| Welcome to our website and I hope you enjoy your journey through our wonderful cats. To give you some background; I have always been owned by a cat or two when growing up and it was a natural step to obtain a couple of furry friends when I finally bought a home of my own. These furry guys were Bilbo & Timon (see British boys). When I met up with Norman a couple of years later I soon realised that he too was very much into the cats and enjoyed having a multi cat household. After moving house twice to a much larger detached in 1999 I decided it was time to take the cats seriously and see if I could go in to breeding and showing my own kittens. That's when the cats went from minority to majority!! We found a wonderful breeder and now a good friend Anne Edney of Rocadanne who entrusted to us our first Maiden girls. Starting with just the British Shorthair and then over the last seven to eight years we have acquired several wonderful Selkirk Rex cats that have complimented my British breeding programme with our first Selkirk kittens having been born in 2005. My love of the Selkirk Rex has overtaken my British Breeding programme and the Amazolou Cattery became one of the founding members of the Selkirk Rex Cat Club in 2006 to aid in the progression of the breed and it's championship status within the GCCF. We have exported cats in the last 3 years and will consider the sale of kittens to overseas buyers. Please note that we do not make any profit from kitten sales. Everything goes back into the pot towards the several thousands of pounds it costs to keep these wonderful animals and support my hobby of showing. Please feel free to browse our site and see our wonderful boys and girls. If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact me direct: Zoë L Amarilli (+44) 0121-430-8082 email: zamarilli@aol.com or amazolou@googlemail.com |
| The Selkirk Rex The Selkirk's nick name is the "sheep cat", though named after a breed of rabbit. The curly cat is a rarity that they share with the little long-eared herbivore, and with their cousins from Devon and Cornwall, otherwise they look quite different. The Selkirk owes' their humble beginnings within a litter of ordinary kittens after a natural mutation. The breeders thought that they looked so pretty they decided to establish the breed. The first ancestor, 'Miss Pesto', was born in Wyoming USA,in 1987, of a common American Shorthair mother and unknown father. She was adopted by Mrs Newman, a Montana breeder of Persian cats, and so moved up into high society! Her first partner, a black Persian called 'Photo Finish', gave her three curly kittens, so the Selkirk is genetically dominant, because just one Selkirk parent was enough to produce these curly little cats. The Selkirk's have a robust, gracefully round body, lush curly fur and even curly whiskers and eyebrows. They have a gentle nature and a loving temperament. The Sell kirk has just become recognised by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy thus launching their UK show career. For the first part of their acceptance they can only been shown as an Assessment breed, but shortly will have full recognition once their numbers on the show circuit start to rise. For more details of this wonderful new breed please visit the Selkirk dedicated website: Selkirk Rex Cat Club Web Site |
The British Shorthair "We would do well to look to the gutters for our education," wrote Moncrif in his History of cats in 1727. The nineteenth-century cat lover and painter Harrison Weir must have agreed with him, as he hand picked cats from the gutters of Great Britain to breed and show, thereby raising the common or garden alley cat to the rank of "British Shorthair". This terribly colonialist appellation was used at the time to refer to a variety of continental household cats, and was the cause of much confusion, until specific breeding programmes defined the precise standards for the British and European Shorthairs, according to morphological differences. Nowadays the British Shorthair still has a slightly rugged look which betrays its common origins. It is a medium to large sized cat, with a sturdy muscular body, broad shoulders, short robust legs, and a deep rounded chest. The tail is thick at the base, and should be as long as two-thirds of the body. The head must not be too short, and is round, like the muzzle. The eyes are also round, and are orange, gold or copper-coloured: in case of the silver-coated cats, the eyes should be green, and white cats can be odd-eyed. The eyes are set quite wide apart, accentuating the width of the nose, and there is a very slight stop between the nose and the well-defined forehead. The very thick, short hair covering the forehead gives it a rounded look. The ears are quite wide at the base, and quite small., with rounded tips. It's short, plush fur makes this cat look round and fluffy - most inviting to touch! With it's sweetly innocent, picture book face, it looks like a cuddly toy come to life. |
Amazolou Cats
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Amazolou Cats
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