like our breeding queens, they all live with us in the house, although some of them have access into our walled garden as well. In order of age, they are: Jinny, Call, Ali, Tármus, 'The Devons': Amlach and Coimhlion, Annas, Xaria and Monty. You can click on their names to jump to their individual introductions further down this page.
Jinny is an old Scots word for 'White Wave' - so named because she has flowing white fur on her chest and tummy.
Moggie longhair, Brown Tabby & White
We adopted Jinny from a rescue shelter in January of 2005, when the vet estimated her to be about four. Her previous owner had suffered from Alzheimer's and Jinny had been abused, although we don't think her owner did so deliberately. When Jinny's owner was forcibly taken into a home, Jinny was taken to the sanctuary for re-homing. When we got her at first, Jinny was terrified, and would literally do the toilet where she was standing if you walked into a room too fast. She is a longhair and therefore requires grooming, but I used to have to groom her on a towel because she would wet herself every time.
Over the intervening years, she has come a long way, particularly in this past year since we started showing her. At her first show she took Best Non-Pedigree, and this gave her a huge confidence boost. Since she took her second Best in Show, she has come along to sit with us in the Living room every evening, in spite of never having sat with us before now. Jinny is an absolutely stunning cat, and has a very sweet personality - she loves cuddles on the bed at night, before we go to sleep. She's the matriarch of the house and the other cats do what she says but also rub themselves against her and lick her face - probably trying to get into her good books, but very cute all the same!
Jinny won her third Master Cat certificate at the West, and is therefore now officially 'MC Jinny'. She has won Best in Show three times.
Call (Elmcoon Basil, 64 20 - Maine Coon, Brown Tabby)
Call is Gaelic for 'Mischief', pronounced as the first half of the name 'Callum'
D.O.B. 24/03/05
Call's Pedigree
Call was our first pedigree cat, purchased shortly after my beloved Tiger had been put to sleep. He came from Helen and Brenda (Elmcoon Maine Coons) in South Yorkshire. He is a big boy at around 7kg, and he tends to be a bit skinny at that - if he would actually eat properly, instead of getting distracted and wandering off half way through, then he would probably be a bit over 7kg. Call is the 'boss cat', mainly by virtue of his size, and the others all look to him for permission to do things. He is a loveable dope - a big, gentle boy who's very good at learning things but has no common sense. For example, if he wants to open a door, 
instead of pushing it with his head like a 'normal' cat, he tries to use the door handle, because that's what we do! He's not keen on strangers, but is very loving when you're one of his friends, and likes to sleep on the edge of the bed, using the pillow just like a person would.
Although Call makes a lovely pet, he isn't a 'show quality' cat - his muzzle is too narrow, his ears aren't upright enough and his tail is slightly too short. Having said this, he has such a fantastic temperament that the judges like him anyway. He won a certificate at his first show, but we had filled the entry form in wrongly and he was disqualified after the show, meaning that the certificate doesn't count. He does, however, now have his first legitimate Premier Certificate from Mrs S Hamilton!
Ali is short for 'Droch Ailig', which is Gaelic for 'Rascal'
Moggie shorthair, Black Classic Tabby & White
D.O.B. 28/04/05
Ali came from the same rescue shelter as Jinny, but was brought there with his feral mother, her pregnant sister, and his brothers, at only a couple of days old. Between reserving Call, and actually going to collect him, I had fallen in love with Ali whilst volunteering at the shelter. He was an absolute wee monkey and a total escape artist. He tried everything to get out of his kitten room - he used to attach himself to staff members' belts and try and ride out dangling from their back, or climb up into the food trolley and try and ride out on that. 
As soon as he was old enough to jump onto the window ledge, he used to stand there with his paws up against the glass.
Ali considers Call to be his big brother and Jinny to be his mother, and the three of them are still quite close. Ali is definitely the most independent of all our cats, though - he will come up for you to stroke him and roll around for his tummy to be stroked, but he doesn't like cuddles and hates being shut in for more than a day or so. He loves shows, though, which was a bit of a surprise - it's the only time he seems to relish attention from people he doesn't know.
Ali has won his three Master Cat certificates, which means that he is now officially 'MC Droch Ailig'. He has taken one Best in Show, and came overall fourth in the Royal Canin Non-Pedigree Stakes Scottish final for the 2008/09 show year.
Tármus (PR Ballego Foreverinblugenes, 73a - Ocicat, Blue (spotted tabby))
Tármus is Gaelic for 'dislike of food' - so named because when we got her she was called Minimus, but was really rather fat, so that name seemed silly. We wanted to change it but without causing her too much confusion, so we looked for something that sounded similar and found Tármus, which we felt had quite a nice irony to it! Tármus is pronounced 'Tar-mus'.
D.O.B. 02/09/06
Tármus' Pedigree
Tármus came to us as a retired breeding queen, having had a litter of kittens for a friend of ours. We got her only a short while after we got the Devons, and she instantly adopted Coimhlion as her 'baby'. 
Coimhlion wouldn't do anything for herself and used to stand and cry for Tármus instead - Tármus even used to clean her! Tármus is a typical Oci - busy and into everything you're doing, but not particularly into being cuddled. She will come and cuddle with us on the couch, but isn't keen on being picked up. She loves going into the garden so that she can sit under 'her' tree, which is where she spends most of her time during the summer. When I come in for meals, I go to the catflap and shout for her and she comes bounding across the garden and rushes into the house shouting to make sure you don't forget that she needs fed too.
Like Call, Tármus isn't a particularly good example of her breed - one of my friends thinks she looks more like a Russian Tabby (the tabby version of the Russian Blue, not accepted in this country at present)! Her 'wedge' is too short, her ears sit far too high and are too small, and her spots are often barely visible because there isn't good enough contrast between the marking colour and the ground colour. Again like Call, however, she has a fantastic show temperament and the judges like her for that reason. She won her three Premier Certificates in 2009 from Mary Kalal, Helen Marriott-Power and Hans-Jo Appold, making her up to Premier!
Amlach (PR Velvarex Amlach, 33a 30e - Devon Rex, Tortie Spotted Tabby)
Coimhlion (PR Velvarex Coimhlion, 33a 30f - Devon Rex, Cream Spotted Tabby)
Amlach is Gaelic for 'Curl' (because of the curly fur), and is pronounced as it looks but ending in 'ch' as in the end of the Scottish 'loch'. Coimhlion is Gaelic for 'Perfect', and is pronounced 'kawv-lin'
D.O.B. 26/11/07
The Devons' Pedigree
Amlach and Coimhlion are litter sisters from Jen and Laura Pinches (Velvarex Devon Rexes) in Bolton. As Jen said to us when the girls were kittens 'they are funny little people'. At the time, we thought that was a strange way to put it, but it is so true. I don't think Devons are really cats - they are some sort of strange little people from outer space! They are completely oblivious to the ways of 'normal' cats - our two don't even realise that there is a hierarchy among the rest of the cats, which means that as far as the other cats are concerned, the Devons are in the bottom spot, whereas the Devons think that the world just revolves around them!
They talk in funny grumbles, growls and squeals - one of Coimhlion's nicknames is 'the squealer'. They also don't play like 'normal' cats, preferring instead to stand up and box like hares, then crash their chests together, wrap their front legs around each other's sides and roll around the floor growling and squealing the whole time. They are the only breed of cats I've come across that growl as part of play - the others do it either when they are angry, or at the very least as a warning (for example when they have a particularly tasty piece of food that nobody else is allowed!).
Although Coimhlion is registered as a Cream Spotted Tabby, and definitely looked like one as a kitten, we now believe that she may actually be a Cream Smoke. As she has aged her undercoat has become whiter and whiter, and now looks a lovely pure silver, and her spots have completely disappeared. She is actually the 'typier' (closer to the show standard) of the two, but because Amlach has the tabby facial markings, she ends up looking like she has a better 'Devon scowl' and the judges keep placing her ahead of her sister. Amlach won her three Premier Certificates from Grace Denny, George Godfrey and Shirley Bullock, making her up to Premier. Coimhlion finally won her third in December 2009, from Mrs J I Green, the other two being from Mrs L Stevenson and Mrs Heavens. Coimhlion gets very competitive at shows, and is in a foul mood for about a week after a show if she doesn't get a red rosette or a certificate on her cage! Amlach probably won't be going back on the bench except maybe for fun at the Scottish Rex show, and Coimhlion will be the same once she gets her third PC.
Annas (CH & UK & I GR PR Rushbrooke Kahlua Over Ice, 68 - Tiffanie, Black (Self))
Annas is Gaelic for 'Surprise' - named because I bought her as a surprise gift for Richard, who had been saying since we started dating that he would like a black cat. It is pronounced exactly as it looks.
D.O.B. 05/12/07
Annas' Pedigree
Annas came from our good friend, Amanda Colgan (Rushbrooke Asians, Burmese and Bengals) in Cambridgeshire. When we bought her, we had never shown any of our cats, and hadn't considered doing so. Annas was purchased purely because she was a black cat with a nice personality, not because she was any particular breed. When her brother won Best Foreign Kitten at a show, Amanda suggested that we should try showing Annas. We did so, and found that we really enjoyed it, so we kept doing it.
Unlike Call, Tármus and the Devons, Annas is really a rather good example of her breed and made up to Champion just after turning 13 months. We then had her spayed and started again as a neuter. She made up to Premier at the Durham County in May 2009 and then started on Grand. She won her three Grand Premier Certificates in four shows, from Val Kilby, Carol Jones and Linda Ashmore, picking up one Reserve Grand from George Gow on the way. This made her the UK's first Grand Premier Tiffanie! At the Supreme in 2009, Sue Luxford-Watts then awarded her the first UK Grand certificate ever given to a Tiffanie.
She then went on to win her five Imperial Certificates from George Gow, Anne Gregory, Val Kilby, John Hansson (!) and Helen Marriott-Power, making up to Imperial at the Durham show a year after making up to Premier there - this made her the first ever Imperial-titled Tiffanie! She didnt stop there, though, winning her second UK certificate, from Maria Chapman, at the Supreme in 2010, making her a UK Grand Premier, and the first UK-titled Tiffanie. Having won a pile of breed firsts, and also picked up a couple of Best Foreign Neuter wins along the way, she has now been retired to a much-deserved life of luxury at home.
Annas is half-sister to our first queen, Katie, who has the same father.
Xaria (GR PR Dushenka Xariabella, 16a - Russian Blue)
D.O.B. 05/01/08
Xaria's Pedigree
Xaria was bred by our friend Elisabeth Stark (Dushenka Russian Blues), near Glasgow. Elisabeth had always loved Xaria's brother Xander - he was one of those kittens that every breeder gets at some point that just captures your heart. Elisabeth kept both kittens, and after Xaria took Best Foreign Kitten at the Teesside in 2008, various people told Elisabeth that she should keep Xaria as a breeding queen.
Elisabeth had always felt guilty for the fact that Xaria had to play 'second fiddle' to Xander, however, and Xaria also wasn't happy as an entire female. Eventually Elisabeth decided to have Xaria spayed and to re-home her somewhere that she could finally be out of her brother's shadow. The only issue was that Xaria is a lovely example of her breed, so Elisabeth wanted her to go to somewhere that she would be shown. Since we were already showing our cats on a regular basis, and had expressed an interest in having a Russian at some point, Elisabeth felt that we would be ideal and so we came to have our first 'deliberate show neuter'!
Xaria made up to Premier in straight shows, winning Certificates from George Godfrey, Michelle Codd, and then, due to a judge change, a second from George Godfrey that was countersigned by Mr Moorman. She then went on to win her three Grand Premier certificates from Anne Gregory, Helen Marriott-Power and Marleen Buckeridge, and started snapping at Annans' heels for the Imperial classes. I twice entered both Xaria and Annas for the Imperial, even though only one of them could win, but the second of these was a totally insane idea, since it was the day that Annas was going for the third certificate that would (and did) make her the first Imperial-titled Tiffanie. Now that was a nerve-wracking day!
The day that Annas won her second UK certificate, Xaria was also making history in her own UK class, by becoming winning the UK certificate and the Best of Breed, neither of which a Scottish-bred Russian had ever achieved. Since then, she has made further 'Scottish history', by becoming the first Scottish-bred Russian to make Imperial, winning her certificates from Shirley Bullock, Linda Ashmore, George Gow, Mary Kalal and Helen Marriott-Power. For good measure, she has since picked up a sixth certificate from Val Kilby, the same day that she went Best of Variety Foreign for the second time in her career!
Monty (PR Pontaby Montagna, 23e - Abyssinian, Fawn (ticked tabby))
Montagna is Italian for 'Mountain', because Monty is a big boy. Monty is also close to the Gaelic word for 'Moorland'
D.O.B. 30/06/09
Monty's Pedigree
Monty was bred by our friend Lorraine Pontello (Pontaby Abyssinians), near Cumbernauld. We used to have his cousin, our gorgeous Sorrel, Gealbhan, but he was stolen in January 2008. After Gealbhan was gone, I missed having an Aby around the house and had said to Lorraine that if she ever bred a Sorrel girl of excellent type then I wanted her as a show neuter.
Back in the summer, Lorraine had mated her Fawn stud boy (Gealbhan's grand-father) to her stunning Sorrel girl, Berry (I GR CH Pontaby Fragola - the first female Imperial!). The mating produced a litter of three Fawn kittens with some of the most spectacular, rich colouring that any of the people who've seen them have yet seen on Fawns. Two of the kittens had particularly nice type: the only female, which Lorraine is keeping to breed from, and one of the boys. There has never yet been a Fawn Imperial (Berry's half-sister, Honey, was actually the first Fawn Grand Champion!), and Lorraine believed that these kittens could be good enough to make it all the way.
She asked us if we would be interested, and we initially weren't, because we didn't want to bring another boy into the house in case it upset the balance of Call as the dominant male. However, we went round to meet him, and of course were instantly taken with the lovely Aby temperament and that stunning rich colouring. When I went back to Lorraine's for lunch a few weeks later, and saw him again, I couldn't resist. I told Lorraine that we would take him only if she didn't mind us neutering him at the earliest possible opportunity. She was fine with this, and so we agreed to collect him after his first show - the Yorkshire, in October. He had a good day there, taking his Best of Breed, and won the hearts of several of the judges, not to mention getting a lot of praise for that lovely coat colour!
Monty is a lovely cuddly baby, and likes to climb under the covers with us at night. With Call sleeping beside the pillow, Kia and Monty under the covers, and Xaria and the Tiffanies sleeping on top of them, there is barely space for us in the bed!
Monty made up to Premier at the Durham Counties, the day before he turned 11 months. His certificates came from Steve Parkin, George Godfrey and Helen Marriott Power.