Cool Autumn Morning (Misty)

Misty is our first cat. Misty is a blue tortishell tabby. Misty was raised as a single kitten and as a result always seems to have a tortitude. She has determined that her mommy is her very own personal staff. Jennifer is usually the only person from whom Misty will accept attention. Misty is very needy and when she demands attention she gets it, or else. She gets along fine with all of the other cats, as long as they leave her alone.

Sunny Summer Beach (Sandy)

Sandy is our second cat. Sandy is Misty's younger sister. Sandy is a cream mackerel tabby, but her tabby markings are very light. Generally Sandy is a loner and does not need a lot of attention. When she decides that she does want attention she becomes very affectionate and loving.

Alley Addison of Addison Alley

Our third cat, Alley lived here before we did. Alley was named after the alley that runs beside our home. When we moved into our house in 1999, Alley was living in the alley. We started feeding Alley shortly after we moved. We fed Alley through two winters, 1999 and 2000. In the fall of 2001, we decided that we would not allow Alley to live outside another winter. We borrowed a live trap from the local humane society and caught him. We isolated Alley from the rest of house for an extended period of time. When he was trapped Alley was very wild. It took many months working with Alley until he started to trust us. Since that time, Alley has become very affectionate. Alley has chosen Bob as his own personal staff.

Alley is a Traditional or Applehead Siamese. When he was living on the street, Alley was never certain when he would get his next meal. Other cats from the neighborhood would eat the food that we put out. We also saw raccoons and opossums eating from the food bowl. We believe that Alley now eats as much as he can, because he still does not trust that he will always have food.

Alley is an excellent show cat. Despite his large size he does fairly well in the show ring. Alley enjoys attending shows, because he likes to receive the attention that he gets when he is displayed on the grooming table.

Beast in the Form of a House Cat (Callie)

Another one of our rescues, Callie came to us in late summer of 2002. Callie had been coming around our house for a couple of weeks. She was very thin, so we started to feed her. After feeding her for 2 to 3 weeks, she brought us her kitten. Jennifer was outside and saw Callie coming down an alley near our home with a little kitten. Jennifer easily caught Callie, but the kitten was not so easy. Callie is brown patch tabby with very long fur. Callie is a very affectionate cat. She spends much of her time around us and often requests attention. She will gladly accept any attention which is offered. Callie is currently available for adoption to the right home. We believe that Callie would prefer a home in which she is the only cat.

Dances with Joy (Prancer)

Prancer is the kitten that Callie brought to us. Prancer was a very little kitten when Callie brought him to us. Prancer, however, had lived all of his life in the wild and we can only assume that he had no prior contact with people. We attempted to spend time with Prancer, but he is still completely wild. He has finally started to accept some attention from us and will allow us to scratch his chin. If he thinks that we are going to attempt to pick him up, he runs. We will continue to work with Prancer until he is comfortable with people. We hope someday to be able to have him comfortable enough to show. Prancer is a red mackerel tabby. He has a very long coat and a wonderful tail. We think that he looks very much like a Maine Coon.

Peanut Butter Sandwich

The fall of 2002 was a very busy season for us. Early one morning in October of 2002, the neighbor across the street from us who is allergic to cats knocked on our door and told us that there were two kittens in their garbage can. We went and took a look and sure enough there were two kittens in the garbage can. These kittens were very young, and appeared to be looking for something to eat. When I went to get the kittens out of the garbage can they both ran. They hid under the porch of the building. When I opened a can of cat food and placed it on the ground, they both began eating. I was able to simply reach down and pick up the little red mackerel tabby. Peanutbutter has always been friendly, but skittish. He acts scared whenever somebody approaches him, but as soon as they start petting him, he becomes very friendly and loves the attention.

Blackberry Jelly

As you may have figured from the sameness and their appearances, Jelly is the other cat that we found with Peanut Butter. We are certain that she is his sister. Jelly was much smaller than Peanut Butter, we believe that he was taking care of her. I had a much harder time catching Jelly. After chasing her around the neighborhood for about a half hour, Jennifer finally went to the store and bought a live trap. The trap worked very quickly and we soon had another member of the family. While Peanut Butter is very friendly, Jelly is still somewhat wild. She wants nothing to do with people and would rather hide in the basement. We are actively working with Jelly in an attempt to socialize her.

Wild Thing Climber of Trees

Our latest rescue, has earned his names. One morning as I was getting ready to take our daughter to school I could hear a cat meowing. I checked all of our cats and determined that it was not any of them. I finally decided that the noise was coming from outside in the alleyway. I went outside and looked around. After a few moments an employee from a nearby business came over and pointed to the fact that we had a cat in our tree. When I looked up I finally saw the source of the noise. There was a cat about 25 feet up the tree next to our house. We did not have a ladder that was anywhere near long enough, so we called the fire department. We have a volunteer fire department, so they indicated that if and when any of the members got off work, they would give us a call, but that they did not expect that to be until after 5:00 PM. This was early in the morning and we did not know how long the cat had been there, so the wait was not acceptable. Finally, I decided that since we have a window in our attic near to the tree that I would place a board from the window to the tree. The cat, however, was not interested in coming across the board. Throwing food onto the board changed his mind. Most of the food fell off the board, but the food that stayed formed a nice trail right to the window. Once in the attic I captured the cat. He has been extremely friendly since the day that he came into our lives. After several weeks of calling him stray cat and looking for his owner (he was already fixed), we decided to adopt him. He earned his name, Wild Thing, as a result of the way he ran around the house. He is very active, when he plays, but he is not the most graceful cat. We have taken Wild Thing to several cat shows. Wild Thing absolutely loves going to the cat shows. He enjoys the attention and performing for the judges.

Calico Snugglebug

Calico is one of our "litter of 5". When Callie came to us she had a kitten. We did not want to have her fixed while she was still nursing the kitten, so we delayed having her fixed. Unfortunately, she went into heat and slipped out the door. She came back the next day and was no longer in heat. We were fairly certain at that time that she was pregnant, but we became certain as time progressed. She eventually gave birth to five kittens, Mole (now Sprint), Blackhead (now Teddy), Oreo, Calico and Mittens. Calico is a brown patch tabby with white. Her coat is long and very soft. We believe that her coat is still growing and believe that she will become even more beautiful with time. She is very affectionate and loves to snuggle with our other cats and us. She has attempted to snuggle with every cat in the house. Of the cats that allow her to snuggle with them, she even expects some to groom her, because she is too good to groom herself. She expects to be treated like royalty.

Calico is one of the cats that we show in the household pet category. She generally does very well, with her sweet disposition and cute face. She just needs to learn how to play for the judges.

Baby with White Mittens

Mittens if the other one of Calico is one of Callie's "litter of 5" that still lives with us. Mittens has a very sweet personality. She is not one of our more demanding cats, but she appreciates any attention that she receives. Not only does mittens have a sweet personality, but she has a wonderfully cute face. Mittens is one of our show cats. We show her in the household pet category. It often seems that she loves to be in the show ring. She appears to enjoy the attention from the judges, and she has such a sweet face that she usually one of the judges' favorites. Her biggest problem with showing is that does not like to be removed from the judge's cage. It seems as if she would prefer to stay with the judge.

Wyldelphyre's Goldie Fawn

Goldie is the first of our purebred cats. She is a fawn Somali. Goldie was bred and born in Hawaii and came to us through Arkansan. Goldie is very friendly with people, but seems to be a bit snobbish with our other cats. We have gotten the impression that she thinks that she is superior to them and does not want to reduce herself to playing with household pets. Occasionally, however, when she thinks no one is watching we will catch her associating with the other cats.

We adopted Goldie because we wanted to start showing pure-bred cats, with an eye towards breeding in the future. Before Goldie came to us and before she was spayed, she had been shown in championship and had attained the status of Champion. After Goldie was fixed and came to live with us, we continued to show her. Because she has been altered, she was then shown in the premiership category. Unfortunately Goldie developed a white locket on her throat. The breed standard for Somalis indicates that the existence of a locket is a disqualifying feature. Because of the locket, Goldie is not eligible to compete in any category other than the household pets. Since has the locket, we have not been taking Goldie to the shows. We believe that some recent behavior problems may be related to the fact that we have not been showing her. In an attempt to make Goldie feel better by taking her to cat shows, we have begun to enter her as a household pet in some shows.

GPR MittsNPaws Starbryte of Wyldephyre

Star is the first official Wyldephyre. Star was born on September 11, 2003. Star's breeder is Joann Mitts of MittsNPaws. Star is a red Somali who is very loving and very active. Star has adapted well to her new home and gets along with all of our other cats. We have started showing Star and will definitely be showing her for an extended period of time. Star has been altered, but she was initially shown in the kitten category. In fact through July of 2004, Star is still the number one Somali kitten in the Country. We have been showing Star as premier. Star easily attained the status of premier and quickly accumulated the points necessary to become a Grand Premier. We have great hopes for Star through the coming show season and believe that a regional win may be a possibility.

PR Valleycoon's Leo of Wyldephyre

Leo is our first Maine Coon. Leo is Heather's cat. Heather fell in love with Leo while visiting a cat show in Erie, Pennsylvania. Leo has been altered and is currently being shown in premiership. Leo is a premier and is currently working on getting the points necessary to become a grand premier. Heather is having fun with Leo and has really come to enjoy the show experience. Leo is still just a baby (just over one year old). We are expecting that Leo will be growing significantly over the next several years.

Snowball

Snowball is a white persian that we are currently fostering. Snowball has come to us through the rescue organization, Paws of Gold Feline Rescue. He is currently listed for adoption on Pet Finder's. He has some health issues, but is a very loving cat.

Summerlea's PPE of Wyldephyre (Purple People Eater)

PPE is our first purebred meezer. PPE is a lilac point Siamese. PPE came to us from some of our show friends, Rick and Barb. She is still just a kitten, but also loves to show. We have taken PPE to several shows. She knows when it is coming close to her turn to be judged, she starts to stretch. She likes to play with the Judge and climb the judge's pole, if allowed. We plan on showing PPE until she achieves the status of a champion. We will then have her altered and will try to show her until she becomes a grand premier.

Gecko

We rescued Gecko, her brother and her sister from a local home. The owners did not want the kittens. We actually found homes for the kittens very quickly. We found homes for her brother and sister on the first day. Gecko will be going to several friends of ours, Rick and Barb. Gecko is a very friendly and very energetic kitten. She absolutely loves to spend time with people and loves to sleep with us at night.