I started showing cats with my first household pet, Pixel. I had found her wandering the apartment complex where I lived and discovered from talking with a neighbor that she had been abandoned. She came to live with me and the two of us had a bit of a hard time together, but she was always purring for me. She has passed over the Rainbow Bridge after living with my parents for many years.
When I moved to Sacramento, I went to a cat show and decided to try showing Pixel. I discovered very quickly that she was not at all enamoured of this, but I was enjoying it. I looked for a pointed cat that looked like Pixel (round) and discovered the Tonkinese. I bought a show/pet cat and neutered him. He didn't object too strenuously to the showing, but he was by no means show quality.
My intentions were to show in premiership, not to breed, but I ended up getting a breeding female who didn't like to show and unfortunately, didn't produce anything worth keeping to show and breed, except for a platinum solid boy (Pixelpoint Amadeus Mozart).
Next, I got a platinum mink female kitten (GCh, Pr Honeypoint Fizgig of Pixelpoint) who seemed to love to show herself and through her kitten and adult show career did pretty well. She produced my first home-grown grand, GCh Pixelpoint Blue Moon Dream.
During this time, I went to a TICA show and discovered the Selkirks. I have naturally curly hair, so it was natural (pun intended) for me to get a naturally curly cat!
Thus began my adventure with Selkirks. In 1993, after I got my first three Selkirks - first was Cocomo, second was Tia and third was Skinnie - I started the breed club (a requirement for CFA) and worked for the next 7 years to bring the Selkirks into Championship status in CFA. The group that formed the core of the Selkirk Rex Breed Club scored championship status in 2000 - for a breed that was only 13 years old at the time!
But what do I do besides cats? My main interests are photography and making stained glass windows. I also enjoy traveling, but having the cats has put a restraint on that.
I have retired from working full-time and will be working from home from now on.
For more information email woolibaar@selkirkrexcats.org