Grooming

Because the Helki has a "new" fur type its been an experimental game trying to find the best way to groom their fur. When the kittens go to their forever homes, basic grooming questions are asked, so I felt that it would be a great way to write what I know, so far.

A Helki while it looks like a short hair cat is really more of a medium hair. The undercoat is thick and while it sheds it is rare that you will notice much fur comnig off of your cat. The coat holds the dead fur in as filling and insulation. For this reason I think it is good practice to comb a Helki coat out once or twice a month. Dead fur tends to also dull the coat and keep the skins natural oils from spreading through out the coat. A groomed Helki will still show the plaited/scaled look with a glimmering shine.

At home I use a Furminator to do most of my grooming. Nothing else seems to get deep enough into the coat. Most people don't bathe their cats, I do bathe mine for shows. About a week before a show I will clip nails, clean ears, comb the fur, and bathe the cat. The best products for bathing a Helki are oatmeal based. I will often times take a packet of dry oatmeal powder and rub that through the fur. Then a quick rinse with hot water. Then a shampoo of a moisturizing shampoo. I have yet to find a product that compares to Garnier moisturizing shampoo. I have even tried Focus 21 Sea Plasma Shampoo and not felt that I got as good of results. After the shampoo and rinse I towel dry the cat and then let them air dry. This can take a while depending on the thickness of the coat.

I have learned some great tricks for the showhall from a Chartruex breeder that seems to work for the Helki as well. First off you should know that the Helki coat is longer then the Chartruex, so if you are familiar with these techniques then please do it sparingly until you get into a comfortable place with the grooming of your individual Helki. So here it is, the simple trick to a quick Helki groom is to bring several washcloths, dampen one and run it through the Helki coat backwards. I also will spritz the coat with texturizer and sea plasma always from the back of the cat forward, so that the spritz gets into the coat and doesn't just lay on the top. Currently I only do this a few times through out the day of a show, as I don't need to have the cat in front of a judge, but I like to be as prepared as much as possible. When doing this I also try to make sure the cat is not damp when being petted by others.

At home I always do the best I can to give the cats a great diet. I prefer to feed them some raw as well as commercial food. The Helki is a cat that loves fish, in the same way an Oriental Shorthair loves poultry. I am the type that believes that human or animal we crave what we need. So I do like to put some Salmon oil in their commercial food once or twice a month.

Moulting is definitely something that happens with the Helki. There is normal seasonal moult that is easily handled if you are maintaining a good grooming schedule. Then there are moults I've seen at different stages of life. These are a bit more dramatic. Kittens usually moult between 4-6 months old. What you will notice is a once full fluffy coat is now a bit coarse and flat. This usually grows back with in two to three months. The next major moult happens around a year to a year and a half of age. Females at this age can drop most of their coat during this moult. Leaving them with only a some fur along their spine and tail. Males lose less coat but I have seen some neuters at this stage look like the females. Most males at this age will not lose much and it will be even less noticeable then the kitten moult. Some however will lose fur at the base of the tail and buttocks, any pantaloons will moult, a naked patch on each side of the belly, and some fur on the head and jowls. This moult also takes a bit longer for them to grow the fur back. Some never do grow back all their coat, but those are not to be used for breeding. Now I know breeders might be freaking out because some people would have already bred a cat by a year. The Helki female rarely goes into any major heat until she reaches a year and a half. So it is a bit easier to tell who you will want to breed that way. After this major life changing moult, most other moulting is routine and you better understand the moulting cycles of your individual cat.

So far that is what I have learned from this breed and I will update this article when any new and helpful information is found.

Of Discrepancies, Disdain, and Determination

About a week ago a friend said to me that she had read everything she could find on the Helki and that she loved the breed, which is always a good way to make one feel warm and fuzzy. It wasn't until a few days later that I wondered if she had read the blog, or the website, or my Facebook. I didn't really connect all the dots until this morning when a light bulb came on and I realized how scattered the information on the Helki breed is. I post a lot of updates on my Facebook page. I even have a whole photo folder on Helki fur pics. That's when it hit me. Not all the info is in the same place. Then there are some sources out there that I really need to encourage updates on. While any publicity is good publicity, I think that embellishments can turn people away. I have always felt that stark honesty is the best policy, even when its burned me to the core, but I will get to that in a little bit. The discrepancies and scattered info are my fault. Not correcting the embellishments, is also my fault. On a quick side note, I do think some of the embellishments are a probably because I am a wordy person and I was not familiar with cat fancy terminology when I was attempting to describe what I was seeing and experiencing with the Helki fur.

Oh the disdain I have! Anger and frustration. I pissed off a group of people that decided, if I wasn't going to do what they wanted me to do, they would make sure to put on a full blown smear campaign. Thankfully I have had a lot of very influential people holding me up from the beginning with the Helki. They stood up for me behind the scenes and have been there to prop me up again through this entire mess. Again all I can say for certain is that I should have been more cautious with who I was doing deals with and I should have stood up for myself in the beginning and I should have backed out at the very moment I realized that things weren't as they seemed. It also lead to a few people telling me exactly what they thought of the Helki breed, most of which told me that they didn't think I had anything worth working toward. I had everyday see 'em on the street cats with nothing interesting about their coats. They said I needed to get a grip and move on. At first I was discouraged and dumbfounded. I felt I had posted lots of proof. I've taken enough pictures to make photographers sick. I've been honest, insightful, and have asked people to be ho
nest with me every step of the way.

A funny thing happens when people like me get angry. No even though I was quiet, I wasn't hiding in the corner shivering in fear. I was calculating what to do in order to help my breed, what I could do to prove naysayers wrong. The anger turns to motivation and determination to see this through to the end. There are some things that I really need to do, like taking Dr. Lyons up on her offer to see the Helki at UC Davis. There are some things I've done like increase the amount of fur pics posted on Facebook, and letting more people handle and see the breed. There are also the other things that are more exciting like, breeding and showing that I have all in the works for the new show season. Amazingly enough I've had more people interested in getting kittens as pets, and a few breeders interested in promoting the breed. It looks like this is going to be a very interesting and auspicious year for the Helki.

A Tale of Tails

I was lucky enough to get to talk on the phone with one Sue Sweetman the other day. She is one of the foundation breeders of the Highlander breed of cats. She gave me some sound advice concerning the process of moving up from Experimental Breed Status with TICA to the Preliminary New Breed Status. While I am not ready for such a step, anyone who has played games like Shogi, Go, or Chess know that its best to read steps ahead and know what your opponent might play before maybe they even do.

The main concern Sue had for me is that while the coat of the Helki may be unique, I have not really boasted about other features of the breed that make them unique from your local barn cat. Sue of course did this in a kind and respectful manner while also schooling me in again an appropriate way.

During our discussion I realized the Helki do have another fantastic physical trait that I don't often talk about. The Helki have long tails. My ideal male OberonRa aka Keebler's tail measures out to 13 inches long. His is the longest tail of my males and I have stressed often, he is one of the males that meet the physical conformation of the breed the best. His winter coat is nice, but not as plush as I would like, but when I look at this male I know he is what I want to see in my breed.

So then I started thinking, well what is the average length of tale on the Helki. So I measured the tales and found that most of them have a length of around 11 inches regardless of size or sex. Which actually surprised me. I thought for sure the smaller cats and the females would have porportionally smaller tales. There are only a few tales that are 10in or less and only some making it to 1ft of tail length. Then I decided to measure the tail length of my domestics and found that 9 inches was about the longest. Medium long to long tails were already in my standard so this in not a concern, but I may need to make a point in other venues to point out the gorgeously long leopard like tails.

I do possibly have a coat pattern/color that is unique to the Helki but I want to confirm this before I make any official announcements. As for it being a unique breed if the final card up my sleeve pans out, then the final package will be difficult to deny.

The Curious Fur of the Helki

First and foremost its important to note that this blog is now two years old. *throws confetti* Yeah not really a huge thing but a fun tidbit. Now on to the meat and potatoes.

Its been a while since I sat down and pounded out my thoughts on my beloved breed. Its not that I have nothing to say, its that I have preteen and teen children who have had a lot of their own important milestones this year. As many of you know I love my cats, but my kids are my blood and no matter what they have to come first. Instead of cat shows, I've been going to ROTC ceremonies, and NASA day at the middle school, not to mention the Promotion Ceremonies. One of which I still need to attend mid-June. Then we can't forget that my husband loves VolksWagons. He has been spending a lot of time and money on his hobby this year, which is only fair as I did the same on the cat fancy in the past years. So needless to say my cat show experiences have been few and mostly there as a support role. Lets not even go on about the show we came to and had to leave early because of a bad yogurt. So the short of the story is I'm still here and so are the cats but we are taking a back seat to regroup.

Regrouping also means no breeding. I can not even tell you how excruciatingly painful it is to see so many wonderful kitten photos and videos from friends. I am currently doing all my vicarious breeding through these photos. While I know who I want to breed next and what outcome I expect, I also know that where we live is not conducive to breeding kittens for soooo many reasons. The first being that we are moving again in September. I don't want to have little kittens when we move. Unfortunately the living situation here was not what we expected and in order to get out of it we need to move again. *sigh* Either way no kittens and I miss having kittens.


The next order of business is the Helki SOP. When I first drafted it and had a few of my mentors review it, I was told to put it online. However I put it off and forgot. In fact, I forgot so well that I thought it was online hahaha! It was just recently that Patricia Bristow was kind enough to ask me about it and I found out that I had not put it online. I did a quick add and put it on the about page on my site: http://www.wyrdwul.com/about.html but for a quick link here on the Blog you can go here: Helki SOP it a Windows doc so if you need pdf form, just let me know. I'm thinking of reformatting the website and will then have the SOP viewable without having to download a doc or pdf.

Last but not least I wanted to talk in length about the coat of my favorite cats. Wyrdwul was chosen as my cattery name because fate has played a large role in finding the unique and subtle quality fur on these cats. The first litters that we had were unexpected accidents and I thought the lightly wavy fur on the kittens was not that big a deal, it wasn't until one was born with very obvious wavy fur that I really took notice. Even then I only contacted the cat fancy to let them know what I found and to get some grooming advice. Sadly the grooming advice I have gotten from breeders of other breeds have not helped at all and in that first cat completely ruined his coat. Even to this day people who get pet kittens from me often ask for grooming advice. Its been touch and go trying to find something that works. As most breeders know what works in the show hall is not meant for pets at home. So in other words I have had to pioneer out and figure out how to groom for show and what is best for at home. Now I am going to leave that thought for a moment.

When I've had judges and other breeders look at the fur in detail, many of them feel that the coat looks similar to Persian fur after its been striped and groomed for show, while still maintaining a unique feel of rabbit fur. Those people that have been able to look at my fur samples have also commented that the fur looks like rabbit fur as it has guard hair but not as much as your standard DSH/DLH. The Helki in reality is a medium hair cat.I've had short haired Helki and their fur is like velvet, but its not what I was breeding for and wont be breeding for it. So the short hair version is really a medium furred cat. The long hair Helki is medium long fur with lovely ruffles, britches, and plumes. The coats of either are meant to be compact, resilient, and plush.

Recently our family was blessed with the addition of a double mane Lionhead Rabbit. If you have never seen or heard of this breed I do encourage you to go to: http://lionheadrabbit.net/. Now I personally haven't had a rabbit since I was a teenager. So it was really neat to find that everyone was right on call when they said the texture of the Helki fur was like rabbit fur. You were all so right. Even down to how the fur looks. The Lionhead fur has this undulating wooly fur with guard hair. So I took the time to look up the standard of points for this breed here are some of the points I love:

*the mane is made of wool
* the wool is strong
* lively feeling with a soft silky texture.
* should be wavy
* should show crimping
* guard hairs will be present but should never create a coarse feelin
* Rollback
* soft, dense, medium length
-courtesy of http://www.cimmarononline.com/LHvisual.htm

Love it! love it! love it! the descriptions are just so similar to me that I was so pleased with my own standard and that so many of us were right on the money when describing the texture of fur as feeling like rabbit fur. Not just any rabbit fur, but one that has few guard hair that are not course. It really gave me chills. While I am not modeling the Helki to have a mane it is nice to see something comparable and feel justified in that description.

So back to grooming. I have to also now groom this rabbit. not for show but normal maintenance of the coat. So I did some digging. Rabbits have a finer fur then your everyday cat. The Helki and our resident Rabbit have fur of that same fineness. It was suggested by Lionhead breeders to use a cat flea comb or a fine rabbit fur grooming comb. So I tried it on the rabbit first. A flea comb is wonderful for him, it really worked well. I tried it on the cats whom I've been trying to use a regular metal grooming comb on but the tines were not close enough together to be of any use. The flea comb is a wonderful comb for the cats. So going forward thats what I am recommending for pet homes. Weekly brushing of the coat should keep it in shape. Use a metal flea comb or rabbit grooming comb (if you can find one).

Ok so I think thats several months worth of posts. As always I am around and active on Facebook, please feel free to message me if you'd like. :)

The Foo Ball

Let me first begin by telling you a bit about Tae Meowski. Tae is currently bordering on 9 months of age. Her mother is Pixie and her daddy is Romo Meowski. Tae is a lovey dovey smoosh ball, she has several favorite toys but nothing is as important as the Foo Ball. (see picture) The Foo Ball is good for all kinds of things, but the best game it plays is fetch aka Foo. Foo can be invoked by the cat or the human. It is a game that any human is allowed to play with Tae, and most times Foo is played with several humans and Tae as she decides who is next to throw the ball, by bringing it back to the preferred player and dropping it near them.

Today was laundry day, as I gathered the laundry together I did notice the Foo Ball, but figured that the recent shampooing it had was sufficient. All the laundry was taken from my room and washed and dried. As I folded the last batch of laundry, I shook out a blanket to fold and Lo' and Behold what falls out, but the Foo Ball! 

I asked my husband and he said no he hadn't put it in the laundry. I know I didn't, and the kids were already gone to school. So when all the laundry was put away, I called this silly cat, she sat at attention, I showed her the now washed and dried Foo Ball. Her little expectant eyes sparkled, so I threw her ball for her. She ran after it tail in the air, sure enough she came back with the Foo Ball in her mouth.

 

Topic Saver

I was planning on blogging about something else today, but I have so much going on with Halloween that I have barely had the time to sit down and post. I will return to blogging on Monday and be spending time with my family and my beloved cats. Have a safe and wonderful Halloween. Blessed Be :-D

Magazine Milestone

Thats Right, we are in Print Baby!

It is with my great pleasure to share this with the group. A few months back I was contacted by a Brazillian journalist Fabio Bense who wanted to do a short article on the Helki Cat Breed. I still don't know who pushed them in my direction but I thank you kindly. Ceas & Cia promptly got photos and asked me soooo many questions. After all was said and done (proofing, etc), I was told thank you and heard nothing more. I thought that possibly its such a new face on the cat breed block that maybe it wasn't something they were interested in doing. I shrugged my shoulders and went on with my life. That was until yesterday when I got the magazine in my mailbox. I am attaching the article with what I was told is the English translation, with the Magazine front as the background. This is the October Issue of Ceas & Cia which can also be view virtually & purchased on their website: http://www.caes-e-cia.com.br/

The cat in the picture is Wyrdwul Sapporo aka Purro, whose kitten photos many of you may be familiar with: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helkicats/sets/72157622856916252/

Thank you all again, for your continued support.


Aubrey Anderson


tomorrows blog: Too Young

Selective Breeding and Scoring

Ok I promised I would write about this today. I have some qualms about getting into specifics or not. I understand that not everyone uses this method but this is what I use. It gives me a really good range and definitely pulls out the show, breeder, and pet quality kittens. So for a real life example Kiyame's recent litter of five, were all over the place in their different features. Some better then others. Just at a glance I knew who the best kittens were, but to remain objective and not pick favorites, I scored them based on the guidelines Roy Robinson outlined in his book "Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders". Just as a note I have the original not the reprint. I changed my scoring slightly to reflect what was important for the breed as outline by the Breed Standard. Going by this scoring method, let me know that I had two breeder/show kittens out of this litter and I know which kitten is better (per the scoring) then the other. The other three kittens are adorable and one is breeder quality but not show quality. The other two kittens will have to go to pet homes. They are adorable and cute, they have the Helki fur in different degrees, but they are pet quality because they do not meet the standard and score low on the grading scale.

Remaining Objective is not an easy task, my favorite kitten in the bunch was second place and my second favorite is third place. The kitten that scored the highest is not really 'my cup of tea'. She is the one I should keep to breed.

Looking at Big Picture is important also. I can not essentially keep three kittens from the same litter. Doing so limits my gene pool, which can lead to trouble. Its important to think of what each individual can bring to the table when their time as a breeder/show cat comes up. Do you want to keep or accentuate the patterns, conformation, etc that such and such kitten has? Which kitten has the better potential at helping your current breeding program?

Continued Scoring and Reviewing results as the kitten grows can also be a helpful thing to do. Don't score once, and let that be the deciding factor. Find the best milestones for your breed and score during those weeks. I score when the kittens are born, when the whole litters eyes are open, when they begin to walk and play, and when they have weaned.

Decision Time comes for me around twelve weeks of age. At this junction I take all four scores and average them out. Taking only kittens that score above 175 on my scale I think about what they can individually bring to the table. Kittens are then placed in homes appropriately.

So ends the summary of my current methods. :-D

Back to the Blog

Its been literaly months since I posted about the Helki breed. There has been so much that has happened since I decided not to blog. Lets see if I can fill you all in. For those of you who don't breed cats, let me tell you its not an easy hobby. Its time consuming, life altering, you never make a dime. There is a lot of paperwork, legalities, record keeping, and animal caring that MUST happen. When you are working with an estabilished breed you can keep only a few cats because there are many more breeders out there holding on to lines that can be used in the future. When you are working with a rare or new breed keeping your gene pool swimmingly fresh is a whole other ballgame. When cat fanciers are asked how many cats they have they often reply with "too many". Its the appropriate response given the witch hunt mentality of the world at large. What is scary is when its not cat breeders but rescuers, and cat lovers all over saying this. I came to realize during the summer that the pedigree breeders, rescuers, and cat lovers need to unite and stop our government from telling us how many cats we can own. If the welfare of the cats is good then why can't a person own many cats? The welfare of the animals is what is key. It seems easy for the world to see a house of many cats and say "crazy cat lady" or the new and popular "hoarder". While hoarding is a serious mental condition it should be pretty easy to pick out true hoarders from people who own many cats. I wont get into this enlarge today, but it makes me angry to hear that a good cat breeder whose animals are well cared for is being villianized in the news and throughout their community.

Why am I so outraged? Well because not only has this happened to friends all too recently but it also happened to me. Thankfully the "authorities" came in and looked about my home and said the case was unfounded. The scary thing... all it takes is a call. One person doesn't like you or what you've said and they can anonymously call you in. I think the scariest thing is that it targeted not only my animals but my children. It was a wake up call that has made me a bit of an activist. It has also made me more cautious as to what I post and say on the interwebs about my own household. I screen my Facebook friend invites and I am cautious to the 'Nth" degree. I took down all kinds of info on my website and I stopped blogging. But that is just the beginning of this tale.

Now if that wasn't hard enough to get out here is the most difficult thing to say. My kitten mortality rate was really bad. I was at the point where I was going to stop breeding for the fear that the breed was not viable. There were no, known illnesses detected. There were many different reasons the kittens weren't making it. There seemed to be no real pathology and that was the scary part. I started to wonder if the kittens were just weak. I started to isolate litters and I was very careful about what was going on with them and began to notice that the litters would be healthy until they were allowed out of their enclosures and onto the carpet. The house was old and not as well cared for as it should have been before we moved in. We lived in this house for five years not knowing what was growing throughout the house. I got severely ill, enough I could no longer work. Everyone in the house had sinus issues. The signs were there, but we didn't know there was black mold growing rampant through the home. Thankfully we moved, and within two weeks my blood pressure was automatically down and my thyroid levels were spot on after two difficult years. That was when I decided it might be ok to try again.

Ok so here I am trying again to be cautious for the protection of my breed and family. I'd love to tell you how many Helki kittens are running around without a sign of illness, but I will just say this the kitten mortality rate is at an amazing all time low. I was guarded, and worried. Still ready to shut the whole thing down, but the mystery illness and infections that plagued my kittens in the old house are non existent now. I am not using different breed stock then I did before, the only thing that changed was where we live now. My conclusion is that the problems from before was because of black mold. While I am thankful to know why, it still hurts to think of the cats I lost in this fight. My health has improved also, the only major issue that continues to bother me is my arthritis. I still have some issues with fibro and CFS but they are much better then before. Some of which I think is because I've learned how to manage my illness better and reduce fatigue.

So there you have it. A lot of cat breeds have issues in the beginning. Bengals had issues with mates killing each other. Manx, munchkins, and Scottish Folds still have issues where they cant mate homozygous without a high kitten mortality rate. And there are many other examples, but truth be told, speaking out about these issues is not easy. In fact its down right scary. I've been lucky to have a strong network of friends, mentors, and advisers to help me through this. I am thankful for their input and help.

I'd love to give the power forward speech. I'd love to see more awareness about black mold and how it affects people and their pets. Overall, the most difficult part is moving forward. Everyday I wonder if starting a breed is the right thing to do. Recently I read a excerpt from the CFA Almanac regarding the Bombay breeding program and it really hit home. Starting a new breed is not for the faint of heart. Its not for those who want glory, its not for people who care more about awards then their cats. Its a job for those who know how to stick to a goal and proceed. Its for those who love people and cats. Its for those who can network and stay critical and positive at the same time. This is a struggle that is worthwhile and so I continue even in the face of adversity.

Now for some lovely pictures:

Pixie

 

Tae (daughter of Pixie) and Kiyame her auntie

tomorrow breed selection and scoring

Package sent and received

Dont know if it will ever matter, but I sent the DNA and fur samples of 20 of Helki cats out to UC Davis on 07/24/10 and it was received by them on 07/26/10.

A Tribute To AmunRa

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this. My beloved cat Ra passed away last night. Ra had been hit by a double whammy. He got an abscess from getting a whack on the head from another cat, and then we brought home some kind of cold from the vets the last time the dogs were there. The cold turned into an upper respiratory infection. Ra's abscess healed but his immune system was weak from the two infections. I was able to give him some amoxicillin and terramycin. I thought he had bolstered and was on the mend. I was wrong it was the last glimmer before he passed. Ra waited for my nightly check up on him. Enough on how he died ... let me tell you about his Life.

AmunRa was born on 11/17/2008 it was evident that he was born too early, especially when his mother held onto the other kittens for a few days before delivering them. Ra was scrawny and tiny and the oddest colored kitten I had ever seen.

As he grew his unique color and fur really began to show:

He was so neat that a friend encouraged me to show him. So off Ra went the first week of April 2009 to show off what a Helki looks like. That weekend as a kitten Ra was able to make best HHP in 2 rings. But then this is how he looked at his cat show:

Ra went to many other cat shows and he did well. He was always a spectator favorite. His sweet loving personality always won everyone over. Ra went on to stud two litters of Helki kittens. His son OberonRa (Keebler) stands with the likeness of his father in both looks and personality. Shai (Piggy) and OdinRa (Stubz) are beautiful kittens with outgoing and good natured temperaments. Ra was also a good father and would care for his kittens. Showing that true fathering is a wonderful Helki trait.

Sadly Ra was never an overly healthy cat. He could pick up a cat cold like nobody's business. It seemed that his immune system suffered from the get go and was probably part in fact to his early arrival. Despite all his troubles Ra was a great spokescat for the Helki and I am so blessed to have had him in my life. He was a major driving point for me to learn so much about cat color, & coat genetics. He helped work with me to find the best way to groom a Helki before a show.

Sorry I am just terrible right now, between sniffles and all I hope this makes sense. Here is to AmunRa, my sweet ambassador. I love you and miss you so much already.

Light Switch & the Joy of Cat Trees

I recentlty bought this $40 cat tree at Walmart. You assemble it at home, it has three tiers, and reaches all the way to the ceiling. Needless to say both my budget and my cats LOVE it. When placing the tree in my home I knew I wanted it in my room. Its not a big tree and the levels can be turned to face any direction you want. I placed mine in between my bathroom sink and closet thinking what a novel place that would be. Did I mention the cats LOVE the cat tree?! Yes its a place for place, sleep, relaxation... and learning. the bathroom light switch is located right next to the middle tier, the cats have now mastered the light switch. Some use the front paw method, some use the back paw kick method. The switch is fun to turn both on and off. My cats love to challenge each other with all kinds of tasks. Who can walk the railing the farthest, who can climb the curtains to the top, who can run through the house at lightning speed. Now its who has mastered the light switch. While I am amused it can be slightly annoying to have the light turned out on you while you are doing something important for humans per say. But over all I recommend that if you ever want full entertainment, a Helki or two can be the remedy needed. Ooops there's the light again =^_^=

More Milestones

Oh this blog, I really should update better. I do have some news, so I want to share it. Yesterday Heather Roberts (All Breed Judge in TICA & member of the Genetics Committee) was kind enough to stop by my home to see the Helki up close and personal. This was a lovely visit and a good step forward for the breed. Now the Helki has been able to have David Mare (CFA Director At Large) and Heather Roberts (TICA Genetics Committee Member) not only handle the cats but review the Standard of Points.

I think this is a very important step forward and helps me to make the goals I need to continue. I also feel I've gotten valuable information on how to go forward. Some of which will be changing some of the procedures in my own home. I'm notably excited but also I understand this doesn't guarantee anything. Its merely a small step worth noting.

Show Report - Vallejo CA 3/6 - 3/7

Crow Canyon Cat Club knows their stuff. They get great judges and put together a good show with excellent vendors. For this two day show I took Ichi for our entry, Slick and Romo to look at and compare. Slick is the one female where I got a normal coat. Her siblings coats weren't as thick or as wavy as I like to see, but Slick is just that sleek and slick. Compared to Romo's coat its pretty easy to tell the difference. Ichi did great in the ring and got 2nd place in all but two rings. One ring he got Best and one ring he got 4th. So on average for this Show Ichi was 2nd. Not to shabby but Ichi might have been bumped down if we had as much competition as had been expected for both days. It was a blast though and it was so nice to see so many young people walking through the show hall with their parents learning about all the different cat breeds. I dont know which school or teacher promoted it, but what a great way to get young people interested.

So its official this was finally the last time for a while that the Helki will be put on a judging bench. Hopefully we can make quick progress and get enough breeders by next year to submit all the appropriate paperwork by August 1st. I can hope can't I?

I also got great news. Santoi cattery got back in touch with me and I should be able to get this lovely kitten to show in the next season. My goals this season are to assist with clerking, and show this sweet little guy at the same time exhibition the Helki. Wish me luck.

Tarot

   The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. The Empress: Feminine progress. Action. Natural energy. Development. Fruitfulness. Accomplishment. Interest in day-to-day details. Mother. Sister. Wife. Marriage. Children. Feminine influence. Material wealth. Evolution. A leader. Decisions founded upon all the facts at hand. The motivator of a successful partner or husband. Businesswoman.
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I'm a bit distraught over some personal dealings so I happened to think "why not ask Tarot?" After a good reading I thought why not ask about the Helki Cat Breed. I used the Cat People cards and the system choose a one card spread for me. The above is the reading. I have to say facade.com sure has me convinced. The cat on the card even looks like a stylized Helki. That could be a Romo/Tigre future kitten. lol. Well a girl can dream but maybe I dream too often. I've had a huge kick in the butt today. I hope that it all works out for the best.