Tuesday, August 23, 2011

British Shorthair Cattery - LAZIBLUES


ABOUT LAZIBLUES Cattery:

 LAZIBLUES Cattery is a registered name with The International Cat Association (TICA) and the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA). We are located in New York City and Westchester County and specialize in breeding blue and lilac British Shorthair cats. During the first few years of the cattery’s existence we stayed true to those colors working with mostly European bloodlines from Belgium, Netherlands and France. Later on we added new lines from Australia, Denmark and United Kingdom. We have also discovered and grown to love other, more rare colors of British Shorthair such as chocolate, black, and some tabby varieties such as a lilac tabby and chocolate tabby. Our cats’ ancestors include such European titles as World Champions, Grand International Champions and Grand European Champions. We have been actively showing cats, and now our cats include Regional and International Winners. This year our youngest stud male IW SGC Laziblues Earl Grey became 6th Best Cat Internationally in TICA.

 At LAZIBLUES we are dedicated to breeding healthy and happy British Shorthair cats that make affectionate companions as well as exceptional competitors at a show ring. Our British Shorthair cats are not kept in cages or enclosures, but live as a part of the family. This insures the cats' calm demeanor towards people and loyalty to the family. The only separation we observe is between males and females, and females with young kittens. Our British Shorthair cats like to cuddle and purr non-stop for hours at a time. The British Shorthair kittens from their birth enjoy the love and undivided attention from the whole household.

 British Shorthairs are very friendly and affectionate cats that appreciate attention without becoming a nuisance. They crave and enjoy attention, but do this in an undemanding way, which some people learn to appreciate a great deal. British Shorthair males usually act as if they are the "boss" in the family, and prefer to be treated with respect. However, they also biggest goofballs, and although they typically are not very active cats, every once in a while they like to pretend they are still kittens and run around as such. British Shorthair males are large and strong cats, so if you have downstairs neighbors, during those goofball times they may think you keep elephants as pets. Nevertheless, these cats make wonderful pets for apartments or houses as they are not destructive whatsoever. We manage to keep about between 20 and 40 pots of different plants (depending on season), and this number does not decrease due to cats’ activity.

 British Shorthair females truly are British ladies, and although they also like attention from their human family members, proper form and etiquette is a must among these cats. They are also very responsible and caring mothers. They give birth easily and even while caring for the kittens often find time to cuddle with us. They like the attention even during this time, and generally prefer the whole family to participate in raising the kittens.

 Choosing between a male and a female, is not an easy task, as both make wonderful companions. Differences in personality are mostly attributable to the fact that everyone has something unique about them, rather than to males vs. female differences. Since the breed standard for both TICA and CFA was written for a male - males generally are more characteristic of the breed. They are about 1.5 times larger than females and have fuller jowls. Nevertheless, size is not everything in this breed, and it is a combination of many different features that make a show cat. There is a saying that breeders love to say to one another, “There is no perfect cat”. The truth is that as breeders we are constantly in motion to work on improving the breed in a futile attempt to raise a perfect kitten. Breeding is a work in progress, and we are thrilled to be able to call ourselves breeders.

 British Shorthairs are strong cats with relatively no health problems due to a large gene pool available for breeding. These cats are very easy to groom as their coat does not tangle and requires minimal care. The coat is short, but extremely dense. This characteristic creates a plush effect, and the cats look like light grayish-silvery teddy bears with a big smile to top it off. What an incredible view, isn’t it? Blue is the classic color, however there are other colors British Shorthair come in such as lilac, chocolate, black, cream, white, shaded, colorpoint in different colors, tabbies, almost any other color you have ever seen, and some you never even thought existed. Some colors are very exotic and rare, and some are incredibly sophisticated. British Shorthair can thus satisfy everyone’s tastes in this regard.

 The British Shorthair breed was made famous by the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland and the Puss in Boots. More recently a blue British Shorthair was pictured in a movie “Pet Sematary”. The smile and the plush look of a British Shorthair coat are so-called trademarks of this breed. This together with their known wonderful disposition towards children and all members of the family makes them best pets you can ever dream about.