Member's Stories

From Russia With Love -
My Siberian Experience

How a legend was born - a Siberian kitten comes to England and the journey to becoming "Felis Britannica (FIFe) Overall Best Cat of the Year 2007" begins ...

Well it all started back in 2000 with a book called "Cool Cats, The 100 Cat Breeds of the World" by Desmond Morris - and a photo of a good-looking cat called the Siberian.  After reading the article and trying to find out a bit more about the breed - and then discovering that there were no Siberians in the UK - my dream of owning one slowly ebbed away, as I had no idea of how to go about getting one of these lovely-looking cats into the UK.

Tiggytykes Annaneva Photo Lynne Geary

Then in 2002, in an article in Cat World the breed appeared again as three breeders were importing some cats, so the spark had ignited again and I contacted the breeder that was nearest to me.  Her name was Sue Bellew and she also had Ragdolls - and Maine Coons, which are my other passion. 

After a long conversation with Sue and catching up on local issues (it transpired that she lived near me some years ago!), I booked my very first Siberian.  Neva, or should I say "Tiggytykes Annaneva" was born on 17 March 2003 and we finally got to collect her in June 2003. 

Neva was a lovely seal colourpoint with the most beautiful pair of stunning blue eyes and a fantastic quality coat along with all her other attributes.  I planned to breed from her and have my own Lyndongraey Siberian kitten the following year.  Unfortunately it was not to be.  She developed acute liver failure and we had to have her put to sleep on 24 July 2004 at just 16 months old.  However, I have to thank Sue - and Neva - for introducing me to this wonderful breed.

In the meantime I had spoken to other people about how to go about importing my very own cat.  That is how it all started with my truly wonderful boy Taurus Goloubchik.  I had seen lots of websites with some wonderful-looking cats and contacted some breeders.  I wanted to import my first cat from their homeland, so I contacted Tamara Sorokina from the Taurus Cattery. 

She had two blue silver boys available and sent me some photos, of them and their parents, Lapushka and Ruslan.  After seeing the photos the kitten on the right just had the edge over the other one - to this day I don’t know why, so I asked,  what do I need to do next?

The Brothers - Taurus Goloubchik on right Photo by Tamara Sorokina

It was all a bit rushed as Tamara was sending his sister to a breeder in Holland the following week, so I desperately got in contact with this breeder, Brenda Pellekooren of the Vesna Sibirskaya cattery, to ask if she would be willing to look after my boy for the six months pet passport scheme - and thankfully Brenda agreed! 

With everything sorted the two kittens left Russia and arrived in Holland in the October of 2003 - and then began the long wait for him to arrive in the UK.  I can’t thank Tamara enough for this lovely boy, or Brenda and her family for looking after him so wonderfully.

I wanted a true Russian name for my Russian boy and after watching a film about the Russian sniper, Vassili Zaitsev; we decided to call him Vassiliy.  We had updates and photos of him regularly, which was lovely (that is the only part I truly missed, not seeing him grow up from a 13 weeks old kitten).  The six months couldn’t go quickly enough, but finally in April 2004 Ray and I travelled to Holland to collect him. 

When we got him home he came out of the carrier and immediately made himself quite at home.  He was lovely, with such a sweet temperament ... but not the colour I thought we had bought!  In our opinion he looked a golden colour, but being a novice I had no idea about that and continued to call him a blue silver.  After a period of time to get him used to our family, including our five dogs, and of course to learn English, we decided to show him, and this is where his show career started.

We had him colour assessed three times and he is now a 'blue golden' which is one of the rarer colours.  To the best of my knowledge, Vassiliy was the first Siberian to be shown regularly within FB in the UK, although there are a few more now on the show scene - including one of his own offspring, International Premier Lyndongraey Borya, owned by Heather Clayson.

IP Lyndongraey Borya Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

Vassiliy achieved his first title in three 'straight' shows and his first BIS at Swanley in November 2005; to date he has achieved 12 Best in Show wins (listed at the bottom of this article - I have included some of my favourite photos with his trophies).

It was in 2006 that I found out about the points system within Felis Britannica - and when I discovered that Vassiliy was top male in Category II!  In fact he finished second overall in the category, behind Ron & Jean Brown’s lovely Maine Coon girl Peg, Lunaris Peg o' my Heart (so still top male!), whom Vassiliy vied with for Best in Category II at shows throughout that year. 

However, 2007 was his year!  He achieved the top spot and was declared Best Adult in Category II, Best Overall Adult and then Cat of the Year 2007, the first ever Siberian to do this in the UK, and I believe a great achievement from a cat which has only been in the UK for just under 4 years!

There is only one more title that I would love to achieve with my lovely boy and that is his DSM (Distinguished Show Merit, for 10 BIS wins over a minimum of two years and a day - he got his wins too fast!).  He only needs one more BIS to get this, making him the only Siberian to have the following titles: Fife European Champion, TICA Quadruple Grand Champion and FIFe DSM, all attained in the UK.

I would like to thank all the judges who have thought so highly of him, all my friends who have supported us throughout and of course, Vassiliy my dream boy!!

Lynne Geary

April 2008

Vassiliy's 'Best in Show' Career (so far!)

Swanley - Vassiliy’s first BIS win Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

   
Swanley - November 2005
Nomination & BIS ADULT
Judge: Mr L. Coste (France)

Lightwater – January 2006
Nomination & BIS ADULT
Judge: Ms Judith Zuurveld (Netherlands)
Judge's comments: "what a joy to judge,
one of the best Siberians I have ever seen!!!!"

Lightwater - I loved this picture - Vassiliy checking what he has won. Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

Bognor Regis – March 2006
Nomination
BIS ADULT, BEST IN CATEGORY II & RESERVE BIS OVERALL
Judge: Mrs Ina Van Burkum (Netherlands)
Judge's comments: "wonderful show condition and
a very very good show cat!!"

Worcester – May 2006
Nomination
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mrs S. Hamalainen (Finland)
Judge's comments: "SUPER TEMPERAMENT"

Bognor 2006 - This is his usual pose!! Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

  
Tonbridge – July 2006
Nomination
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mr Louis Coste (France)
Judge's comments: "Excellent and a very sweet temper"

Maidstone – September 2006
Nomination
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mrs Francoise Milcent (France)
Judge's comments: "Excellent lover"
  

Maidstone 2006 -"Look what I've won!!" Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

  
Maidstone – October 2006
Nomination
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Ms Ina van Berkum (Netherlands)
Judge's comments: "Sweet baby bear"

Lincoln – October 2006
Nomination
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mr B. Mahelka (CZ)
Judge's comments: "Sweet, very harmonious, excellent presented"
  

Bognor Regis – April 2007
Prize of Honour, Nomination
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mr Dieter Filler (Switzerland)
Judge's comments: "Super in his sweet temperament"

Worthing 2007 Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

  
Thornbury, day 1 - June 2007
Prize of Honour, Nomination and
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mr Martin Sanda (CZ)
Judge's comments: "Friendly, nice, well presented boy"

Thornbury, day 2 - June 2007
Prize of Honour, Nomination and
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST OPPOSITE SEX
Judge: Mrs Vesna Riznar-Resetic (Croatia)
Judge's comments: "Very nice boy"
   

Worthing – August 2007
Prize of Honour, Nomination and
BIS ADULT MALE & BEST IN CATEGORY II
Judge: Mrs Penny Bydlinski (GB)
Judge's comments: "A real Charmer"

My First Show

An unusual Show Report by Pas De Chat Margo Fontain (right), a blue bi-colour Ragdoll (transcribed by her staff, Tracey-Jane Rigler of Pas De Chat Ragdolls!):

"Hi there!  I want to tell you what happened to me late last year. A while ago my human Mum (Tracey) - not to be confused with fluffy mum (Pas De Chat Alicia Markova) - said, now I was 10 months old I could "go to a show".

"A 'Show'," I thought, "what's a 'Show'?!"

Well I soon found out!  On 1st December 2007 Mum got up very early, put me and some relatives in carriers and drove us all off to a place called Rugby.  Once there, a very nice lady checked me to see if I was fit and well - why she didn’t just ask me, I don't know, I would have told her I was fine but still waiting for my breakfast.  I found out later that she was a V-E-T, but I think they got that wrong because she was far too nice to be one of THOSE.

Margo with her Saturday haul Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

Anyway, Mum then put us all in pens and gave us breakfast.  A little later she gave us all a good comb - apparently we needed to look our best - and then she took me to see another lady called a judge.  Mum put me on the table in front of the judge, and this lady picked me up, gave me a cuddle, inspected me and said she liked me a lot, which is nice to know.  Then I went back to my pen but very soon I was called back to the judge for something called 'Nominations'.  There was me and a couple of other funny looking cats - I don't know what they were but they were not Raggies!  I’ve only ever seen Raggie cats, I didn't know there were other types of kitties too!  All of a sudden Mum grinned and held me up in the air, while people clapped. What was that about, I wondered?

Later I was put in another pen and a strange person took me out and put me on a platform in front of lots of people.  It was obvious they wanted me to sit still and look my best so I tried very hard - and one by one the judges came along, picked me up, inspected me and then put me down.

Then they voted and I won J!!  Mum was grinning even more than before but did not come and rescue me - in fact, she let the stranger take me away again!  "Help!", I thought!  I watched as some handsome men went through the same process as I had until one of them was picked as the winner - then, to my horror, I was taken forward to be compared with the winning man!  I told myself to do my best and hopefully then they will let me go back to Mum, so I did, and I won - but I still did not get to return to Mum.

Instead I was compared to some more cats - apparently they were the winning neuter (what's that, by the way?  Mum?), kitten and junior.  I was still hoping that if I won this time they would *have* to give me back to Mum - and they did!  I won and Mum jumped for joy, then she ran over to get me and give me a big hug. 

She seemed very pleased with me - apparently in my first ever show I had managed to be the Best In Show in the Adult section and the Overall Best in the entire Category II (Semi-Long Haired)!  Then we all got back in the car - 'oh good,' I thought, 'home, dinner and a well-deserved rest ...'  Little did I know it was to start all over again the next day!

Margo with her Sunday haul!    Photo courtesy of Bob Fox

And if you're wondering, yes, I did it all again the next day - only in the BIS Adult section, I was up against my uncle, Pas De Chat Coca’s Legacy.  We both sat there and prayed - and wheee, I won!!  Uncle got Best Opposite Sex and I went on to be the Overall Best In Category II again.

Not a bad result for my first two shows, don't you think?  Overall Best in Category II both days!  I think I could get to like this showing business ...!"

Margo the Ragdoll
(via Tracey-Jane Rigler) 

January 2008   

Photo courtesy of Saffi Rabey

Good things come from cats!

My Maine Coon Dairymaine Chilli Pepper is very special to me in many ways.  He was my first pedigree cat and my first show cat and boy, has he changed my life!

At the start

I was lucky enough to be offered Chilli by his breeder Jane Haynes after meeting my Mum’s Maine Coon that she had from Jane.  From the moment I met him as a kitten I knew he was special.  I bought Chilli as a companion and had no real intention of showing him - however, Jane asked if I would take him out as a kitten.  He went to two shows as a kitten.  At his first show he won his class.  The second show he went to was the Maine Coon Cat Club’s championship show.  What a day we had, Chilli won Best in Show Male kitten!  As you can well imagine, that was it, I was hooked on showing!  I then took Chilli out as a neuter and he made up to Premier in three straight shows.  Because of this I thought I would start up a little website about him.  Little was I to know how much this would change my life!

Family Connections

I have always known that I had an older sister that lived in America but not more than that.  Due to circumstances 37 years ago my Mum split from her first husband and lost contact with my sister.  It was something that for obvious reasons was never really talked about.  The last time that my Mum had spoken to my sister was 14 years ago.  I had never really acknowledged that she existed.  However on checking my e-mails one day just before Christmas 2003 I had a message from someone in America!  It simply said “Is your Mother Susan?  If so, I am your sister, Anne.”  You can imagine my reaction and thoughts at that moment.  I phoned Mum straight away and had a very emotional conversation with her.  We decided that I should reply to the e mail which I did with some trepidation.  How had she found me?

Well all became clear when I had a reply.  Anne had entered my name into a search engine and had found a link for Chilli that led her to my website.  My e-mail address was on the site.  The messages from that point passed backwards and forwards at a rate of knots!  My Mum’s a Gran and I am an Aunt!  Anne is living in Alexandria, Virginia and has cats of her own.  Since all this initially happened Anne and her son Chris came over to visit us at Easter of 2004.  Talk about a roller coaster of emotions!  We had a fantastic time but there was as you can imagine an awful lot of water that had to pass under the bridge first.  It is wonderful that as a family we are all back together.

Future Plans

In the meantime my gorgeous Chilli made up to GCCF Grand Premier and then in 2006 was the first Neuter Male Maine Coon to be made up to Imperial at the Cambria Cat Club Championship show!!  He also has had a BIS at FB and is a TICA Grand Champion and is about to get stuck into his FIFe show career!!!  Thanks to Chilli I have a sister and so many new friends within the cat fancy.  Imperial Grand Premier and TICA Champion Dairymaine Chilli Pepper really is a very special cat!

Saffron Rabey  

March 2007