Why Ocicats?
Why did we become Ocicat Breeders?
Tigga
The First Cat
The person to blame, for us becoming Ocicat Breeders, is Maureen (Owen’s beloved, late Auntie). Maureen’s neighbour had passed on, and two cats had been abandoned. Maureen then asked Owen to take in those 2 “adult£ cats, as Maureen’s cat wouldn’t tolerate them. One of those cats was a large classic tabby with a very strange voice. We called him Tigga. Tiggsie (as we called him) carried on growing, for another 2 years or so. Tigga exhibited dog-like behaviour, often accompanying us and our GSD, Duke, on his walks. Being home left at home alone was something Tigga hated. Upon our return, He met us at the door crying. We could even hear him crying as we got near the door. Tigga also walked like a wild cat. One of our friends had a large knowledge of cats. She believed Tigga to be an Ocicat Classic.
The Decision
Tragically, aged about 5-6 years, Tigga, suddenly, became very ill. Our vet diagnosed FIP and Tiggsie died on the vet’s table in front of us. Monika decided she wanted to get a similar cat, so she trawled the internet looking for similar cats. Eventually, she came across Ocicats. We found a lot of pictures of Ocicat on websites. Those pictures made us think that Tigga was indeed an Ocicat Classic. Maybe he was. We discussed getting another cat and decided to breed in the memory of Tigga. We bought our foundation Queen, Thickthorn Tikari-Thyme an Ocicat Classic, in 2008.
Ocicat Breeders
We wanted only two Queens, originally. However, the Gods were against us. On 28/04/2010, Tikari was mated with Auxarcs Homer of Thickthorn, subsequently Thorsoak Sonnüng (Now IGrCh Thorsoak Sonnung) was born. We, therefore, changed our plans and kept Sonnüng as an active male. The rest is history.
Our Aims
Our aims are is to breed healthy cats, with a low inbreeding ratio, and to improve the genetic pool of Ocicats in the UK. To achieve these aims we co-operate with as many Ocicat breeders as possible, and also, import new lines from outside of the UK.