Talkative Tuesday

Lately, Teri's been posting photos without much dialog and while the photos are cute, we thought maybe our growing blogroll of friends might want to know how Teri's life with Cornish Rex got started.

She became a cat person after she got divorced, adopting a cute little calico cat that was born at the vet clinic where she worked. She named that cat Cascais, after a beautiful beach in Portugal that she visited when spending time with her mom and dad there. She'd never had a cat growing up, just dogs...but she took little Cascais everywhere with her, even to the drive-in movies!

After a while, she adopted a second cat, a accidental mating between an Aby girl and a wandering salesman. She named her CousCous, after the middle eastern food (what is it with these names...beaches, food?), She had hoped Cas and Cous would be friends, but they never really were, but the three of them shared a nice life together, each cat having it's own routine and personality and Teri understood that. When Teri read about the Cornish Rex and how affectionate they were and how they loved to snuggle together, she said to herself, "One day I want one of those kind of cats!" She visited cat shows to meet them, and read everything she could to learn more about them, but she didn't want to put Cascais and Couscous through adjusting to a newcomer, she just didn't think they would be happy with a new addition to the family.

When Couscous and Cascais passed away, a few years apart, but both from intestinal lymphoma, Teri began her search for a Cornish Rex. She took a weeks vacation and visited half a dozen catteries and she picked out one when she met her at 7 weeks of age, but she had to wait til she was 16 weeks old to adopt her. That was a long wait for Teri, but worth it, cuz that kitty was Rusey Beach, who in honor of her very first cat, Cascais, she named after a beach in Cornwall.

She was going to have Rusey spayed and take her out to cat shows. But Rusey didn't care for the cat shows one bit! She just curled up in a little ball and flattened her ears out like airplane wings!

The whole effect was not to look like a greyhound, not win any ribbons, and not have to go to another cat show in her life!

So, the breeder who Teri got Rusey from helped her find a suitable mate for Rusey and that is how Furrydance Cattery and Teri's love affair with us CRex began, way back in 1988! Rusey passed away at the ripe old age of 19, actually outliving all but one of her children, and she was a very special cat both to Teri and to the family that adopted her when she retired from being a mommycat and who had her for the rest of her "golden years".