Year 2017 is almost over. We had some great moments of joy, as well as dark clouds of sorrow.
The most wonderful thing was undeniably the birth of the Septuplets litter. Everything went so well, thanks to the unbelievable Elsi (Northalla Ethereal Medium) mom, plus the wonderful people of her foster home. All seven kittens found great homes: one of the boys stayed in his birth home, one of the girls became a new breeding queen for WiliWilla cattery, and the rest are much-loved, show or pet cats.
Because of the sorrows, I’ve been reluctant to update these pages. It’s not easy to write when your eyes keep filling up with tears. Our beloved Tara, who passed away in 2016, got some company in the rainbow bridge when our dear Leo – the first Northalla cat – died unexpectedly and suddenly due to an undetected and incurable illness in September. To add to all the sadness, two of our offspring have died this year. One of a chronical illness, and another one due to an unexpected accident. We’ve been mourning together with the families of these wonderful Ocicats and after all, we are thankful that they have trusted us with all the joys and sorrows of their beloved family members’ lives. Another disappointing experience was Elsi’s pyometra due to which she had to be sterilized and will never have another litter. Fortunately, the operation went well and she was fully cured, and that she already had one litter of seven healthy kittens.
Getting back to happy memories… Despite we haven’t been very active showing, our cats and our offspring have had very nice results. To mention a few high moments, the mommy of the Septuplets litter, Elsi, was twice the Best In Show Breeding Female. Also, Helmi (CH Northalla Granuaile, owner Tiina Mäkelä) who was the mom of Light and Bubble litters, was the Best In Show Breeding Female once. Torsti (IC Northalla Fizzing) who is owned by Marjo Vormisto of Guttatus cattery, was nominated many times. Ässä (Northalla Seventh Son, owner Paula Puska) was also nominated many times, won Best In Variety over adult cats, and to top it all he was the Best In Show Junior twice! Also, our own Moona (GIC Northalla Moonlight) was Best In Show Female, which is very well done for such a difficult showing cat colour, a cinnamon silver spotted Ocicat.
Then I’d like to ask for a drum roll… Our Dutch import queen Ulpu (Mitha Goobita Yangatin, breeder Els van den Berk) is expecting kittens, due to be born in early January. The litter is sired by Russian import Duke (Dragon Amagitsune*RU, owner Outi Vallenius, breeder Irina Koroleva). We’re very much looking forward to the litter. The possible colours of the kittens are tawny spotted, cinnamon spotted, ebony silver spotted, and cinnamon silver spotted tabbies. Please follow us on Facebook or our kittens page – we will update the news there as soon as something happens. We wish everybody a happy new year 2018!