My first encounter with an Havana was in 1977. I had a new teaching job in Derbyshire, and found a flat in the picturesque village of Baslow. During my first week in Baslow I heard an unearthly howling noise. When I asked my new neighbour what it was, she said, Oh, it's the Havana across the road. She is calling. She has a litter of kittens. Do you want to see them? Of course, I said yes, and one look at the little brown bugs was enough. I took one home, 9 weeks old, uninnoculated and unregistered. A recipe for disaster you might think, but actually she was very healthy, and, as luck would have it, very well bred. I registered her myself as Sii Namtann Suri, or 'Brown Sun' in Thai, and it all started from there.
Suri, herself, was a one-man cat and her only show outing to the Coventry and Leicester Show in 1978 was not a success. I thought, like many folk, I might like one litter of kittens. Her first litter was two little black and white moggies, but I was hooked. For her first proper mating I took her to Ch. Zamaazi Quenito and had five lovely kittens, four Havanas and a Siamese.
I kept a Havana girl, Ebi, from that first mating but she died on the road in 1982, as Suri did a year later. For a short time I had no cats but then Sandra Hudson offered me an adult queen, Lintis Aldaniti, who was one of Suri's nieces and whom I had known as a kitten. I took her on unneutered, promising her a home for life, and had her 15 years. She was my first great matriarch, and from Ali all my cats are now descended. She herself had many kittens with me and died at 17 in 1998. Her daughter, a Lilac, Tia, (Seido Sei Shonagon) also lived to 17 and also was an incomparable breeding queen, one of her best kittens being Gr.Ch. Seido Sonofthemorning (1986-2004). I kept a daughter, Ch. Seido Sylphide, Sylvie, one of the first Oriental Blue Champion females, but she proved a failure at breeding and was neutered early. By the time, Tia reached 7, I would have kept any girl she gave me but it seemed it was not to be. She had a litter of two boys and then of six boys, and finally at aged 9 produced, by Caesarian, two boys and an Havana girl. What joy! I had my line back.
Phoebe, this precious daughter, spanned the generations. She wasn’t a show queen herself (but who cared?) but had two beautiful daughters, Gr. Ch. Seido Smoke Screen and Gr. Ch. & Gr. Pr. Seido Sortilege. She died, sadly, in the summer of 2006 of bowel cancer aged 13.
From Phoebe, I kept four daughters over the years (I wasn't making the same mistake again!). Two bred and two did not. I now have only the descendents of her Lilac daughter Samlee (named like her Grandmother after a Grand National runner). Samlee’s daughter, Seeker (Gr.Ch. Seido Seascape), Oriental Blue, had a very successful career as a show cat and was a mother extraordinaire. Her daughter, Lottie, (Ch. Seido Simisola) an Oriental Black, is the mother, grand- mother and great grandmother of my present girls. Samlee's other daughters, Nina (Ch. Seido Sequin) and Seido Samel each produced a titled son, Gr.Ch. Seido Slipstream and Ch. Seido Seahawk.
I have seven cats now including Gr.Ch. Seido Slipstream who returned to me and is at stud. I have 4 breeding queens who each have a litter a year, and 2 retired girls. They will stay with me all the days of their lives.
Suri, herself, was a one-man cat and her only show outing to the Coventry and Leicester Show in 1978 was not a success. I thought, like many folk, I might like one litter of kittens. Her first litter was two little black and white moggies, but I was hooked. For her first proper mating I took her to Ch. Zamaazi Quenito and had five lovely kittens, four Havanas and a Siamese.
I kept a Havana girl, Ebi, from that first mating but she died on the road in 1982, as Suri did a year later. For a short time I had no cats but then Sandra Hudson offered me an adult queen, Lintis Aldaniti, who was one of Suri's nieces and whom I had known as a kitten. I took her on unneutered, promising her a home for life, and had her 15 years. She was my first great matriarch, and from Ali all my cats are now descended. She herself had many kittens with me and died at 17 in 1998. Her daughter, a Lilac, Tia, (Seido Sei Shonagon) also lived to 17 and also was an incomparable breeding queen, one of her best kittens being Gr.Ch. Seido Sonofthemorning (1986-2004). I kept a daughter, Ch. Seido Sylphide, Sylvie, one of the first Oriental Blue Champion females, but she proved a failure at breeding and was neutered early. By the time, Tia reached 7, I would have kept any girl she gave me but it seemed it was not to be. She had a litter of two boys and then of six boys, and finally at aged 9 produced, by Caesarian, two boys and an Havana girl. What joy! I had my line back.
Phoebe, this precious daughter, spanned the generations. She wasn’t a show queen herself (but who cared?) but had two beautiful daughters, Gr. Ch. Seido Smoke Screen and Gr. Ch. & Gr. Pr. Seido Sortilege. She died, sadly, in the summer of 2006 of bowel cancer aged 13.
From Phoebe, I kept four daughters over the years (I wasn't making the same mistake again!). Two bred and two did not. I now have only the descendents of her Lilac daughter Samlee (named like her Grandmother after a Grand National runner). Samlee’s daughter, Seeker (Gr.Ch. Seido Seascape), Oriental Blue, had a very successful career as a show cat and was a mother extraordinaire. Her daughter, Lottie, (Ch. Seido Simisola) an Oriental Black, is the mother, grand- mother and great grandmother of my present girls. Samlee's other daughters, Nina (Ch. Seido Sequin) and Seido Samel each produced a titled son, Gr.Ch. Seido Slipstream and Ch. Seido Seahawk.
I have seven cats now including Gr.Ch. Seido Slipstream who returned to me and is at stud. I have 4 breeding queens who each have a litter a year, and 2 retired girls. They will stay with me all the days of their lives.