Bet you could never guess what my first subject was when I tested it out. I got my first camera, a Kodak Brownie Starflash, when I was four years old. The first thing I took photos of then, too, was my cat.
Still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles. I haven’t used an SLR since the old film days of the late 90s.
Angel’s all, “Why don’t you go take some more photos of Jake?”
“No. Really. I don’t think there are nearly enough photos of Jake.”
As a client of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, you may be interested to learn about our new Cat Ancestry test. The test, developed by Dr. Leslie Lyons and the Lyons’ Feline Genetics Laboratory at UC Davis, can identify the racial origin and possible breed of a cat. The test also provides information regarding coat color and fur type.
As an owner/breeder of purebred cats, the test may not be useful to you, but if you have friends who own random bred cats, please let them know about the Cat Ancestry test as they might be interested to learn more about the genetic history of their cats.
For more information regarding our Cat Ancestry test, go to: http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/cat/ancestry/
Thank you,
Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
UC Davis
PO Box 1102
Davis, CA 95617-1102
(530) 752-2211
It’s a bit pricey ($120), but if you’ve got a mixed-breed cat and wonder about his or her ancestry, this may be well worth it. Since I already got Kylie’s coat length and colour tested, this test may not tell me any more about what she is underneath her white, but I’ve sent them an email to ask if this new test will tell me anything more. If I get her the Ancestry Test, I’ll keep you posted!
Deborah Feltham of Glendoveer Abyssinians posted a message to the Facebook Abyssinian Cat Club on Monday:
Is there anyone on this list who has lost a ruddy Aby in the last few months (probably). I have just been notified of one who was found living in a feral colony, and the astute rescue worker trapped him and turned him in to a vet here. He is middle age and is suffering from his recent outside living but probably was well cared for prior. He is safe and being cared for but whomever owns him will have to prove ownership and care of his present health care before the vet in charge will release him. He is in NO danger of euthanasia unless his medical problems cannot be corrected!! Please contact me ASAP if you know anything about this Aby.
She updated the group last night:
Update on the Aby found in the feral colony. He is NOT a ruddy as you can see He is a fawn. We visited him today at the vet clinic. He is very affectionate and sweet. About 7 years old. DECLAWED!! I am not sure where he originated from as there are only a couple of breeders here in Ontario. Heather & I breed only red and ruddy, and I breed only ruddy. It appears that he will be ok but his mouth is very bad. He is a BIG Aby with a ton of coat.
We are still looking for his proper owner first. Judging from his condition, allowing that he has been outside for at least a couple of weeks, he was definitely well cared for prior. The owner may be frantic! We have already found another person whose blue Aby got out and has not been seen since early March, so we will check all we can first. Then, there is a possibility of adopting him out, but the vet who is caring for him is very attached to him herself. Let’s consider his owner first though, because even though he is declawed, there is no reason to feel that they did it, or what the circumstances were (they may be sick over this). They could well be someone who got him after he was already declawed also. His personality and condition despite his experience says that someone loved him. She also mentioned that he is not microchipped.
So if you know anyone in the Toronto area who may have lost a non-microchipped, declawed, older adult fawn Abyssinian…point them towards this post, or to the Abyssinian Cat Club on Facebook
I love the front camera on the iPhone. I hope that when the long-awaited iPhone 5 is released, they increase the megapixels and improve the resolution on that front camera, because that’s the only downside: the photos are kind of lousy. Like, 1999-digital-camera lousy.
But they’re so much fun to take!
Even if they photos themselves are kind of crappy.
I don’t know how Jake knows when I’m using my phone as a camera, but oh, he knows.
It’s very apropos that Mother’s Day falls smack dab in the middle of kitten season. This week, there have been some amazing photos that I just have to share.
I thought I’d share this picture that I took earlier today of our “pile of kittens.” We have four litters at the moment ranging from nearly eleven weeks to six weeks old – more than we would usually have. The older litter of five were not planned – their mum, Tas (Crystalpaws Fawn Fantasy) was keeping Frodo (Crystalpaws Frodo Baggins) company for a couple of weeks over Christmas before being spayed, they showed no signs of mating but she suddenly became a little rounded in shape just before she was booked into the vet!
I’m afraid poor Bella has a sleeping disorder that makes her fall asleep immediately after eating. She had her front legs in the food and just didn’t have the energy to clean up AND move away from her plate.
This last one is also from Molly…and while it’s not really Mother’s Day related, it still makes me laugh every time I look at it.
Okay…you know I’m not really a controversial blogger (I’m a cat breed blogger. About as controversial as it gets around here is discussions of sex-linked-red, tortoiseshell, and silver Abyssinians), but there was an opinion piece published on Huffington Post on April 27 that…well…to be honest, it kind of pissed me off.
I don’t have children. I have cats. But they are my responsibility. I feed them, I bathe them, I take care of them when they’re sick, I play with them, I teach them things and expose them to new things, and they repay me with love and attention. If I’m not a substitute parent to them, then what am I? Not an “owner,” certainly. They aren’t property, they’re family. They have names, personalities, likes, dislikes, quirks, favourite foods and toys…they’re not a car or a computer or a pair of shoes.
So, I may be a “crazy cat lady” but put me squarely in the “Cat mom” category. And you know what else? My mom is my cats’ and my sister’s cats’ grandmother. Just ask her if you don’t believe me.
Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who’s had to clean up your little one’s puke or mop up a little accident…regardless of species.
So. That’s what the dictionary thinks “Agility” is.
I believe Jacoby is trying to redefine “Agility.”
Not even his beloved green laserpointer could get him to budge in the Agility run last weekend.
We did several practice runs, during which I walked him through the course so he’d know what he was meant to do.
But he was more interested in how he looked against the obstacles than he was in actually running around, over, and through them.
It was pretty funny.
The hoop, when he wasn’t using it as a prop, was his best hurdle (even if I had to give him a helpful nudge.
He went around the hurdles and he never even looked at the weave-poles.
And he camped out in the middle of the tunnels.
The “A-frame,” though, was his absolute favourite. I think he saw it as his own personal stage.
At one point during a practice, Jake noticed a small audience at formed to watch him, so he dropped everything and walked up to the front of the cage to acknowledge his fans.
Eventually I gave up, and we just had fun playing on the course.
If only they’d allow food as an enticement! I can get Jake to “dance” around the kitchen for just one Greenie. For a treat, I think he’d be an Agility cat superstar.
Meeting Chris Giammarinaro, the breeder of Jacoby’s mother Catalina and co-breeder of Jacoby himself, was one of the best parts of the cat show last weekend. We chatted for about five seconds, and as soon as she realised who I was and where Jake came from, she said, “Oh, we’re related!” At one point during the show, she studied Jake for a moment and then commented, “You know, he really does look like his mother.”
I thought that was interesting. I’ve always heard that Jake bears a strong resemblance to his father, Scar, but this was the first time anyone said he looked like his mother.
Of course, I’ve not met Catalina in person yet. I did get to meet Scar, though, more than once.
(Scar is #122 in this photo)
Of course, Jake has other “moms,” too. Tessie, our only cat who has had kittens of her own, frequently mothers him.
And he loves it, too.
Kylie is more of an aunt or a big sister to him.
But that’s important, too.
Angel was his Abyssinian role model when he was a kitten.
And of course, he decided I was his “mommy” right from the start!
I never met Gun-Hee’s mother Amber, either…but Sherry took this incredible photo of her with Gun-Hee and his littermates.
This is the image I think of when I think of “Mother’s Day.” This photo is so lovely.
You wonder why I make jokes about Jacoby’s calmness in the show ring? Well, since a picture’s worth a thousand words, I’ll illustrate. This is how most Abyssinians behave on the judge’s table and in the ring cages:
(This is Jazzy Abys Buddy Rich, a grandson of Jazzy Abys Fats Waller, who was a contemporary of Gun-Hee entered in the show 5 years ago.)
(This is the Aby kitten Abycastle Mozambique of Aby’licious.)
(This is Khamsin’s Magik Karpet Ride of Soledado, the one girl Aby in the show this weekend.)
(This is Cousin Taz.)
See? Active, playing, even in the cages they’re watching everything that’s going on. And then there’s Jake:
(Jake is #131…facing the back of his cage.)
Jake just stands there majestically.
He is friendly, cordial, polite…
…and he gives the distinct impression that the judge could turn his back and walk away, and he’d just stay there and wait for him to come back.
Something tells me I’ll never have to worry about hearing the dreaded cry “CAT OUT!” in connection with Jacoby.
Something tells me I’ll never have to worry about fire alarms, either.
And part of it is, he was trained to be a therapy cat before he was trained to be a show cat.
His lack of typical Abyssinian hyper-kinetic perpetual motion in front of the judges may cost him some points. It’s not really supposed to, since they’re judged against the standard rather than on their personality, but he’s so calm he tends to flip his ears back so they don’t look as upright and alert as they should.
He’s also more food-oriented than toy-oriented.
Still, all in all, I’d rather have a cat who’s unfazed by a rattling truck, the hissing airbrakes of a bus, and the slamming shut of train doors than a cat who jumps all over the place at the slightest little thing…
…and if it means he gets compared to a British Shorthair once in a while, well…so be it.
The CFA show season runs from May 1 though April 30, and this weekend’s shows were the first of the new CFA year.
A total of 72 Abyssinians earned the title of Grand Champion or Grand Premier during last year’s show season, and you can see all of them on Christine Ruessheim’s site.
To get to the cat show this past weekend, Jacoby and I took the Commuter Rail to Lowell, where my friend Karen, who lives in New Hampshire, picked me up.
I don’t know what it is about trains and Hipstamatic, but they seem to go together so well.
It must be the whole retro-1970′s vibe both Hipstamatic and most of the Commuter Rail trains have.
But as were were saying all weekend, Mr. Bulletproof is really placid in the show ring.
Like, unnaturally-for-an-Abyssinian relaxed. Like, are-you-positive-this-isn’t-a-British Shorthair-on-downers-in-an-Aby-suit calm, cool and collected.
Did I spoil him for the cat show circuit by taking him out on adventures in public transportation?
Did training him to be a therapy cat, unfazed by dogs, machinery or unexpected things make him less representative of his breed in the show ring?
Perhaps. I mean, there aren’t many cats on the planet that will sit on the seat of a train with his paws folded beneath his chest.
Well…I guess that makes the ribbons awarded by judges who see through his tranquil façade all the sweeter, then, doesn’t it?
Check out this photo of Cousin Taz and Specialty Judge Lorraine Rivard from yesterday’s Concord Monitor:
Take a good look at #131 there in the background. That’s Jacoby…I guess he didn’t realise there was a camera on him.
There’s also a really good photo of Richard from Chanan at work:
As Meg wrote to the Aby list:
I have to admit I was pretty thrilled & excited at the Seacoast Cat Club CFA show in Concord, NH this past weekend. This is the same show where my little, red, barely adult boy, Taz Mania, last year went from Open to Grand. This year, in a highly competitive Premiership class (that included four Abys), Taz made every final and was the second highest scoring cat in Premiership [this weekend] behind the (incredible) British Shorthair [blue-cream tortie] spay. One judge gave the two Aby GPs (the other one being GP Pellburn Jacoby Stealin’ Home, a glorious ruddy boy) Best and 2nd Best Cat. Taz even made the front page of the Concord Monitor.
The second day of the cat show at the cat show started out almost exactly like yesterday. Jacoby is an…idiosyncratic show cat. Most Abyssinians you see on the judge’s table at a cat show are like hyperactive kids in need of Ritalin. They’re eager and beyond alert. They follow whatever toy the judge waves in front of them with a head tic like an epileptic at a rave.
Well…all Abys except for Jacoby, apparently. Probably because Jake has been riding the subway and playing in parks that back up to trainyards since he was four months old. He’s fearless. He’s bulletproof. And he’s, well…he’s really un-Aby-like when he’s being judged.
Basically, he’s more like a Persian than an Aby. He stands on the table majestically. He responds to the judge’s touch, but he doesn’t climb the sisal post and he doesn’t play with the toys the judge tries to tempt him with.
When Jake made his appearance in Carla Bizzell’s ring today, he was his usual, placid self on her table.
And she found this quite amusing.
“Look at this guy!” she said. “He’s like a posable action figure!”
She told us the story of an Aby she once had who was calm, like Jake. One show she took him to, they’d neglected to leave her a cage. So she put down her cage skirt, she set out the bedding, and she sat her Aby down in the space while she went to look for her cage. And he just sat there.
Meg and I laughed at this. “She thinks he’s a posable action figure now?” I said. “She should see him in Agility!”
Because Jake was better at posing in Agility action poses than he was at actually running the course.
I suppose it’s my fault.
After all, I am the one who raised him to think that life is a series of photo opportunities. He probably didn’t want to run the course because then all the photos of him would be blurred.
Still, when Carla Bizzell’s finals were announced, both Taz and Jake were called back into her ring. And she awarded Jake 7th Best Cat in Premiership.
So he was Jake’s “direct competition” today, and he did really well. There were two other ruddies in Premiership, and Jake took Best of Colour in every ring but one. When it came to Best of Breed, Jake was consistently awarded second, after Taz. And Taz actually made all six finals today, too!
It was actually quite funny. In the first Premiership final, Taz placed seventh. In the next final, he placed sixth. Then, after the third final, he and Meg came back with a fifth place rosette from one of the Specialty judges. Well, we joked, at least he’s moving in the right direction.
I watched Taz’s next final, and I said, “well, he’s going to get fourth place in this one, obviously.” And he actually did get fourth place from that judge! So when he was called into the next ring’s final, I said I was going to laugh so hard if Taz took third.
And he was Third Best Cat in Premiership in that ring!
Then we got to the last ring. Every Aby in our little block (which included Stan from Jazzy Abys, Chris and Debbie from Instincts, and Lauren from Abycastle) had won a rosette in at least one final…everyone but Jake. “Hey,” I said, “we need a little rosette lovin’ over here on the end!”
We were reminded of the last CFA show when Jake finally Granded…in the last ring of the second day of the show when the finals of the last Premiership ring were announced…and Jake was among the cats called! And Taz was also in the finals of that Specialty ring judged by Russell Webb. This was going to be interesting!
Of course, I would have been happy to get even 10th Best Cat, because at least Jake had finalled. But Russell kept giving out ribbons…to the Havana, to the Fold, to the Rex…until he was down to just a blue-point Siamese…and Jake and Taz. And then he announced that the Siamese was his 3rd Best Cat in Premiership.
And we were down to the two Abyssinians.
In the end, Jake was 2nd Best Cat in Premiership and Taz was Best Cat in Premiership.
And Jake was completely happy with that. He was tired and ready to call it a day, anyway. But Meg said that, just like in Groton, at the last minute Jacoby stole home!
He is a fawn. We visited him today at the vet clinic. He is very affectionate and sweet. About 7 years old. DECLAWED!! I am not sure where he originated from as there are only a couple of breeders here in Ontario. Heather & I breed only red and ruddy, and I breed only ruddy. It appears that he will be ok but his mouth is very bad. He is a BIG Aby with a ton of coat. 
