Aby-a-Day – 29 June: Mourning anniversary (Friday Flashback)

Yesterday, 28 June, was the 10th anniversary of Gun-Hee’s death. He succumbed to FIP at the age of 1 year, 9 months, 1 week and 5 days. He had such a short life, but he made a huge impact on my life, and he is the reason that this blog exists.

Sherry took this photo of Gun-Hee and his littermates. It’s one of my favourite photos.

This was the only litter that Pellburn Scarface Cat Pacino and Marica’s Bright Amber of Pellburn had together. Scar is, of course, Jacoby’s father as well. Amber was actually imported from Denmark and had Finnish, German, Norwegian and Australian cats in her pedigree. I made this image of them together in the style of those cheesy wedding photos set against fake backgrounds.

It was love at first sight when I met him. He was named after the title character in the Korean serial “First Love of a Royal Prince” because we were adding him to a household with two female cats and he would be spoiled rotten, much like Choi Gun-Hee in the series. I loved that character, and the name Pellburn Prince Gun-Hee was such an awesome name…so that’s why I gave him a Korean name.

He was there when I got engaged.

But he still only had one birthday.

In his short life, he did everything Jake did. If I had known about cat strollers back then, he would have been Strollercat.

He was a part of my life for such a short time…but he has affected my life for over 12 years. And I still think of him every day.

Abys are Everywhere: “Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds”

The other day I came across a Facebook post (in a Bengal group, of all places) that caught my eye for a couple of reasons: one, the Somali, of course, and two, it was a warning about Easter lilies.

As I have posted before, lilies kill cats. Easter lilies are among the worst, but it’s safest to avoid any sort of bulb plants (remember, garlic and onions are also bad for cats, and they are also members of the lily family).

Catalina hunts with Star Clan…and now, Jacoby is an orphan

I have the saddest of sad news to share. Last night, Sherry messaged me from her vetrinarian’s office. She was there with Catalina, Jacoby and Dillin’s mother. Catalina had painful cancer in her lower jaw which made it difficult for her to eat.

Ch. Instincts Santa Catalina of Pellburn was only 11 years old…just two years older than Jake!

I never met Catalina in person, but I know she was always a wonderful mother and she had many wonderful kittens. Here is a video Sherry made of Catalina with one of her litters.

My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.

Other People’s Abys: Wild Bill Hunts With Star Clan

So sad to announce this…Jacoby has lost an uncle.

Last week, Sherry posted: “My 6 year old Wild Bill, the most playful and affectionate cat I’ve ever known, is in the hospital in critical condition tonight with sepsis after being blocked with urinary crystals. He has been in the hospital since Saturday morning and was seemingly recovering until this morning when he started to look weaker and ended up in septic shock from infection. I love him so very much and pray he makes it home soon – he’s missing rubs on his head and his favourite toy, Tim Horton coffee stir sticks – like so many people, he needs his Tim Hortons everyday.”

And then today came this sad news: “I am so broken hearted to let everyone know that my sweet boy Wild Bill passed away yesterday morning. I had him back to the vet the night before because he still did not have any appetite and seemed to be getting a bit worse rather than better with a below normal temperature. They gave him injections for pain and appetite but by yesterday morning he was very weak and a couple of hours after his morning syringe feeding he was barely able to walk and as soon as I saw his mouth open to breath I called my vet and rushed him right in – by the time I got there his heart had already stopped. I had no idea he could end up that bad that quickly after a urinary blockage. I am devastated to lose my Wild Bill – he was truly a special cat and will remain forever in my heart”

Wild Bill was Jake’s uncle. He was a younger sibling of Scar’s (same mother and father, but from a different litter). He was from the last litter of Ginger x TJ, born 3 May, 2010 – an uncle younger than Jake!

But it’s scary because Jake, too, has urinary crystals. He’s never had a blockage, but it’s serious motivation to make sure he only eats UT food.

My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend has stopped running today.

Aby-a-Day – 9 January: “Waltz” (Saturday Photo Hunt)

This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Waltz.”

I just don’t even know what to do with that. So here’s a photo of Jacoby’s 19 day old nephew (his brother Dillin’s son) with his mother Georgie that Sherry posted on the Pellburn Abys Facebook page. Because…to get kittens, it takes two to tango? I have no idea.

Aby-a-Day – October 17: Like father, like son (Flashback Friday)

Look at these photos of Jacoby and his father, GC Pellburn Scarface Cat Pacino, both taken by Chanan six years apart.

This is Scar in 2006.

This is Jake in 2012. Of course, they aren’t identical twins; Jake was three years old when his photo was taken while Scar was only two, and Scar was a whole male so he had the fuller jowls, but you can definitely see the family resemblance!

And, just for fun, here’s Jake’s mother, Ch. Instincts Santa Catalina of Pellburn, in a photo taken last year. Jake takes after his mother quite a bit, too!

Aby-a-Day – February 22: “Amber” (Saturday Photo Hunt)

This week’s Photo Hunt subject is “Amber.”

Gun-Hee’s mother was Ch. Marica’s Bright Amber of Pellburn.

Here she is with Gun-Hee, his brother Rusty, and their two sisters. This is probably my favourite photo that Sherry took of Gun-Hee.

My heart has joined The Thousand…

Sad news this morning…Jacoby’s niece, Pellburn Cassia Alexdandrina joined StarClan yesterday. It was FIP, the same as her uncles Gun-Hee and Rusty. Cassia was Jake’s littermate-brother Dillin’s daughter.

I hope Sherry is doing okay in this time of sadness.

An Easter Reminder: Lilies = DANGER

(Repeat post: this was originally posted on April 20, 2011)

I was just reminded of this today: Easter Lilies are poisonous to all cats. Actually, any member of the Lily family (Liliaceae are dangerous; a good rule of thumb is not to trust any bulb plant around cats. Onions, garlic and asparagus are members of this family, as well as tulips, daffodils and amaryllis. Even just a little bit of pollen on their feet, or drinking the water the lily has been in, can be dangerous.

This hits very close to home for me. Jacoby’s older brother Cypher (same parents, different litter) was staying with his owner’s mother while he and his wife were on their honeymoon, which happened to be at Easter. The mother was given a bouquet of mixed flowers, including one lily. Cy, being a playful young boy Aby, had to investigate the new flowers; no-one is sure exactly what happened, but he either played with and/or bit the lily and, not long after, started showing symptoms of renal failure. He was rushed to the vet, but it was too late. He died two or three days later, before his people were able to return home. He was only 7 months old.

All parts of the plant are dangerous, so it’s best to just not allow lilies inside (and also watch out for giving cats food containing onions or garlic). If you go on outings with your cat, avoid any bulb plants you might encounter in a park or greenway; I have to remember to keep Jake away from the many patches of tulips and daffodils along the Fort Point Channel Harborwalk this time of year.

Roses are safe, though, and they have claws so they can defend themselves in a way cats can appreciate (Carnations are okay, too)!

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

Sherry sent me an email in response to my swan song post the other day to tell me “Jake looks a lot like Buddy Guy in that 3rd pic, he is somewhere between Dillin and Buddy Guy in looks I think :-)”

Buddy Guy (Gr.Ch. Pellburn Buddy Guy Slippin’ In) and Dillin (4x Gr.Ch. RW Pellburn Johnny Dillinger) are Jacoby’s full brothers; Buddy Guy was born 2 years before to Scar and Catalina, and Dillin is Jake’s littermate. Sherry says “Dillin is my breeding male, the wonderful surprise that was born after his dad Scar (the cat love of my life) escaped from the house and got killed on the road 😦 Dillin has intense colour, lots of coat, and is so affectionate, a trait he is passing on to his babies 🙂 I am so grateful that he is a loverboy, just like his dad!”

Jake has all of the above, except for the cojones. Sherry and I hope to someday go to the same show with the brothers, and compare them side by side.

Like this:

Can you tell them apart? LOL

At the show in Mansfield, judge Roger Lawrence made an interesting observation about cats in Premiership vs the cats in Championship classes. Back in the “old days” (which in my mind, at least, equates to the late 70’s-early 80’s, when I first experienced the CFA, and it seems that definition tends to hold), cats entered in Premiership were the cats who weren’t “good enough” to be entered in the Championship classes. Their colour wasn’t quite perfect, or their ears were too big (or too small) or their noses were too short (or too long); basically, they weren’t good enough to be Champions but they were a little better than pet quality. However, he continued, today the Premiership rings are seeing cats that could easily be shown as Champions if they were not neutered or spayed. You could, he said, take any one of the cats in that show that were being shown as Premiers and put them up against the Champions and they would still be competitive. I suspect the reason is economics (not everyone can afford to keep an intact purebred cat, let alone breed and raise kittens) and – at least in the case of Abyssinians – litter size (Aby litters tend to be small; when you only have two or three kittens, it seems to me there’s more of a chance of a kitten being show quality than there would be in a litter of ten or twelve).

Jake could easily have been a Champion and a breeding male…but since I have neither the space nor the disposable income to breed (or the desire to live with an unneutered male cat), he’s neutered. He wasn’t neutered because he wasn’t “as good” as Dillin, he was just neutered because he was my cat rather than someone else’s.

At the last show in Groton, CT, after Jake was awarded ribbons in one ring, a woman cheered and then watched me collect him from the judging cage and followed me back to his cage. She said that she was so taken with him, and asked if he had any kittens. I had to smile at that; that was how I met Sherry and Scar back in 2006. My husband saw Scar in a ring, and followed Sherry back to her cage in the benching area because he was such an “awesome looking” cat. I told her that Jake is neutered and hasn’t any sons, but he does have nephews! I hope she does contact Sherry for a kitten. I’m glad I did!

Can a cat named Jacoby go to a “Damn Yankees” cat show?

Jacoby and I are going to another cat show this weekend. It’s the Damn Yankees Cat Club’s 2-day CFA allbreed show in Groton, CT. I’m amused that the name of the sponsoring cat club is “Damn Yankees,” but since Groton is east of the Connecticut River, I think it’ll be okay.

However, speaking of cat shows, I recently got this email from Sherry (Jake’s breeder):

Just wanted to share the good news with you about the 2-day ACFA show in Parrsboro, NS.

I had 4 cats with me:
– Dillin [Pellburn Johnny Dillinger, Jake’s brother and littermate], Grand Champion in the Cat class,
– Jasmine, Catalina [Instincts Santa Catalina of Pellburn, Jake’s mother] and Buddy Guy’s daughter born May 11, 2010 in the Alter class (aka Falafel – going to her new home at the end of the month)
– Koto (Ginger and Dillin’s boy) in the Kitten class (his brother Katana came along to keep him company) [Jake’s nephews!]

Koto got in all 8 finals out of 12 kittens, although usually around the middle of the pack. He was rather nervous. It’s too bad I had not entered his brother Katana instead as he, as it turns out, is far more comfortable with new situations.

This was Jasmine’s 3rd show and she earned the Winner’s ribbons and finals she needed to Grand. In ACFA, they need 16 Winner’s ribbons plus 6 Finals, 2 of which must be top 5 Allbreed (this 2 top 5 Allbreed rule only applies to Alters which can make it difficult for some to ever Grand). There were only 5 Rings at the Dartmouth and Fredericton shows, so she needed 6 more Rings after those shows.

In ACFA there are 4 levels of Grand Champion. Once a Cat or Alter reaches Grand, they compete against other Grands for points, one point for each Grand they beat in a Ring, max of 5 points per Ring. Once they reach Quadruple Grand, they get the title of “Supreme Grand Champion”. Dillin earned his Grand last year in Fredericton, and this weekend in Parrsboro, earned the remaining points need to QUADRUPLE! YAY! BTW, Scar’s dad TJ is a Quadruple Grand too 🙂 [Scar is Pellburn Scarface Cat Pacino, Jake’s father, and TJ is Haro’s Jake of Eszencia, Jake’s grandfather – the name Jake kind of runs in the family] Oh yeah, Dillin also ended up 2nd Best Cat in Show for the 2 days 🙂

We attended the Regional Awards Saturday night where Dillin was Best Cat for the 2010-2011 Show Season – he got a super big purple and black rosette 🙂

I so want to bring Dillin to a CFA show in New England!

Wouldn’t that be fun? I wonder if Jake would remember his brother? Sherry and I went to two shows together when I had Gun-Hee and she had Scar, so father and son were reunited. But we haven’t managed to be at the same show since 2007. Still, I’m sure we’ll manage it at some point. The Aby world just isn’t that vast!

If you’re in the market for an Aby kitten…

…I happen to know where you can get an AWESOME one!

Sherry, Jacoby’s breeder, sent me an email today: I have some kittens available, 3 Ruddy boys and 1 Red boy if you know of anyone who might be interested. They were born Feb. 9.

They’re about the same age Jake was when I got him. And, oh, they are so cute!

The little ruddy guy off on his own nomming his paw reminds me so much of Jake…and the little red guy is so sleepy, he’s all, “Dude…I’m trying to sleep, here…Du…hey! Tail!”

Four little boycats, the grandsons of Scar…and, tangentally, it means that there’s a good chance that Jake carries Red since Dillin does. If you’re interested, or know anybody who is, I can vouch for their personalities! 🙂

An Easter Reminder: Lilies = DANGER

I was just reminded of this today: Easter Lilies are poisonous to all cats. Actually, any member of the Lily family (Liliaceae are dangerous; a good rule of thumb is not to trust any bulb plant around cats. Onions, garlic and asparagus are members of this family, as well as tulips, daffodils and amaryllis. Even just a little bit of pollen on their feet, or drinking the water the lily has been in, can be dangerous.

This hits very close to home for me. Jacoby’s older brother Cypher (same parents, different litter) was staying with his owner’s mother while he and his wife were on their honeymoon, which happened to be at Easter. The mother was given a bouquet of mixed flowers, including one lily. Cy, being a playful young boy Aby, had to investigate the new flowers; no-one is sure exactly what happened, but he either played with and/or bit the lily and, not long after, started showing symptoms of renal failure. He was rushed to the vet, but it was too late. He died two or three days later, before his people were able to return home. He was only 7 months old.

All parts of the plant are dangerous, so it’s best to just not allow lilies inside (and also watch out for giving cats food containing onions or garlic). If you go on outings with your cat, avoid any bulb plants you might encounter in a park or greenway; I have to remember to keep Jake away from the many patches of tulips and daffodils along the Fort Point Channel Harborwalk this time of year.

Roses are safe, though, and they have claws so they can defend themselves in a way cats can appreciate (Carnations are okay, too)!

Ch. Pellburn Scarlett Reet Petite – April 14, 2009 – March 2, 2011

Sad, sad news…Jacoby’s sister Scarlett has Feline Leukemia.

I got this email last night: Sad news about their sister Scarlett though, she’s recently been diagnosed with Feline Leukemia! Noone else in the house has it. Other than the possibility of her getting out of the gate last November when the snow blower guy didn’t shut it properly, I have no clue as to how she could have caught this virus 😦

Unfortunately, Scarlett is not doing so well now. She had gained some weight and was feeling alright, but she hasn’t been eating as much and just yesterday I sensed she was starting to have trouble jumping up to the places she liked to rest at. Today, she can’t even walk straight, she’s leaning to the right, swaying and bumping into things as she tries to walk. Getting into the litter box is even hard and I switched it to the kitten size with low sides. I’ve called the vet and I’ll bring her in tomorrow at 4:30 – time to join her daddy Scar 😦

Jake using his sister Scarlett as a pillow when they were both around 4 weeks old…I’ve never met her, but I will miss her.

Jacoby’s an uncle!

I was looking at ERoS at all of Jake’s siblings and littermates, especially his older brother Pellburn Buddy Guy Slippin’ In.

And I discovered that Buddy Guy has fathered three kittens! Two were born on October 9, 2009: Baby Face Nelson (a ruddy boy) and Machine Gun Kelly (a ruddy girl). He also has a red single boy born on January 6, 2010…Red Suprise!

I think it’s kind of cool that my Aby is an uncle now.

Aby-a-Day – Day 73 of 365

11 months ago today, Ch. Instincts Santa Catalina of Pellburn gave birth to three kittens, the last offspring of Gr. Ch. Pellburn Scarface Cat Pacino. Scar died in a tragic accident about a month before the kittens were born; in fact, when he died, it wasn’t known that Catalina was pregnant yet.

Today, those three kittens, Scarlett Cat Pacino, Johnny Dillinger and Jacoby Stealin’ Home, are 11 months old.

I haven’t seen Jake’s littermates, but if they’re anything like him, they’ve come a long way from this:

I don’t know who is who in this photo (taken by Sherry Pellerin), but I like to think that it’s Jake in the middle.