And Then There Were Two

Having decided that we would like a seal mitted girl, our search for a kitten with breeding potential started where our Ragdoll experience had begun, over four years earlier, with a phone call to Shirley Smith. We were hoping to find a Peachisncreme kitten, but Shirley is slowing down her breeding programme and at the time had no kittens at all and none expected. However our call to Shirley was not wasted because she was, as always, happy to share her wealth of experience with us and gave us some valuable advice, so that we were armed with the knowledge we needed to find the perfect kitten.

The British Ragdoll Cat Club has an excellent website with a comprehensive list of breeders and through them we found Chris and Allen, who breed under the Cheham prefix. The four of us visited Chris and Allen in September 2001 to meet them and all their beautiful Ragdolls, in particular a certain five week old seal mitted girl! She looked adorable and we all loved her, but it is not possible to assess a kitten for breeding potential until they are at least nine weeks old, so we had to wait and see how the little girl developed over the coming weeks. We spent an enjoyable afternoon with Chris and Allen and through listening to them gained more ‘Ragdoll knowledge.’ Chris was great and kept us updated on the kitten’s progress and as the weeks passed, Chris began to make some encouraging comments feeling that the kitten was showing promise. In October the phone call we had all been waiting for came and Chris announced that the little girl, now named Lucyinthesky, was showing breeding potential. We were invited to visit the little seal mitted girl again, this time with a view to deciding whether we felt she was the kitten for us.

Over the weeks we had all tried hard to remain unattached to the little girl, in an attempt to protect ourselves from heartache if had she not been suitable. Although, that said, we each had her photograph on our computer desktops and it seemed we had thought of nothing else for weeks! It was 28th October 2001 and we made the short journey to Chris and Allen’s. Lucyinthesky was in the kitchen when we arrived, along with her sister and several other kittens, all of which were having a wakeful moment, tumbling around the floor, looking for mischief! Lucyinthesky was now 12 weeks old and so different to the tiny little girl we had seen in September. She looked beautiful and even though we were inexperienced at assessing kittens, we could see she was special. We were once again under the Ragdoll spell and just knew she was the girl we wanted to begin our new journey as breeders.

Lucyinthesky, now called Chloe, came to live with us on 23rd November 2001, our 12th wedding anniversary and was a dream from the moment she arrived. Chloe came out of her cat carrier with a confidence we have never seen in a kitten before. She did not retreat behind the sofa or hide in a dark corner but with her tail held high, she proceeded to explore her new surroundings. Then, satisfied that everything was to her liking she jumped up onto the back of the sofa, snuggled down and went off to sleep.

This confidence remained with Chloe when she was introduced to our other cats, Moppet, Joshua and Tiffany, despite the inevitable hissing and she was not even phased by Toby, our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Chloe spent her first night in our bedroom, although there was little time for her to sleep, with so many games of "pouncing on our feet" to play.

Chloe has a temperament to match her beauty and is affectionate, loving, gentle and playful. She loves the other cats, cuddling up with any one of them, although I think she has a particular soft spot for Joshua, our Russian Blue. However it is the relationship she has with our Cavalier Toby that we find most remarkable, especially considering that she had never experienced dogs before she came to live with us. Within a day or two of arriving, she would curl up next to Toby and after giving his tail a quick wash would settle down to sleep. She enjoys nothing better than Toby giving her ears a good wash, often choosing to sit under his nose, waiting expectantly. When Toby is called, Chloe is never far behind and numerous times, I have turned around to find them sat side by side looking up at me-if only the camera had been nearby! She has a box full of the most up to date feline toys and she does occasionally humour us with a short game of ‘ball’ or ‘mouse,’ but her weakness, when it comes to playing, is tin foil balls. As soon as she hears the familiar rustle of the "Bacofoil" or someone unwrapping a foil covered chocolate bar, she is there. She loves to play fetch, carrying the little silver ball in her mouth, dropping it into a willing lap and waiting patiently for it to be thrown again. Chloe also has a fascination for water and as soon as she hears a tap running, she is there to investigate. We always have to be very careful not to leave a running bath unattended, as given the opportunity, Chloe will sit at the end of the bath and leaning forward will watch the water leave the tap. She has even been known to put her paw in the water flow not seeming to mind at all the sensation of a soggy paw and we are not convinced that one day she will not just take the plunge! When the bath is empty Chloe likes to sleep in it, especially on a sunny day when the sun is streaming through the window warming the bath. On one occasion we ‘misplaced’ Chloe, having been calling her for sometime to no avail. We had checked all her usual snoozing places, but still could not find her and were beginning to worry she had some how escaped from the house. We need not have been concerned, because she was eventually found, safely curled up and asleep in our shower cubicle, unaware of the worry she had caused.

Chloe is such a character and so loveable. She found her place in our family so quickly and in just a few weeks gave us so many reasons to adore her and be thankful that Chris and Allen allowed her to become ours.