Well, Todd and his older sisters, Elizabeth and Anne, went right to work … they not only overcame all the objections, they located a blue point female kitten. Shazam came to me as a six week old bundle of fire and love to continue my lessons in Siamese.

Shazam grew into the epitome of the "one person cat"
that Siamese seem to be known for, and although I always worried about her personality I loved her dearly and thought she was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that when the local cat club held a household pet show in my local mall, I entered and showed her. She was furious about this, of course, and acted very badly for the Judge, who happened to be a local Siamese Breeder.

Not only did Shazam not win a rosette in the show, but the Judge told me over and over again that she was not really a Siamese. Shazam and I were both hurt and insulted.

He invited me to his cattery to see his Siamese.
Although I was angry with him, my curiousity got the best of me and I accepted his invitation.

Shazam ->

Joy

My visit to the cattery lasted much longer than I had anticipated … hours, in fact. Each room held more pointed treasures … and the babies really thrilled me. I found myself exploring the idea of breeding these beautiful creatures. Although I was encouraged to show them, I was emphatic that I was not interested in showing cats. After all my first experience with a cat show was the disaster with my wonderful Shazam, and I was quite sure I was not interested in any more experiences like that.

We worked out an agreement that I would raise the litters and take care of his cats on show weekends while he was away. He would show the nicest of the kittens. I would acquire a couple of nice girls from him to start my own breeding program. This arrangement worked well for quite a while. I loved taking care of the cats and what a wonderful opportunity to learn about being a Siamese breeder.

During this time, I met and began to use an old local vet named Dr Bruce Gradous. I had heard Dr Gradous stories for years before meeting him and I felt a little intimidated about having him as my vet, but the breeder I was working with had used him for years, so I really felt I had little choice in the matter. For those of you who don't know, most vets are not thrilled to see a breeder come through their door, so I didn't know what to expect from him. As it turns out, Dr Gradous was the single most important teacher/mentor I had along the way. He actually liked breeders. He was wonderful. He taught me so much about cats and breeding. I have always shared what he taught me. He was a tough old guy, but I never minded it coming from him. He was always there when we needed him. That means he would meet me at his office in the middle of the night for an emergency or call to check on a difficult case. Last year I was asked to write an article for our National Siamese Cat Club Newsletter on raising Siamese kittens. I felt so good when Siamese Breeders contacted me to thank me for writing it and tell me that they learned a lot that helped them. Dr Gradous is the person who is really responsible for that article.