Amazing Technicolor Dreams by Marianne Brett (Blondbella)

Highlights :

You are here: Home

Articles

Cat Breeding

Amazing Technicolor Dreams by Marianne Brett (Blondbella)

Written by Administrator

Monday, 28 July 2008

Achieving the goal

It seemed like such a simple idea at the time.For years I had bred Colourpoint Persians, when I bought in a Shaded Silver Exotic queen, I was offered the use of a Red Tabby Exotic stud.

At first it felt like a strange mating, but then it occurred to me - I could end up with Silver Tortie kittens! After being used to Colourpoints only, it seemed such an exciting prospect to breed something totally different, Silver Tortie seemed so – Exotic! Pr Hilal Katy by Alan Robinson

Hence Hilal Katy (who later added the title of Premier to her name) was mated to Rojodanco Beni.

Many people said I was mad. I had a queen with a pure Silver pedigree, something of a rarity, and I mated her to a RED!In that first litter there were two kittens, a Silver Tabby variant male and a Silver shorthair female. But hang on a minute, a Red sire would mean any female kitten HAD to be Tortie, it’s simple genetics. I studied my female kitten who was Silver all over, where was the Tortie? Where were the large red patches I had dreamed of? After some searching I eventually found it, Blondbella Moonshine Magic had ONE pink paw pad, where all the others were black, that was her only tortie part.

Magic never developed a single red hair anywhere on her body, but it was a start! Being an “invisible Tortie”, this girl would be able to produce all sorts of interesting colours in her litters. It would be like magic – hence her name.In 1998 Magic was mated to Ch. Moonwalkers Rusty Bucket, another Red Tabby Exotic, she had three kittens. All female, all shorthaired! A Red Tabby, a Tortie Tabby, and one CREAM Silver Tabby, I had never seen anything like this Cream Silver, it is a truly beautiful colour!

Blondbella Hocus Pocus was the inspiration for my since then never-ending quest for Silver Exotics in colours OTHER than black.I had great hopes for Hocus, yet when she was just under a year old, she started to look a bit fat, eventually I had to realise she was pregnant, I had not noticed her calling, and had certainly not noticed her being mated. At the time I had three young, immature male cats, two were Colourpoints, the third was a Ginger and white rescued moggy –still only about 6 months old. When Hocus’ kittens were born, and they were all moggies.Hocus died aged just 18 months old from a liver problem, I never got the chance to breed Exotics from her.

I mated Hocus’ mother Magic up again, twice more, she had some interesting kittens but not quite what I had hoped for, we had a Pewter female variant, a Cream Silver male variant, a Blue Silver Tabby and even another Silver Tortie JUST like herself with just one pink paw pad! I sold them all, I felt sure I’d soon get something better although I didn’t of course, eventually the Silver colour was lost altogether from Magic’s line. Ch Suzelle Ultraviolet

When Katy, Magic’s mother, was 7 years old I decided to try breeding her one more time, and mated her up to my Lilac Persian stud, Ch. Suzelle Ultraviolet. The BIG IDEA was born, how about trying to create Lilac Silver? I was sure it would look beautiful. When the birth day arrived I was lucky with this litter, just one kitten, but Blondbella Krystal was shorthaired, silver and female, I was over the moon with excitement.

Krystal ended up having five litters. In each and every one there was the possibility of Lilac Silvers, first she was mated to a self-Chocolate, carrying dilute; the result was one Brown Tabby and four Black Smokes, all but one were variants. Next she was mated to a Silver point Colourpoint that had appeared via another breeder, here she had a Silver Tabby, a Blue Silver Tabby, a self-Chocolate and a Chocolate Tabby. Next she was mated to a Blue Tabby carrying Chocolate, giving birth to a Blue Tabby, a Brown Tabby, and two Silver Tabbies, both normal blacks.

The next mating was to a Cream Tabby carrying Chocolate, the result was two Blue Tabbies and a Silver Tabby. Four litters and not one Lilac let alone Lilac Silver, I often wondered whether it was time to give up as I had been trying to breed a Lilac Silver for eight years, I had been working on my Silver programme for eleven years. I had lost type along the way, having to select cats for breeding with the right colour and the right PKD status, it was hard work and a little soul destroying. Finally Krystal was mated one very last time, to a Chocolate Tabby Exotic variant, only two kittens survived. When the second kitten appeared I looked at it, then looked again. Could it really be? Yes, it was. The kitten was a LILAC Silver Tabby. Blondbella Over The Moon - Lilac Silver Tabby pictured at Three Weeks Old

Blondbella Over The Moon - Lilac Silver Tabby pictured at Three Weeks Old

Eight years down the line and my dream had come true! Blondbella Over The Moon had entered the world, a shorthaired Lilac Silver Tabby male.

I’m not sure if I ever want to spend eight years trying to develop a new colour from scratch again – but I am so glad I stuck with it all these years.Sometimes, just sometimes, dreams really DO come true.

Comments

Add New