IW, SGC, GC Coonyham Navarro, OS
Navarro was a special cat, born to very special parents. He was
one of three kittens and the moment he was born, he had Laura's
heart. His brother, Santiago, had bigger ears, a longer muzzle, a
longer body and tail but Laura kept saying "Navarro" was the one we
were keeping. He was the package kitty.
Navarro had a tremendous show career - 10th Best International Kitten
in
1994, 8th Best International Cat and Best Maine Coon Cat for TICA in
1995. Best of the Best at shows - winning awards in the USA,
Canada and France. He granded easily in CFA then went on to be
come a TICA Outstanding Sire. Several of his children excelled
beyond just titles but becoming International Winners themselves such
as IW, SGC Coonyham Antonio Banderas (Bandit),
showed lovingly by Toni Jones in San Antonio and IW, SGC Coonyham
Rising Sun of Williamina, OS - Sunny was the first cat shown in TICA's Asia region to
achieve an AB International Win, garnering Sunny a huge fan club of
support in Japan for bringing honor and prestige to their region.
Another son, GRC Surfer Dude of
XTC, DM went on to found his own legacy by achieving a CFA DM title
- meaning he sired 15 or more CFA grand champions for RC and Mary Smith
and others. We are so proud of all of Navarro's children though -
not just the ones with titles.
Navarro sired
over 160 kittens, both for us and for a few other breeders who used him
with their queens. That is a lot of kittens, but Navarro was
pretty potent - siring a number of litters of 7, 8 or even 9 kittens at
a time. He did not have to work too hard. ;-) Many of
his kittens had his trademark look - dramatic eyes and a wonderfully
defined muzzle and chin. Other Navarro traits - fantastic coats
and sweet (but smart) temperaments.
Navarro was monitored for HCM all his life and was clear each and every
time he had an echocardiogram. He was examined numerous time by
Dr. Kittleson. His last ultrasound
took place when he was 10.5 years old and he was examined by Dr. Lori
Siemens, a board-certified cardiologist veterinarian. He
never showed any signs of HCM. As we mentioned before, Navarro
sired over 160 kittens during his seven+ year breeding career and over
97% of them are alive and well. Do the math. It takes
Two (cats) to Tango and we feel that Navarro's track record for
producing healthy kittens is admirable.
Some other anecdotes: Navarro matured quickly. He was at
one of his last kitten shows and later that night, in the hotel room,
Laura's roommate (another exhibitor) laughingly told Laura to get off
her cell phone because Navarro was standing on the bed, next to her,
looking longingly at the back of her neck and saying "Ah-Roo,
Ah-Roo". Needless to say, Laura wrapped that call VERY fast.....
and gave him a big hug.
One of his best shows was the Maine Coon specialty show in Secaucus,
New Jersey. There were over 80 Maine Coons entered into that
show, at least 56 of them in the adult class which featured nearly
every color and pattern possible. Navarro had earned Best Maine
Coon kitten in show at this show the year prior. This year, he
was an adult. He was Best Maine Cat in show - which was such an
honor and a thrill for us. Here is a photo of
him, being presented in a final by Larry Paul. He was not
used to being held for so long, it made him ancy, hence the slightly
worried expression.
Something else happened at that show. Laura had gotten her
grooming routine down pretty well with Navarro. If he was washed
correctly and blown dry completely, then his coat stayed great without
excessive combing and no need for sprays, powders or other grooming
aids. Before each ring, she would check his eyes, ears, mouth,
nose and feet, make sure his coat was clean and then put him on the
grooming space and play with him. He'd play with a toy or wand,
bat at the toys, run around in circles and then she'd pick him up and
take him to the ring, combing perhaps his ruff but more often than not,
would not comb him at all. His coat had fluffed up from the
motion of playing and it looked immaculate. Little did Laura
know, but several exhibitors were watching her closely, trying to pick
up grooming techniques. One of them called her after the show and
expressed her frustration "you did not groom him - I kept watching and
could not learn anything". :-) The lesson was - a perfectly
groomed cat can stay that way so the more work you put into the show
bath before the show - the less work you do AT the show. Then
again, not all cats are Navarro and not all cats had his magnificent
coat. :-)
Navarro
was not a large cat. He looked bigger than he was. We had
people tell us that he had to weigh at least 16 lbs. We'd laugh
and correct them. His show weight the year he was campaigned was
12.5 lbs. Seriously! 12.5 lbs of muscle, he carried NO fat
whatsoever. Let's hear it for the medium sized guys! OK,
the borderline small'ish guys! ;-) Navarro proved that you
did not have to be 18 lbs to be a contender. That is not to say
that toting him around in Sherpa bags on planes was not hard on the
back or elbows. He felt plenty heavy to us. His heaviest
weight, at 8 years of age, was 16.5 lbs. At 12.5 years, he'd
regulated to 15.5 lbs and felt great, solid and still very muscular.
Alex Graham loved judging Navarro. The first time he judged him,
he pulled him out of the cage, put him on the judging table and stepped
back. He shook his head twice and put Navarro back into the
benching cage. We were baffled - what was wrong? Alex hung
his awards and to our amazement, Navarro took best of color, then best
of division and best of breed. Hmm - curious. Navarro was
called back to Alex's final later that day - amazing! Alex did
not look at Navarro when he inspected the other cats and marked his
finals sheet. This was really unusual behavior. Alex
started his final and went all the way to 2nd place without looking at
nor taking out Navarro. He presented Navarro as Best Cat (to our
utter shock) and said (paraphrasing)"This is a magnificent Maine
Coon. He's not perfect, I have judged cats which are larger, have
bigger ears, longer bodies or bigger bones but this Maine Coon is
perfectly balanced with every feature in harmony and as it should
be. This cat is undeniably a Maine Coon and is undeniablely a
stunning example of the breed. He is my Best Cat!". Thank
you Alex for summarizing what made Navarro so special. He was not
perfect but the sum of his parts, that luscious coat, that charisma you
felt when you laid your hands on him - was what made him so special to
us.
Here is a photo of him being presented by Yvonne Patrick
in a final.
As beautiful as he was, we had a hard time getting his gorgeous head to show
off in photos once he was retired. He has so much coat - he
was like a yak. A greasy yak at times, to boot. Here is a photo of him
at the age of six - you can see that wonderful muzzle and he NEVER jowled out
but it was hard to show that in photos. We did take him back out
to a show locally when he
was about 7 or 8 so folks could see that he was still as gorgeous
and competitive as ever.
Navarro transitioned from "super stud" (only in potency and gentle
technique, he never sprayed!) to couch-potato-extraordinare
with panache. He loved being our greeter and he loved getting on
laps and getting kisses. He tested many of Laura's dates and
boyfriends for her - if they did not succumb to Navarro's charm then
they were destined to get the boot sooner rather than later, saving
everyone some heartache. ;-)
Navarro loved getting fed special treats. He'd jump on a low cat
tree and wait for Joe to bring him a dish of cat food every
night. He'd say thank you buy getting on Joe's lap and chest,
head butting him and drooling on him. He loved making babies but
he loved being retired even more and he enjoyed all those years with
gusto.
Laura let him sleep with her at her peril. Navarro would start
out on one side of the bed. Then he'd be right next to her.
Then he'd inch up towards her pillow and claim a corner of it.
Then half of it. Laura would wake up the next morning, her head
at some impossible angle while Navarro happily claimed the ENTIRE
pillow for himself and he'd have a dreamy expression on his face while
Laura went to work feeling like Quasimodo and with a crick in her
neck. Needless to say,
Navarro did not get to sleep with Laura as often as HE would have
liked. ;-) But how could you resist this face??
(Coonyham Sheridan at 6 months and Coonyham Navarro at 8 weeks - 1993)
Late April 2005: Navarro developed a mass on the side of his
abdomen.
At first, our vet thought he had pancreatic cancer and exploratory
surgery was
scheduled. During the surgery, it was determined that Navarro had
severe gall-bladder disease, not cancer. His enormously enlarged
bile ducts
were the masses palpated and seen on x-ray and ultrasound. Other
surgeons were consulted and due to the severity of the disease and the
likely risk of
infection/shock and the state of his pancreas, his condition was deemed
inoperable. We had been saying our good-byes to him for the past
fews days, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. It
was not to be. We
decided not to wake Navarro up from surgery. It was a very hard
decision - we really wanted him back, whole, healthy, loving, giving
kisses and head bumps but we did not want to see him suffer.
We miss him very much. He was our prince and we will never forget
him.
Part of his legacy are his descendents. Below are some links to a
few of them. Please remember Navarro with lots of LOVE which is
all he ever gave to the world in return.
Sharon, Laura and Joe Cunningham
Some of Navarro's beautiful kids....
IW, SGC Coonyham Antonio
Banderas of Hojpoj (known to his friends as Bandit)
GRC Coonyham Bandita also know as the world's cutest kitten!
Coonyham Buster
Brown
GRC Coonyham Cassis
Coonyham Fiesta
of Smokeycoons
Coonyham Marina
GRC Coonyham Mirabella
(also known as the kitten in the middle flowerpot)
QGC Coonyham Mokelumne
of Argo
SGCA Coonyham Morgan
Coonyham Negro
Modela of Sarajen, Morgan and Surfer Dude of XTC as kittens
Coonyham O'Malley
(otherwise known as the kitten in the flowerpot)
IW, SGC Coonyham Rising
Sun of Williamina (Sunny)
IW, SGC Coonyham Rough Rider
Coonyham Sierra
SGC Coonyham
Sonoma, OD
GRC, Coonyham Surfer
Dude of XTC, DM
Coonyham Tammany
of Thundercats
Coonyham Tenaya
QGC SamNKats Starlight
Express
and
IW, SGCA Pinecoon's Pawnee Bill
Navarro on the cover of CATS USA 2005
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