I am not sure if this is the right place to post this. It could fit in a few different places.
I know this was a bit long, but I though some people here might find this interesting. Sorry, some of the pictures are not of the best quality. Most were taken more than 15 years ago by teenage me with my very first camera that was basically a brick.
I shared my first 16 years of life with my fur brother, Menis.
I have wanted to tell his (and Sandy’s) origin story for a while, but only recently found pictures of him that I thought had been lost forever when my last laptop went supernova. Menis was one of only two cats my family intentionally adopted. Both cats came from the same place. A friend of my mother’s mother had more than 100 cats on her property. Some were inside and some were running around the yard and barn. There were kittens everywhere. I actually only went there a few times. But from what I saw, most of the cats were well fed, healthy and friendly. This lady (let’s call her Jenny) was not so much of a hoarder as a mad scientist breeder. She was trying to create the “perfect” cat, a breed of her own vision. She wanted to create a breed that had a calico colored coat that bred true for both males and females. She was also experimenting with coat length, texture, body type and head shape. Jenny had acquired a few different pedigree “specimens” to work into her breeding program. I have no clue how many she bought or all the breeds, but I know she had a purebred Himalayan female and a purebred traditional Siamese male. I am not sure if it was an accident or not, but the two mated and Menis was the result. Of course, Menis and his litter mates were of no use to Jenny for her breeding program. So, she adopted them out. Apparently, she did this a lot with “extra” or “failure” kittens. I am willing to bet that a lot of the cats in Jenny’s county were either directly from her or related to one of her cats, especially during the height of her “breeding project”. 
Now, the second cat we got from her was this adorable female tortie kitten we named Sandy. Apparently, when my mother went to pick out Sandy from one of Jenny’s most recent litters, Jenny called this tiny torti “ugly”. She considered tortishells failures to her breeding project because they did not have the white that calicos have. I don't know what she would have thought about a tortie with white or if she even knew the difference from a calico. Jenny also saw torbies as failures.
I don’t know if I have any good pictures that demonstrate Sandy’s adult body type, but she was a bit unusual. She had really long legs and a long body. She was tall and lanky, but not quite like an oriental. Sandy had more muscle. It was like Jenny took a stocky cat like an American shorthair or even just a domestic shorthair and bred it with one of the oriental breeds. I mean considering what Jenny was doing at the time, that could very well be the case. Sandy also had really big ears which also makes me lean more towards her having some oriental in her.
I think after talking to friends/ family, seeing the cats that she had bred at her home a few times over the course of several years and based off of the cats my family adopted, I can make an educated guess at what Jenny’s “perfect” cat was supposed to be like. She wanted a calico colored coat for both male and females. She wanted the cat to be tall and long like an oriental, but stockier or more muscular. I can’t say for sure what she wanted for coat length or texture, but she had only a few long haired cats at her place. So I guess shorthaired was her goal. I find it kind of funny that she rejected Sandy because she was so close to what Jenny wanted. But, because Sandy did not have any white, she was deemed a failure. Everything else about Sandy was almost exactly what Jenny was trying to create.
I have a feeling that even if she bred the "perfect" female, she would still have not been happy. I mean it's not like she could just keep breeding that female and evenly it would give birth to a calico male. 
Obviously, Jenny never created her perfect cat breed. After about 20 years of trying to breed this cat, she gave up. Jenny found homes for the cats she could and spayed/neutered the rest. I don’t know if she ever understood why male calicos (or even tortishells) are so rare. I don’t think she understood that the few true male calicos out there are often sterile and can have health problems. I find it a little ironic that she was giving away these kittens and calling them failures when they were amazing cats. Sandy was a little neurotic at times, but I chalk that up to her being a torti. Sandy lived to be 15 years old with no major health problems until the very end. Menis was an AMAZING cat. He was beautiful, patient and loyal. He lived to be 16 years old and had no major health problems either. I don't know if Jenny was crazy or just eccentric. I am just glad she finally stopped breeding litter after litter of kittens in the pursuit of something that was just not possible.
I know this was a bit long, but I though some people here might find this interesting. Sorry, some of the pictures are not of the best quality. Most were taken more than 15 years ago by teenage me with my very first camera that was basically a brick.
I shared my first 16 years of life with my fur brother, Menis.
I have wanted to tell his (and Sandy’s) origin story for a while, but only recently found pictures of him that I thought had been lost forever when my last laptop went supernova. Menis was one of only two cats my family intentionally adopted. Both cats came from the same place. A friend of my mother’s mother had more than 100 cats on her property. Some were inside and some were running around the yard and barn. There were kittens everywhere. I actually only went there a few times. But from what I saw, most of the cats were well fed, healthy and friendly. This lady (let’s call her Jenny) was not so much of a hoarder as a mad scientist breeder. She was trying to create the “perfect” cat, a breed of her own vision. She wanted to create a breed that had a calico colored coat that bred true for both males and females. She was also experimenting with coat length, texture, body type and head shape. Jenny had acquired a few different pedigree “specimens” to work into her breeding program. I have no clue how many she bought or all the breeds, but I know she had a purebred Himalayan female and a purebred traditional Siamese male. I am not sure if it was an accident or not, but the two mated and Menis was the result. Of course, Menis and his litter mates were of no use to Jenny for her breeding program. So, she adopted them out. Apparently, she did this a lot with “extra” or “failure” kittens. I am willing to bet that a lot of the cats in Jenny’s county were either directly from her or related to one of her cats, especially during the height of her “breeding project”. Now, the second cat we got from her was this adorable female tortie kitten we named Sandy. Apparently, when my mother went to pick out Sandy from one of Jenny’s most recent litters, Jenny called this tiny torti “ugly”. She considered tortishells failures to her breeding project because they did not have the white that calicos have. I don't know what she would have thought about a tortie with white or if she even knew the difference from a calico. Jenny also saw torbies as failures.
I don’t know if I have any good pictures that demonstrate Sandy’s adult body type, but she was a bit unusual. She had really long legs and a long body. She was tall and lanky, but not quite like an oriental. Sandy had more muscle. It was like Jenny took a stocky cat like an American shorthair or even just a domestic shorthair and bred it with one of the oriental breeds. I mean considering what Jenny was doing at the time, that could very well be the case. Sandy also had really big ears which also makes me lean more towards her having some oriental in her. I think after talking to friends/ family, seeing the cats that she had bred at her home a few times over the course of several years and based off of the cats my family adopted, I can make an educated guess at what Jenny’s “perfect” cat was supposed to be like. She wanted a calico colored coat for both male and females. She wanted the cat to be tall and long like an oriental, but stockier or more muscular. I can’t say for sure what she wanted for coat length or texture, but she had only a few long haired cats at her place. So I guess shorthaired was her goal. I find it kind of funny that she rejected Sandy because she was so close to what Jenny wanted. But, because Sandy did not have any white, she was deemed a failure. Everything else about Sandy was almost exactly what Jenny was trying to create.
I have a feeling that even if she bred the "perfect" female, she would still have not been happy. I mean it's not like she could just keep breeding that female and evenly it would give birth to a calico male. Obviously, Jenny never created her perfect cat breed. After about 20 years of trying to breed this cat, she gave up. Jenny found homes for the cats she could and spayed/neutered the rest. I don’t know if she ever understood why male calicos (or even tortishells) are so rare. I don’t think she understood that the few true male calicos out there are often sterile and can have health problems. I find it a little ironic that she was giving away these kittens and calling them failures when they were amazing cats. Sandy was a little neurotic at times, but I chalk that up to her being a torti.
Sandy lived to be 15 years old with no major health problems until the very end. Menis was an AMAZING cat. He was beautiful, patient and loyal. He lived to be 16 years old and had no major health problems either. I don't know if Jenny was crazy or just eccentric. I am just glad she finally stopped breeding litter after litter of kittens in the pursuit of something that was just not possible. 
!
