How It Started
My name is Michele Linton I am a small breeder based in a rural area of the beautiful Scottish Borders. This is a rough outline of how I got into cats.
I was previously classified the mad adrenalin junkie due to my spates of fast cars, bikes, rock climbing, bungee jumping and white water rafting until I decided to settle for a more sedate life in the country breeding and showing cats….
This all came about due to the fact that as a child I was denied the company of cats due to the fact that my parents were “dog people”… In fact I was allowed all animals apart from cats….
A contributing factor in this may have been due to the fact that one of my grandmothers was a Mad Cat Woman owning seventeen cats named after members of the royal family. Little did I know I was going to equal her achievements.
Take heed never say no or deprive a child!!!!!!!!
Things started off slowly and when I moved into my own cottage over thirty years ago I acquired my first Siamese a seal tabby point Merlin aka Honeywell Haston…………He was a cat of exceptional personality and no other cat could ever come near him……he loved travelling be it in the car with me….on my bikes…hitching to go climbing up north or just a short walk to visit my parents while I was at work and boy did he used to put the wind up the odd Rotty or Dobie on our travels as he stood his ground to them….He was such a wise cat and when I was climbing a route he would find himself a nice rabbit hole to occupy either to keep cool in or warm dependant on the weather…..
Anyhow from this humble start I got interested in feline behaviour, genetics as well as feline medicine and then breeding and that was something I vowed I would do when the time was right. That time arrived ten years later when I felt I had done my research and has built up a good network of support with fellow breeders…..exhibitors and judges……by now I had started to steward at cat shows and my life was about to explode into cats…involving rescue work, committees, websites etc etc. By now I had four cats and one of them was my first queen Fizzy otherwise known as Treedancer Fizzylizzy and foundation queen of my “Siarung” line………Siarung was the breeding prefix I chose and was luckily awarded it is taken from the Thai word sairung which means rainbow which was very apt as I specialise in all colours and patterns of Siamese and Orientals.
By now we had travelled the two hundred miles to stud in Yorkshire to one of the most stunning Seal point Grand Champion studs in the country and Fizzy had her first litter and after passing two kittens had to be rushed to the vets at two am in the morning for a c-section(one of the joys of breeding!!)but that’s another epic story!
Well you can’t not keep a baby from your first litter well I couldn’t and of course I didn’t keep either of the two stunning seal point females no I kept Siarung Silvanus due to the fact that I had by now said good bye to Merlin as he had passed over the Rainbow Bridge and Vanni I thought might be his reincarnation…
Vanni did really quite well on the Show bench gaining four Premier certificates and nominations for Best in Show but he was a lad that liked his grub and became a bit oversized for a Siamese and weighed in at whopping ten kilos!!!
Several litters followed and so my feline population expanded too by this time I had my own stud a Seal point who was to later become Grand Champion Sharue Schiehallion and then later a complete fluke came about….a friend at that time sold a kitten as show neuter and had it returned a few days later as another breeder thought he was crap………….well there is a moral to this story!!!.........That July weekend we were showing in Wales and all our cats won their classes and yes the little reject as we were calling him became Best in Show Siamese Kitten. Well what to do with him too good to go as a pet so I was promptly given him as an early birthday present by my friend. He was to go on and become one of the top winning Show Cats in the country and is now known as UK and Imperial Grand Champion Keelokan Kyle he was the first Siamese to win an Imperial Certificate and the first Lilac point Siamese to hold both a UK and Imperial title.
We have been blessed with many firsts in our cattery we were fortunate to breed the first Grand Champion Oriental Classic Tabby in Scotland and she is only one of three in the country to gain the title to date. Latterly I have been allowed to purchase from a friend one of the new colours a Cinnamon Tortie Point Siamese who has become the first and only Imperial Grand Champion Cinnamon pointed cat in the country…
Unfortunately with all the ups come the downs ….these include cats that won’t breed and even worse problems due to unselective breeding by less desirable and less honest persons which can lead to various condition i.e. kidney disease, cardiomyopathy and lymphosarcoma………….There is a lot to be said for natural selection and the moggy population!!!
This is probably why I have done less breeding over the last few years and concentrated on trying to help out when I can with welfare work it never amazes me the number of cats that are under a death threat by their owners as the novelty has worn of etc
I was also concentrating on becoming a judge of felines and became listed as a Certified GCCF Steward and then become a Probationer Judge for all sections of the Oriental Breeds.
I must admit my journey through the cat fancy has taught me as much about human nature as the cats and I have met some of the most wonderful people but also some of the most appalling…….as they say in the cat fancy there are sometimes more claws outside the pens than in!!! Unfortunately like all hobbies there are the few who take things too seriously and have to win at all costs and woe betide you if you beat them so you do have to be rather thick skinned at times to last the pace. It won’t be the last time I’ve seen an exhibitor chasing a judge around the hall because they withheld a certificate on their precious puss! I have been at the receiving end of the cat fancy and that is why I now tend to keep myself to myself.
All that said to me the most important people are the cats regardless if they are a top winning show cat or a common or garden moggie they give us humans a hard run for our money….who else would accept you for what you are and give unconditional love and affection………
Latterly my life has changed immensely. A breeder friend encouraged me to have a Devon Rex a breed I had always enjoyed handeling at shows. That is when Magical Mordred entered my life. I was only supposed to be one show neuter but these curly little monsters get under your skin and the rest as they say is history.....
I was previously classified the mad adrenalin junkie due to my spates of fast cars, bikes, rock climbing, bungee jumping and white water rafting until I decided to settle for a more sedate life in the country breeding and showing cats….
This all came about due to the fact that as a child I was denied the company of cats due to the fact that my parents were “dog people”… In fact I was allowed all animals apart from cats….
A contributing factor in this may have been due to the fact that one of my grandmothers was a Mad Cat Woman owning seventeen cats named after members of the royal family. Little did I know I was going to equal her achievements.
Take heed never say no or deprive a child!!!!!!!!
Things started off slowly and when I moved into my own cottage over thirty years ago I acquired my first Siamese a seal tabby point Merlin aka Honeywell Haston…………He was a cat of exceptional personality and no other cat could ever come near him……he loved travelling be it in the car with me….on my bikes…hitching to go climbing up north or just a short walk to visit my parents while I was at work and boy did he used to put the wind up the odd Rotty or Dobie on our travels as he stood his ground to them….He was such a wise cat and when I was climbing a route he would find himself a nice rabbit hole to occupy either to keep cool in or warm dependant on the weather…..
Anyhow from this humble start I got interested in feline behaviour, genetics as well as feline medicine and then breeding and that was something I vowed I would do when the time was right. That time arrived ten years later when I felt I had done my research and has built up a good network of support with fellow breeders…..exhibitors and judges……by now I had started to steward at cat shows and my life was about to explode into cats…involving rescue work, committees, websites etc etc. By now I had four cats and one of them was my first queen Fizzy otherwise known as Treedancer Fizzylizzy and foundation queen of my “Siarung” line………Siarung was the breeding prefix I chose and was luckily awarded it is taken from the Thai word sairung which means rainbow which was very apt as I specialise in all colours and patterns of Siamese and Orientals.
By now we had travelled the two hundred miles to stud in Yorkshire to one of the most stunning Seal point Grand Champion studs in the country and Fizzy had her first litter and after passing two kittens had to be rushed to the vets at two am in the morning for a c-section(one of the joys of breeding!!)but that’s another epic story!
Well you can’t not keep a baby from your first litter well I couldn’t and of course I didn’t keep either of the two stunning seal point females no I kept Siarung Silvanus due to the fact that I had by now said good bye to Merlin as he had passed over the Rainbow Bridge and Vanni I thought might be his reincarnation…
Vanni did really quite well on the Show bench gaining four Premier certificates and nominations for Best in Show but he was a lad that liked his grub and became a bit oversized for a Siamese and weighed in at whopping ten kilos!!!
Several litters followed and so my feline population expanded too by this time I had my own stud a Seal point who was to later become Grand Champion Sharue Schiehallion and then later a complete fluke came about….a friend at that time sold a kitten as show neuter and had it returned a few days later as another breeder thought he was crap………….well there is a moral to this story!!!.........That July weekend we were showing in Wales and all our cats won their classes and yes the little reject as we were calling him became Best in Show Siamese Kitten. Well what to do with him too good to go as a pet so I was promptly given him as an early birthday present by my friend. He was to go on and become one of the top winning Show Cats in the country and is now known as UK and Imperial Grand Champion Keelokan Kyle he was the first Siamese to win an Imperial Certificate and the first Lilac point Siamese to hold both a UK and Imperial title.
We have been blessed with many firsts in our cattery we were fortunate to breed the first Grand Champion Oriental Classic Tabby in Scotland and she is only one of three in the country to gain the title to date. Latterly I have been allowed to purchase from a friend one of the new colours a Cinnamon Tortie Point Siamese who has become the first and only Imperial Grand Champion Cinnamon pointed cat in the country…
Unfortunately with all the ups come the downs ….these include cats that won’t breed and even worse problems due to unselective breeding by less desirable and less honest persons which can lead to various condition i.e. kidney disease, cardiomyopathy and lymphosarcoma………….There is a lot to be said for natural selection and the moggy population!!!
This is probably why I have done less breeding over the last few years and concentrated on trying to help out when I can with welfare work it never amazes me the number of cats that are under a death threat by their owners as the novelty has worn of etc
I was also concentrating on becoming a judge of felines and became listed as a Certified GCCF Steward and then become a Probationer Judge for all sections of the Oriental Breeds.
I must admit my journey through the cat fancy has taught me as much about human nature as the cats and I have met some of the most wonderful people but also some of the most appalling…….as they say in the cat fancy there are sometimes more claws outside the pens than in!!! Unfortunately like all hobbies there are the few who take things too seriously and have to win at all costs and woe betide you if you beat them so you do have to be rather thick skinned at times to last the pace. It won’t be the last time I’ve seen an exhibitor chasing a judge around the hall because they withheld a certificate on their precious puss! I have been at the receiving end of the cat fancy and that is why I now tend to keep myself to myself.
All that said to me the most important people are the cats regardless if they are a top winning show cat or a common or garden moggie they give us humans a hard run for our money….who else would accept you for what you are and give unconditional love and affection………
Latterly my life has changed immensely. A breeder friend encouraged me to have a Devon Rex a breed I had always enjoyed handeling at shows. That is when Magical Mordred entered my life. I was only supposed to be one show neuter but these curly little monsters get under your skin and the rest as they say is history.....