Queensland cats - a retrospective ...

[lucy]

Happy anniversary - and what lovely pics!

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Happy Anniversary Jo!! Glad to have you with us 

[puddypaws]

I know what you mean BC, but there are still some breeders who breed the Old Style Siamese (there is one in Kent that I know of) and they are beautiful and look just like a Siamese cat should.

[blackcat]

Thanks Puddy 

Pavarotti was possibly the most neurotic cat I have ever owned. Unfortunately siamese these days seem to be so overbred that I am not sure i would go there again. I don't like the way they have been bred so pointy that their eyes (which used to be their best feature) now look out of place on their heads. I do like their big 'bat' ears though. It would be nice if they bred them back down to the sort of face shape Pav had and kept the ears I think. I am sure it can not be nice to be a siamese these days ... And I do think also that breeders should focus a lot more on temperament as the 'neurotic siamese' is such that now rescues will only (generally speaking) place with experienced Siamese owners - which suggests that this temperament thing is becoming even more exaggerated ... (will get off my soapbox now). Pav was the result of a backyard breeder selling rejects through a pet shop and was only about 6 weeks old when I found him covered in fleas and badly dehydrated ... He had to come home via the vet ...

[puddypaws]

So glad you decided to come over here BC.  Happy Anniversary!!  Your cats are so beuatiful - I love the Siamese - my secret wish is to have one 

[Bazsmum]

Aw what beautiful furbabes BC....I too had an Aby cross who went to the bridge due to cancer 

Glad your loving it over here! 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Happy anniversary BC I am pleased you like it here but I would love to have the Aussie weather 

[ginge66]

Happy Anniversary : all I can say it must have been a bloomin good job  offer to make you leave that lovely country of yours!!

What a fantastic picture it must have been a wrench to leave Sophie but at least you know she is being cared for.

We didn't get the chance to visit Tasmania but did over hear some tourists discussing their visit and they were most impressed. This year is such an anticlimax for holidays I really dont want to go anywhere else but back to Australia and I'm still paying for last years holiday

Andrea aka Ginge66

[blackcat]

Hi Ginge, yes it is a bit of an open secret here that I am Australian. In fact today is the first anniversary of my arrival here!!  I love England, though it has been a bit of an adjustment with the crowding and some of the social issues, but since I grew up in Tasmania I am accustomed to the climatic vagaries  . I was offered a really exciting sounding job which is not quite 'as advertised' but after 12 months i seem to be finally getting it into the shape I want it to be ... My dog, Shadow (who is in the pix) is here with me, and I have acquired two new cats since my arrival. Sofie, who also appears below is still in New Zealand which was my last port of call before leaving the antipodes. I had to leave her and Shadow with a friend for six months and Sofie adopted them so thoroughly it seemed kinder to leave her there rather than subject her to the 30 hour flight. Shadow, on the other hand, never quite settled, though I gather he had a marvellous time on their farm at weekends and during the school holidays, but he has now come over here and loves his new cat mates as much as he loved my old Bobcat (who is not in any of these pix but who travelled around from Sydney to Grafton to Brisbane and Christchurch with me before dying at the grand old age of 19. He and Shadow were great mates, and now Shadow has Smidgen for company instead

[ginge66]

Hi Blackcat what lovely pictures.

Hope you don't mind me asking are you from Australia and if so what brought you to this country? The reason I'm asking is that I visited Australia for the first time last April and fell in love with the place. I really cant wait to get back there so I cant imagine why anyone would want to leave it for this country, especially with our climate

[Desley (booktigger)]

What lovely cats.

[ccmacey]

Gorgeous kittys.

You did not leave them behind, you brought them with you- they will always be in your heart. 

[blackcat]

the tree the run is built around (far left of pic) is a paperbark. the one on the RHS is a flowering gum -the entire garden was landscaped with natives so a bit of a fire hazard when you stoked up the barbecue (middle of pic) I loved that they had installed a flourescent light strip over the barby so you could cook after dark

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Gorgeous 

Is that an Euchy tree by the car run?

[blackcat]

Part of the unpacking process means i now have some of my photos available for 'publication' so here is a little retrospective of my rainbow babes for you to admire and say goodbye to ....

Claudius - my wonderful 7 year old aby cross who was sadly PTS a few days after this pic was taken, he had metastatic cancer that led to complete liver failure ...


Pavarotti and Claudius doing their twinny routine - a specialty they had 


My last christmas in Queensland (with a canine interloper! )



Pavarotti and Sarah, a foster cat who had been taken to the vet to be PTS but she couldn't bring herself to do it



That wonderful cat run I keep banging on about



and Pavarotti and Sofie - the cat who came to NZ with me, but who fell in love with the people who were caring for her, so stayed ..