Category Ron

Ron starts his Show Career – Katzenworld

by Ron

31
Aug

So Ron settled in so quickly at home and soon was making great friends with the Maine Coon’s Tutti, Foxy, Rocky and Graeme and Monty the Nebelung. It really has been one of the easiest kitten introductions I have ever had and that is down to just what a laid back  breed the American Curl is and of course how Claire raises her kittens! It was time for Ron to enter his first show.

Rocky and Ron or little and large!

Now anyone who knows me will tell you I don’t do things in half measures, so we didn’t just enter a small show, oh no we entered The International Cat Associations Western Europe’s Regional Show which is the big one of the year and has a big party on the Saturday night to celebrate the previous show seasons winners. My lovely Dad flew over from Guernsey for the weekend and off we all travelled me, Dad, Tutti and Ron to Grantham in Lincolnshire with the car packed to the gunnels!

The International Cat Association (I will use the abbreviation TICA) are not just about showing your cat they are also a great weekend to spend with friends from all over the world. You can show your pedigree cat or your pet, everyone is welcome and all have the chance of winning the same prizes. Ron was showing in the kitten section and on day one he had 6 rings with judges from America, Japan, Austria and the UK. Ron was in competition with his beautiful sister Ginny who Claire from Overear American Curls had kept and they pretty much shared out the winnings by regularly being placed highly by the judges. Ron soon mastered the art of really sucking up to the judges, playing with toys and using the scratching posts.  He was very quickly becoming a pro!

Tomoko who is originally from Japan.

That evening we had the prize giving banquet in a beautiful country manor house where I picked up Tutti and Monty’s awards, really great evening of partying followed up by a lovely hangover for day 2!!

Dad, me, Claire. Stef and Lucy with our awards.

So day 2 and again 6 rings with the same international judges and yet again Ron blew me away by how much fun he was having and again he got amazing results for his first show and being so young! He finished up the weekend as the 3rd Best Kitten in show and his sister Ginny was 5th!  Cracking result as they were only just old enough to be there. I swear I drove home right on top of cloud nine! What an amazing start to his show career. Pretty much the first thing I did when I got home was feed Ron and Tutti then jumped onto my computer to book the next show, here we come Kent.

Tutti and Ron enjoying breakfast.

If you would like to find out more about showing at TICA please have a look at their website www.tica.org or ask me any questions. In fact come and visit a show!  If you want to see more cute American Curl kittens please visit Overear American Curls Facebook page.

Share this:

  • More

Like this:

Like Loading…

Meet Ron and the history of the American Curl – Katzenworld

by Ron

06
Aug

So Marc-Andre and Iain have asked me to introduce Ron to you all.  The first thing anyone says about Ron is how cute he is, rapidly followed up by what breed is he?  Well Ron is rather special as he is an American Curl Longhair.

I was lucky enough to first come across the American Curl when I met Claire Winman whilst showing my Maine Coons with The International Cat Association.  Claire was the founder breeder in the UK and has bred some of the best Curls to be shown across the world.  The history of the breed is fascinating having first occurred over 30 years ago.

The American Curl was born of a natural genetic mutation that first appeared in Shulamith, a stray black kitten with long, silky hair and strangely, ears that curled backward. She found her way to the welcoming door of Joe and Grace Ruga in Lakewood, California.

Shulamith had a litter of four kittens by an unknown father, and two of them shared her curly ears. A consultation with a geneticist showed that the trait was caused by a dominant gene. Cat fanciers began selectively breeding the cats in 1983, and the new breed, named the American Curl, began to be registered by the Cat Fanciers Association in 1986. They were recognized by The International Cat Association in 1987 and achieved full recognition from CFA in 1993.  To this day Grace is still actively involved with the breed.

So having fallen in love with Claire’s Overear American Curls I hesitantly asked Claire if I could one day have one of her babies to show.  Because of the way Curls ears develop you don’t know if they are going to be good enough to show until they are at least 4 months old.  A few years later and Claire finally said she had just the kitten for me, I was so excited and in September 2016 I drove to Claire’s to collect Ron, I had saved a very special name for him to be registered as, Overear Drops of Jupiter after one of my favourite songs by the American band Train.  So Ron left his siblings, George, Fred, Hermione, Fleur and Ginny to join my household of Maine Coons and a Nebelung.

Ron fitted in with my gang with ease and was just the cutest kitten ever!  Curls just have the most wonderful temperaments, they are often described as the Peter Pans of the cat world and it’s so true! Ron reminds me of Puss in Boots from Shrek, it’s those gorgeous eyes!

Share this:

  • More

Like this:

Like Loading…