It may be difficult for some to understand why I must rehome my show/breeding cats so frequently. Please try to see this from my point of view. It isn’t easy at all raising babies, loving them and caring for them only to rehome them a year or two later after becoming so attached. Actually, it is heart breaking. Trying to improve the quality, health and stamina of the chocolate Persian is not an easy task. I do not breed to simply produce! If I did, I wouldn’t have to replace the cats in my breeding program so frequently. To help you better understand, I have decided to add this page to my website.
The chocolate Persian has a ways to go before they can be truly competitive in the show ring. In CFA they are classified as a Persian and are shown in the Persian class against some of the world’s best pure Persian cats. In CCA, there is a class specifically for Color Point Carrier (CPC) Persians. To make a long story short, in both associations, the chocolate Persian is judged using the Persian breed standard. But, they are not quite up to the Persian breed standard just yet, even though their quality has improved a great deal over the last couple of decades.
When I came across a chocolate Persian online, I fell in love with the beautiful chocolate color and when I saw the lilac Persian, I was awestruck. But after doing much research and looking at photos of the chocolate and lilac Persians and comparing their quality to pure Persians, I realized that these cats had a ways to go before they would be as nice in quality as a pure Persian. Well, I like a challenge and so it didn’t take me long to decide that I was going to start showing and breeding this wonderful color Persian. I knew that in order to really improve the quality of the chocolate Persian that I needed to add pure Persian blood lines to my program.
For example:
Chocolate Persian + Black pure Persian = Black or Blue Persian kittens who CARRY chocolate.
Conclusion:
The kittens produced would likely be better in quality than the chocolate Persian parent due to having a pure Persian parent as well. Since the kittens CARRY chocolate, if I kept a kitten from that litter and bred him/her to a Chocolate Persian (or chocolate carrier Persian) down the road, I could get kittens that are VISUALLY chocolate but in better quality because of the pure Persian blood lines.
Unfortunately, I must continue to breed back to the pure Persian until I get the quality I want in the chocolate Persian. This could take years and years to accomplish.
I feel that by adding pure Persian blood lines we are also greatly improving the health of the chocolate Persian. The chocolate gene pool is very small and by continuously breeding the same chocolate blood lines over and over we are asking for health problems.
Now, to continue to improve the quality and health of the chocolate Persian, I must keep many of the kittens I produce. Generally I will keep a kitten if he/she is better quality than their parents AND is healthy, has a good bite and nostril size and no abnormalities. It is at this time that I must seriously consider placing mom and/or dad as the next generation carries the improved genetic quality I am looking for to strengthen the Chocolate Persian.
Do I love them? Yes! Do I want to rehome them? No! BUT, in order to keep my program small enough that I am able to properly care for and love the cats I do have here, it is necessary that I rehome the cats I no longer need in my breeding program. And truth be told, these cats are often rehomed by the time they are 2-3 years old and can live a full life as a PET. I often visit the cats I rehome after they leave here and most do not even remember who I am, which is devastating to me but just how it seems to go! They are happy and being very spoiled in their forever homes. If I kept them here simply because I didn’t want to let them go, that would make me selfish.
So, when you see cats come and go frequently on my website please remember two things… ONE, those cats who are no longer here are spayed/neutered, happy, spoiled and being very loved in their FOREVER homes… and TWO, I am working hard and getting closer and closer to reaching my goal of producing quality chocolate Persians who not only fit the breed standard but who excel in health and stamina.
