"I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
"CATS," he said eventually. "CATS ARE NICE."
-Terry Pratchett (Sourcery)

X-Otic Princess Layla of Sphinxvalley (just Layla for her friends). She was born on 2nd April together with four brothers. She is black and white, because of the locket on her chest. Layla is very intelligent and sweet, and a real princess: whenever she drops something in the litter box, she comes out meowing, as if she wants to say: “Hey, come and remove this, will you!”. Luckily she doesn’t do that with every little pee.
In the Summer time she likes to sit in front of the open door to the garden, behind the fly screen, but in winter her favourite spot is in front of the stove. We have to put her fleece blanket down, so that Her Majesty can lie down. She always behaves in a worthy and stylish way, our princess.
When she sits on your lap, she softly raps your face with her paw when you forget to stroke her for a while. And of course she likes to sit on your shoulder.

Thanks Tania for sweet Layla!

Pedigree Layla

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Testresults:
Layla is most certainly PKD negative, as her parents are both tested negative.
Scanned negative for HCM and tested negative for FIV and Felv on 26th June 2007
Second negatieve scan for HCM, Fiv and Felv on 6th May 2008
Third negative scan for HCM, and tested negative for Fiv and Felv on March 13th, 2009
Fourth negative scan for HCM, Fiv and Felv on May 31st, 2010
Fifth negative scan on June, 3rd 2011
Blood type A
Layla's colour was DNA tested for the points-series. She carries one gene for Sepia (Burmese)

Frimel was neutered on August 26th 2008. Since we decided to keep her son Smokey as a stud, we didn't think it was very wise to risk him mating his own mother. The cats have the run of the house, studs too, as long as they are not spraying. Frimel also came to us with a URI (sneezing) and got an outbreak right after her first (and difficult delivery) litter. Because our first litter had URI problems (read the story about chlamydia on the kitten page) we did not want to rist this happening again.
She moved in with her son Obi, and her new human friends Evi and Johan in September of 2008. After a few days of protest on both cats' sides, they are both quite happy with each other's company. Frimel also had an outbreak of the Chlamydia she carries, but thanks to the good care of Evi and Johan and their vet, this was soon under control. We are very happy to know that Frimel has found such a good home, and that we'll be able to visit them in the future still!
Thanks again for all the caring, the patience and the trust, Evi and Johan. We wish you many more years of carefree cuddles and fun ;)

Pedigree Frimel

Testresults:
Tested negative for HCM on 30th July 2007
Tested negative for FIV and Felv on 26th June 2007
Blood type A

Out of our Frimel's first and last litter (of April 16th 2008) we've chosen Smokey gekozen to stay with us. Hopefully he can become our future stud.
His official name is Pan Sapiens of Zero Pelagio, which means: Wise Monkey. He is an incredible cuddler, really asks so sweetly whether he can come and sit on your lap. Then he purrs and moans under all the attention. He also falls asleep on stranger's laps.
His colour has been DNA tested, he is a Seal Mink (genetically black with both point factors of the Siamese point and the Burmese point genes. His eyes will stay aqua, yellowish)green. His skin will stay this dark brown with much darker extremities: nose, ears, tai ltip and paws). He carries one gene for diluted colours. He was born from an F1 mother, so an outcross with a normally coated shorthair is to be found in his pedigree. He is thus an F2, third generation outcross, and pretty bald.

Test results:
Scanned negative for HCM on April 8th, 2009
Tested negative for Fiv and Felv on April 8th, 2009

Sadly our Smokey was scanned positive for HCM on May 31st, 2010. Negative for Fiv and Felv. He was neutered on June 4th and will stay in our home.

Third scan to check up on the evolution of Smokey's heart on November 12, 2010: this shows exactly the same image as in May. Smokey's heart wand is thicker in one spot, and the same image in other cats has proven in the past to develop into HCM later on in life. The good news is that this is a mild case of HCM, we are still happy with our decision to have Smokey neutered, and that he is showing no symptoms at all.

update May 2011: a little while ago a very sweet couple came to our house to test their allergies. Smokey sat on their lap during the visit, and luckily there was no allergic reaction. Layla didn't have any kittens, but these people were prepared to wait for the next litter. Because Smokey had gained a lot of weight after he was neutered and Layla is rather slender, we had a problem with the kibble. Normally our cats can eat what they want all day long, but Smokey was overweight and had developed a bowel problem.
Because a life without stress is much better for an HCM positive cat and we have plans to take in a new stud, we finally made the very difficult decision to rehome Smokey.
Nadia and Yves were willing to try it, as it was love at first sight ;)
They don't live far from us, we get regular mails and pictures and can visit whenever we want to. Smokey is doing very well in his new family and has reached the perfect weight again because he can be rationed. His bowel problems are over.
There are pictures of his new home on the "pas litters" page.

Smokey's pedigree

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In October of 2008 a new girl came to live with us: Rainbow Warriors' Ms Scooby Girl Kalli-B.
Scooby was born on May, 18 in 2008, she's a Black Tabby and White mitted girl and has well placed ears and a very cute face. Her pedigree is extremely interesting for our cattery. Scooby is a well socialised girl, she loves to play and in between fetching a toy for you to throw, she will always come sit on your lap to be petted.

Thanks Fitz and Lenie, for this sweet kitten and for trusting her to us!

Updated May, 2009: Scooby has been neutered a little while ago (she developed a severe pyometra that couldn't be cured by antibiotics), and has found a super new home with Danny, Kika and Kiran.

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Our very own first stud Binck was neutered and rehomed as a pet with Ace and Jack. We will often visit them! Binck was a chronical sneezer when he came to live with us. Because there is less stress in his life now (no females in heat, no kittens running through the house, and no hormones going up and down in his own body anymore) his sneezing has been stabilised. He used to sneeze big bogusses about 30 times a day, but now this only happens once or twice. I want to thank Marc and Corinne for taking such good care of our cats. Jack also has deformed nose cavities as a result of the URI he had as a kitten, see kitten page first litter of Layla.

Stamboom Binck

Pedigree Binck

Testresults:
Scanned negative for HCM on 25th March 2008

Interaction: together whilst playing or resting

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