Coonyham Photo Album

Seen above, this lovely litter of blue classic tabbies was born to Coonyham Bluegrass (pedigree) and GRC Coonmora Renegade of Coonyham (pedigree) back in 1997. The kittens are: Ringo, Xercat Madame Butterfly of Supermaine, Blossom of Longfellow and Pinball Wizard (Tommy) of Rockincats.   Butterfly is also featured in this amusing photo.   Bluegrass had just one litter for us and then was retired when Renegade was neutered as we had no other male to breed her to -- our new male - Lone Star was her half brother.  Bluegrass has OFA good hips (prelim).  Renegade had several lovely litters for us and they will be listed below.  He was not happy living as a stud male, and he matured sexually very early, so for his well-being and happiness, he was neutered at 2 years and is being deservedly spoiled rotten by Diane Jacobs in Los Angeles.  :-)  Renegade has OFA good hips (prelim).

Our First Maine Coon - QGC/CH St. Clouds Silver Shadow of Coonyham

We continued to show Shadow occasionally and enjoyed learning more about TICA and CFA as well as making friends with the local breeders and exhibitors at the shows.  We eventually made that fateful decision to not neuter Shadow as planned but to instead buy a female and breed Maine Coons.

The photo of Shadow above was taken in June 1999.  He died on March 24, 2001 at the age of 12 years from kidney failure.  He was a gentle  couch potato, crossed his front legs when lounging, scooped up kibble with his paws and quietly asked for hugs and pets with a few very high pitched (and very Maine Coon like) squeaks.  He especially loved to sit in the middle of a newspaper when it was being read - to remind us that there were more important things than the paper - like petting him.  Goodbye Shadow - we miss you very much.  :-(

We thought the perfect sized cattery would be three females and one male and thought it would be a prudent idea to send Sierra to another stud male and keep her daughter to be bred to Shadow.  We had fallen in love with the picture of Coonquest King Koon of Cancoon in the MCBFA Scratch Sheet and Sharon contacted his owner, Debbie Smith and his breeders, Larry and Vickie Fisher.  After speaking to Sharon, Vickie graciously agreed to accept Sierra for stud service to "Kahoona"s sire - SGC Charmalot King Arthur Pendragon.  We flew Sierra to Albuquerque and met the Fishers (very kind and funny people), got to oooh and aaah over Dragon and fell head over heels in love with their stunning blue girl - DGC McInkats Pocoonhontus of Coonquest (Pookie).

We left Sierra in their wonderful care and had a fun short vacation in New Mexico.  What a stunning place!  We visited Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Bandalier National Monument, Sandia Peak, The Turquoise Trail, Chimayo, the artisan "ghost-town" of Madrid and we had a wonderful time.  Sigh....  We could not wait to go back again.  Already, our hobby, with this first trip, was helping us indulge our love of travel and we were able to start exploring areas we'd "planned" on visiting sometime in the next 25 years.  :-)  Little did we suspect, cats and cat shows would take us ALL over the USA, to Canada and to Europe -- but that comes a bit later.  :-)

Sierra had a lovely five MONTH vacation with the Fishers (yes, five long months, two witnessed breedings (she's a proven queen, he's an outstanding sire)) but alas, no kittens before Sierra finally came home and turned into Mata Hari with Shadow, resulting in four beautiful kittens - Rhiannon, Chester, Winston and Miu-Lum.  We kept Rhiannon (pedigree) and now we had four girls and one male who is the father to two of the females.  Yikes!  How did that happen?  Well, best laid plans .... and Rhiannon is pretty darn irresistable and inheirited Sierra (and her grandmother Lagunacoon Mocha Fudge Truffle)'s domineering ways.  Sharon adores Rhi's alpha ways with the other cats.  Our cats secretly call Rhi the "wicked witch of the west" because she mastered the art of the Evil Eye early on and uses it judiciously and often.

Since Jubi could not be bred to her half brother Shadow and neither could his two daughters, Rhi and Cashelmara, we made plans to breed her the following year to another stud and decided, with so many girls related to Shadow, that  it would be a good idea to get a second stud male who would eventually replace Shadow entirely.

Jubilee went to visit Helen and Don Johns and Allmykittens Peter the Great (a beautiful red tabby male, pedigree) and had a pretty litter of kittens.  Jubilee also had two litters with Beausoleil (see below) before being retired and placed in a great home (with Shannon Rosa who also has Freckle).  It was around this time that we also spayed our very alpha Sierra and placed her in a great home in San Bernadino and placed our perpetual victim cat, Molly (even Max, our pet Birman picked on her) as the only cat in a home with a vet tech where she went on to have two more litters with Beau and Andy for us prior to being spayed.

SGC, RW  St. Clouds Cheyenne of Coonyham, OD
Cheyenne is a brown classic tabby bred by Nancy Davenport. Cheyenne's parents are TICA CH St. Clouds Burnt Sugar (Sugar coincidentally was born the day we picked up Shadow from Nancy and we got to hold/admire her when she was just minutes old) and SGC, IW Willowplace Starbuck, OS, a cat we had long admired. Sharon begged and pleaded and wore Nancy down in her quest to get this wonderful girl.  We had so much fun picking out Cheyenne out of a stunning litter of six kittens.  We  both thank  Nancy and Barbara Ray for breeding their two cats together and then allowing us to bring Cheyenne into our home and into our breeding program.  She is a wonderful, prepotent and healthy cat who has created some incredible kittens for us.  She is also our original hugger cat.

Cheyenne is a TICA Southwest regional winner in 1992. Cheyenne is also an Outstanding Dam, which means that Cheyenne has produced five or more offspring which have become grand champions or higher as unaltered adults in TICA. Her children have been truly outstanding in terms of quality and show results. They include: Sundance and Santana, Laredo of Wyndhaven, Laramie of St. Valentine, Sheridan of Noblecoons, Durango, Kericho of Masaitana, The King of Mainrita, Nugget of Maynetree, Cherokee, Bonanza of TipTop, Paladin of Furreal, James Bond of Portlands, Surfer Girl of XTC, Super Tramp of Von Havitschburg and Bronson of Toon-y-coon. Cheyenne's last litter consisted of a singleton - Solano. :-) We love all of her offspring but have to admit to being extremely partial to Sheridan especially when he was six months old, pictured here with Navarro when Navarro was 10 weeks old. :-)

Cheyenne has great ears and lynx tips, a great profile, great chin, square muzzle, lovely eyes and expression, fantastic pattern, auburn-gold coloring and excellent coat. Cheyenne was born in August of 1990 and has been screened by ultrasound for cardiomyopathy several times. Her last ultrasound was done in December 1999 by Dr. Mark Kittleson at UC Davis and she had a healthy heart at over 9 years of age! Cheyenne has OFA certified hips (Fair) as well. Cheyenne also has "perfect" gums. She has no ginginvitis, gum or teeth problems, tartar and has never needed to have her teeth cleaned. What can we say? She's a wonderful, wonderful cat and we are so fortunate to have her. Cheyenne was spayed.  She is 13 years old but unfortunately developed mammary cancer.  We had the tumors removed but cancer was detected in all lymph nodes.  We know our time with Cheyenne is getting shorter so all we can do is love her and appreciate her.

Click here is Cheyenne's pedigree.  I love this special picture of Cheyenne nursing her litter born in April 1996 during which time Cheyenne was also fostering kittens from her daughter, Laramie for a week while Laramie recovered from surgery. She accepted her grandchildren without hesitation and quite possibly saved their lives.

At the San Francisco INCATS show, where we took possession of Muzz and Cheyenne, Larry and Vickie introduced us to Judy Chappetta who was showing a beautiful kitten named Cooncreole Crescent City Classic.   We wanted to introduce a warm brown tabby and white into our breeding program (for Muzz who was nine months old) and Judy was known for her warm brown tabbies.  We gave Judy a deposit on a kitten and a few months later in March 1991, Laura visited Dan and Judy Chappetta in their home and returned with TWO wonderful girls.  The first girl is the littermate to SGC, IW, OS Cooncreole Cajun Cowboy, and   was exactly what we wanted -  a HOT brown tabby and white with an incredibly hard body and great pattern and this photo does NOT do her justice. ( pedigree)

QGC Cooncreole Evangeline of Coonyham.

Laura  fell in love and could not leave their home without begging and pleading to get  SGC Cooncreole Mardi Gras of Coonyham too - a high white, incredibly patched and stunningly beautiful brown torbie and white girl (pedigree).  Reds never interested us before - but she was the most fascinating thing Laura had ever seen.  We are very lucky to have such wonderful girls and can't thank Dan and Judy enough times for their generosity and friendship as well as their constant support and comfort when we lost Muzz.

We met Steve and Elizabeth Cole at several shows in California and admired their boys - Ryanplace Shadow Dancer and K-Mart Special and made arrangements for Cheyenne to visit them in Ft. Worth and have a "hot" date with K-Mart - resulting in our beautiful Sundance and Santana.  We remain grateful to them for their kindness and for helping create our wonderful litter of two.

We want to give the most attention we possibly can to our cats, socialize our kittens and just enjoy everyone.  This means we cannot keep as many cats as we would like (athough it may not seem that way).  So, we have made the hard decisions to place most of our retired cats once they were altered.  This started with Sierra and later with Molly and Jubilee.  We later placed Beau, Chloe, Mariposa (Rhi's full younger sister who had one litter for us), Blaze, Velcro, Freckle, Cashelmara, Renegade, Cimarron, Dakota, Tassajara, Tenaya, Coonfetti and Aja.  Each and every time we've placed a cat, it has been very sad and difficult for us to part with them but we know we are doing it for their best welfare and happiness.  We have a waiting list of people who want our retired cats.  That must be because getting a retired Maine Coon adult is very rewarding for the new family.    We know their personalities very well and take as long as needed to put them in just the right and perfect home for their needs.

This year (1999), we obtained feline birth control which allowed us to mingle some of our males and females without worry of an unplanned pregnancy.  We think of our cats as members of the family and want them with us as much as possible.  We originally built a run on our lower back covered deck to allow our cats some fresh air in a protected setting and to move some of the litterpans outside.  It is surrounded by lots of potted plants and hanging plants, several  windchimes, a catnip plant and is both peaceful and lively.  The cats can see squirrels on the fence and see/hear the birds all around as well as chase moths or flies foolish enough to fly into the run.  They get the morning sun, but are sheltered from the wind and strong afternoon rays.

When Molly "christened" a photo album and Cheyenne "annointed" the stove, we expanded our in-and-out run into three separate runs, inter-connected and without the in-and-out privileges.  We rotate the cats within the runs every few weeks.  At present, Rider and Coltrane have one run and the other two runs are opened to each other with a number of females sharing that space - girls who are not on birth control or who are "virgins"- with lots of shelving, two immense cat trees, insulated dogloos at night and lots of vertical exercise.  Our climate is mediteranean and temperate - winter lows are in the 40-50's and summers are dry and usually in the 80's.  We bring all the cats inside whenever the temperature reaches 95 or higher as the fans and misters cannot keep up with that kind of "dry" heat. Otherwise, the cats enjoy the runs and want to be outside.   Sundance and Lone Star have the run of the house along with the alters and any girls who are on birth control or confirmed pregnant.

Prior to delivering, queens are moved into a bedroom where they stay, segregated, until their kittens are about 4-6 weeks of age.  Our kittens start off born in a large carrier or draped Baby Hut tent.  The kittens emerge from the tent and start to meander around on the floor starting around 2.5 weeks of age.  Kittens underfoot can be hazardous to your health but we enjoy the chance to put them in bed with us and snuggle and kiss the little "tator tots".  After lots of kisses (and nail trimmings), we can keep them in bed with us and teach them that belly tickles are a good thing.  :-)  Around the age of 4 weeks, they start litter box lessons and they are introduced to kitten food.  At this time, they need to be briefly confined in order to ensure that they learn good litterbox habits.  This can be a very messy stage but happily, most get the idea quickly.  They move to our kitten playroom, have their Litterbox 101 final lessons in an easy to clean confined space and then graduate to the entire room.  We normally do not let the kittens loose into our home prior 12 weeks or older but older kittens are transitioned out to the downstairs if they are staying with us longer.  We would rather have the kittens safe, sound and thoroughly loved in their fun playroom where everything is for their enjoyment.  :-)

Now, back to our story...  Cashelmara visited Chuck and Diane Sweeney and had a "torrid affair" with SGC Cowtown Cougar of Coronadocats.  She had six beautiful babies and we ended up keeping her daughter, Blaze of Glory (pedigree) (and lucky for us too as Cashelmara later developed a pyometra infection which was treated but then developed a second (closed) pyo infection and was spayed).  Cashelmara's daughter Corrina was featured on the cover of Tetsu's cat book and lives at the Tommy-t-coon home.  Angel Fire went to Janet Sanders in Austin (Colorfield).  Maggie lives with another blue silver tabby male (Big Daddy) in the home of Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle (where Laura worked for three years).  Cashelmara went to live in a great home when she was retired - as a chubby but beautiful spay.

Santana is a large female; approximately 11.5 lbs in weight and has superb head type with good boning, body length, and a solid, heavy frame. Santana is sweet, loving, bossy and very goofy in character. Her babies are the same! Santana was born in April 1992 and has been checked for cardiomyopathy three times by Dr. Mark Kittleson at UC Davis. Her last exam was May 1999 and she is doing great. Her hip exam was noted as Fair-prelim by the OFA. Here is Santana's pedigree. We've always loved this picture of Santana with her brother, Sundance when they were eight weeks of age. Copyright © Ellison Photography. All rights reserved.

Santana has welcomed the last litter of her distinguished breeding career.  She had a long visit with SGC, RW Coonmora Hennessy.  We wish to thank Connie and Paul Zimmerman for helping create her last three boys - Dylan , Hewitt and Jack.

Santana has just been treated for hyperthroidism and her thyroid levels are now normal.  She has been safely spayed, has regained her weight (and then some! Uh Oh) and is happily roaming the house at will, reminding everyone that she is the one and only queen of the household.  :-)  Santana just turned 11 years old in April 2003!!

SGC Coonyham Bobbie Sox

Bobbie Sox is the daughter of Sundance and Rhiannon (pedigree).  Her older and younger full brothers and sisters include:  SGCA, IW Coonyham Cordoba, SGC Coonyham Shiloh of Wintersky, TICA GRC, CFA GC, GP Coonyham Sassafras of Ambar (Sass), Coonyham Jocomo (Jock), and GRC Coonyham Rawhide (Randy).

Bobbie was also known as the Prom Queen but this name has been officially bestowed on her grand-daughter, Peggy Sue (see females page).  She had four litters with Navarro and her children include:  SGC Coonyham Sonoma of Dreamhunter, QGC Coonyham Mirabella of Guardian Angel, SGC, IW Coonyham RisingSun of Williamina, SGCA Coonyham Kemosabe, Tenaya and Jumpin' Jack Flash.  We kept Tenaya from Bobbie's last litter, not suspecting that we get our beloved Sonoma back from Kurt and Inge Vlach in Austria.  We don't have room for two littermate sisters so we have spayed Tenaya and placed her in a loving home this year.  Somoma is a special princess and especially loves to have her chest massaged.  :-)  Sadly, Bobbie Sox has passed away.  :-(

Cherokee's second litter -- pictured here at ten weeks of age includes on the right, Coonyham Negri Modelo of Sarajen (Della), in the middle RW, SGCA Coonyham Morgan and on the right is CFA-GC Coonyham SurferDude of XTC who is fast approaching his DM title in CFA.  Go Dude, Go!  Her third litter consisted of just of one girl -- but what a girl! Bandita looks so much like her older brother Bandit, that this nickname turned into her official name. Cherokee's last litter also consisted of just one kitten - sired by Lone Star, and this black and white charmer named Rob Roy is simply adorable.  Cherokee's kittens are all very special.

Cherokee is a large, handsome girl.  She is our largest girl with massive boning.  She has been ultrasounded twice at UC Davis by Dr. Mark Kittleson in June 1998 and May 1999 and has a wonderful, healthy heart. Her hips have also been checked for hip displasia and were pronounced to be good. :-) Cherokee's pedigree is here.  Cherokee was retired in the Summer of 2000 and loves her new loving home where her sweet, quirky ways are indulged and a lap is always available.

Velcro was bred to Renegade.  She had a beautiful litter of  three girls and a boy and actually seemed to be homozygous for silver.  Our first homozygous silver cat after five generations of breeding silver to silver.  Wow - at last!  However, she developed a horrendous case of mastitus with this first litter, rupturing two nipples while hospitalized for a week (yes, it was very bad!).  We immediately spayed her as we never wanted her to go through that again.  So much for a silver breeding program!    She lives with the Curtis family and is their "lap fungus" now and definitely lives up to her nickname of Velcro.  We kept her daughter, Moonstruck

CH Coonyham Moonstruck

and sent her sister Starstruck to Julie Meehan of Koontucky and her sister Galaxy to the Cremente family in Italy (Wistariantale Maine Coons).  Moonstruck ended up having only one litter for us - sired by Mojave and all six kittens are really beautiful and very loving.  They include Gunsmoke, Stetson, Bronson (another), Angel Eyes of Rockincats, Tyler and Seneca.   She received four finals while we were showing her but did not achieve her grand before we retired her from showing.  We welcomed Galaxy's daughter, Baci to our home and Baci is very similar to Moonstruck in temperament.  :-)

Evangeline's daughter, Trinity is a very solid and heavy girl and so flashy with that black silver and white coloring,  achieved her DGC title prior to one year of age.  Trinity also had just one litter of kittens.  Her litter was sired by Navarro.  She delivered prematurely (by our records, six days early) and unfortunately, we lost three of the four kittens, despite all of our efforts.  The sole survivor was a scrappy boy with a beautiful head and marvelous golden brown with white coloring.  He wormed his way into our hearts and Sharon refused to part with him.  I'd sent away her love, Bonanza from her a few years before (not realizing just how much she loved him).  Nothing doing - she wanted to keep her baby.  This time, she definitely got her way.  :-)  We named him Rough Rider and have been enjoying him ever since.  Trinity and her sisters, Shabonee and Sienna all had problems either with premature delivery or another problem with their kittens and therefore all three girls were retired from breeding fairly quickly.

Aja had a beautiful litter of kittens with Lone Star, with two fun black and white boys named Coonyham Top Gun of Smokeycoons and Coonyham Dapper Dan. Their sister, Pagan, looks just like her daddy, Lone Star, as a baby.  Here is Aja's pedigree.  Aja's pedigree is very similar to some of our other cats, and since her gingivitus has not cleared up past adolescence, we made the decision to spay Aja and place her in a loving home locally with Josh and Amanda.  Now we hear she has turned into a love bunny and kisses their dog ???  :-)

Sonoma is a brown classic tabby female who carries dilute. Sonoma is a large, long and heavy female. We just love this girl for her sweet but feisty personality and absolutely stunning type. She has a great chin, large ears with a nice ear set and lynx tips, warm rufused coloring, a good pattern and a long tail.  Sonoma had two beautiful litters for her previous family, Inge and Kurt Vlach of Dreamhunter/Skywalker Maine Coons in Austria before returning to us.

Sonoma had an outstanding and stellar show career. Her beauty and type was recognized and rewarded with many finals, best in show and best of the best awards in TICA, CFA and FIFe. The highlight of her career (which we happily witnessed) was winning Best Aggregate Maine Coon in show out of 81 Maine Coon adults at TICA's first show in Austria (thanks to Kurt Vlach!) and the next day, winning Best Maine Coon out of over 100 Maine Coon cats/kittens/alters including over the current World Winner - Maine Marks Dakota AND...   being voted Supreme Cat in Show over every single entry (BOB1) at the following FIFe show the next day at the tender age of 11 months. Oh my - what an accomplishment.  We were all crying at that show - for joy, and breaking out the champagne.  :-)   Sonoma is a star -- we all love her as the special princess that she is.  We are eternally grateful to Kurt and Inge Vlach for parting with their special "Sony" and letting her come back to her first home.

We bred Sonoma to Lone Star and their kittens are "simply marvelous".  From the first litter - two of the boys are in loving pet homes while American Hero, Serengeti of Bonfirecats, Chasca of CuriaCooni (in South Africa) and Tallulah of TruTails are in loving show homes.  Sonoma has had her heart examined by Dr. Kittleson at UC Davis (May 1999 and July 2000) and she has a wonderful, healthy heart.  She is a big spay now.  Her daughter, Tagi, lives with Stephanie Boulter of Coonoquan Maine Coons in Virginia.

Marina is a large girl with a lovely, warm brown tabby coat.  Marina carries both solid and dilute.  She is pictured here at 5 months of age, in need of bath, but so cute!  She is soooooo sweet!  Marina gets on our laps and puts her paws around our necks to make biscuits and give us little fairy kisses.

She is a quiet and undemanding girl but she is also playful and really charming to have around.  When we sit down, we usually have Marina in our laps in seconds.  Marina had her first litter with Lone Star in 1999  -- WOW - the kittens were wonderful!  Her kids included two solids and four tabbies: Travis of Whatacat, Kit Marlowe and Panthera are all being shown with the other three kittens in loving pet homes. Travis belongs to Ida and Jerry Martin, gives french kisses and is a QGC and a RW for the TICA South-Central region.  :-)  In Marina's second litter, Kilamanjaro lives with April and Chris Huddleston and Cindy Huddleston in the St. Louis area.  Sherwood (a black and white) lives in a special home with Marianne Kutrowatz-Eckl in Germany.  Both males are spoiled rotten and loving life.

Marina was ultrasounded in 1999 and July 2000 and is free of HCM.  She has also had her hips checked and passed her prelim screening.  Here is her pedigree.  Marina has been spayed as we did not have room for three girls with identical pedigrees.  We love Marina's kittens and want Marina to be spoiled rotten so she was placed into a loving and lucky home.  :-)

Mardi Gras is a brown classic torbie and white with very flashy coloring. She has good boning, an excellent head, muzzle, profile and chin, large ears with lynx tips, and large, expressive eyes. Mardi Gras is one of our more petite girls, just under 10 lbs and she does not carry dilute or solid. Mardi Gras has produced many gorgeous show kittens by five different stud males (Sundance, Navarro, Beausoleil, Phoenix and Dewars); including these sired by Sundance: Cody, Bianca of Mainette (owned by D'Nette Musser in New Jersey), Praline (UK), Carnivale, Flashfire, McKinley of Kassaro, Tabatha, Simonida and Chynna Doll of Coonwyck. Her last litter included Maggie, Tequilla Sunset and our darlin' girl - Dixie Chick.  Mardi Gras had one nice litter with Navarro and two of their sons went to breeders - Vincent of Belushies, and Coronado of Ambar.  With Beausoleil, she produced Angel and Hobbes (a one show DGCA in TICA).  Mardi Gras also had a lovely litter sired by QGC Pinecoon Phoenix Rising which included a lookalike torbie girl named Trooper of Sarajen along these two handsome boys - Thundercloud and Suncloud.

Mardi Gras was a TICA regional winner in 1992 and she has five TICA grand champion offspring to her credit (Bianca, Carnivale, Hobbes, Praline and Chynna) which makes her a TICA Outstanding Dam. Mardi Gras was born in November 1990 and she has been ultrasounded several times for cardiomyopathy. Her last cardiac ultrasound was in January 2001 at the age of 10.5 years!  Her heart was normal according to Dr. Mark Kittleson of UC Davis. She has OFA certified Good hips. Mardi Gras comes from Dan and Judy Chappetta at the Cooncreole Cattery -- we just love this girl and really had to beg to get her - and rightfully so. :-)  Here is a photo of Mardi Gras sleeping on a huge stack of cat beds that were placed on a chair, reminisent of the Princess and the Pea fairy tale.  She is a princess for certain!   :-)  Here is Mardi Gras' pedigree.

Mardi Gras had a beautiful final litter for us in July; sired by SGC, IW Sarajen Dewars.  They have a daughter named NOLA who is a brown tabby and white and a son named Big Easy (aka Jazz) who is a red tabby and white.  Mardi Gras has been retired from breeding to become a full time lap kitty and resident princess-at-large.  She takes her job very seriously.  ;-)  She is coming up on 13 years of age and looks great!!!!!

To show you how well our cats live, check out Mardi Gras' impression of the Princess and the Pea:

lounging on a huge stack of cat beds (about to be washed).  Rough Rider decided to be her Prince Charming

but she was not impressed by his credentials.  :-)

Here are photos of Bandita (taken June 1999) looking sweet and looking serious.  ;-)  Bandita's expression is so endearing; both feral and sweet.  She also has a strong chin and large ears which are set well with nice lynx tipping. Her coat is silky and profuse and we think she is an absolutely gorgeous cat. :-)

Bandita was born in July 1998.  Bandita had cardiac ultrasounds done by Dr. Kittleson in December 1999 and February 2001  and at 2.5 years, her heart looks great.

Bandita had a litter of four awesome kittens with Lone Star - including Mezzaluna of Lunarcoons, Cippolini,  Ballerini and Buddy.  The first three "Italian" kids were all shown.  Ballerini is a one show grand champion alter and weighs 15 lbs at 18 months.  His brother, Cippolini did very well with four finals at his first show and is a whopping 23 lbs at 18 months.  Wowza!  :-)

Her second litter of kittens (again, with Lone Star as the sire) included five females; all beautiful and sweet. Coonyham Bonnie of Macavity is the pick of that litter but all of the girls were lovely.  My favorite was the goofy black and white girl - named Attila s who lives with Nicole Freeman and Tassajara in San Rafael.  :-)  Bandita was bred to Lone Star and she had four male kittens.  California Blu went to live with the Bittners (and Bonnie) and Oreo is another promising black and white who is roaming our home and confusing people who think he is Tommy.  :-)    The other two boys are in loving pet homes. Yep, Nicole got another Maine Coon  - she is officially addicted!  Bandita has been spayed and is now living in a special and loving home. Bandita's pedigree can be seen here.

Penzance is anxiously watching her kittens crawl around in this photo - she takes motherhood very seriously!  Penzance is a brown classic torbie who carries both solid and dilute. Penzance was born in the UK but her parents are both American imports. Penzanceis out of Coonyham Durango (Cherokee's full brother) and Coonmora Calamity Jane. She came to the USA when she was a very young kitten, with her littermate brother, Kititas Tanqueray of Argo (who is the sire of Mightycats Centurion). Penzance has been screened for hip displasia in 1998 and happily for us, her hips are fine and free of HD (OFA Prelim rating of Good).  She has been sonogrammed for cardio three times (most recently in December of 2000) and her heart looked perfect each time. She was born in late December 1996.  Penzance has tawny, rich coloring and has gotten quite large as she has matured, weighing now about 12 lbs.  She has never had very much coat but the positive side is that she is very easy to groom.  :-)

Navarro's first litter of kittens with Penzance produced Marina and a cute red tabby boy named Jacques. Her second litter with him was much larger in size (seven!) and included two surprise torties among a rainbow of colors. She had the LAST litter sired by Navarro before he was neutered.  Penzance had nine kittens which was just too many kittens, but our beautiful Cassis and Sierra were in that litter.  Penzance is a sweet girl (albeit a bit shy) --  her kittens have been sweet and goofy and have their mother's obsession with kneading on necks and nuzzling earlobes. :-)  Penzance's pedigree can be seen here.  Penzance recently had kittens sired by Lone Star.  Penzance has been  retired from breeding and she is a very chunky spay.

Madera was out of Sundance and Capecoon Mikayla of Wintersky (Mikayla was leased to us for one litter). Madera was a goldeny-reddish brown classic tabby with beautiful type and a wonderful pattern. She had very extravagant ears and lynx tips, a great chin and profile and a very feminine look. Madera  was ultrasounded for cardio in October 1999 and December 2000 and passed both times with flying colors.  Her hips were certified as OFA Good.

Madera was only a few years old when she developed a cancerous mass in her abdomen.  While under surgery to remove the mass, it was determined that too many organs were involved and her quality of life, after surviving the surgery would be uncertain and her expected lifespan very short.  We opted not to wake her up to a life of possible pain and discomfort.  It was a very difficult and tearful decision to make.

Madera had two handsome boys with Lone Star on New Years Day, 1999. We nicknamed the boys Abbot and Costello because they are clowns and make us laugh all the time. Abbott is officially Coonyham Pancho Villa and Costello is Coonyham Coltrane.. Coltrane was just not meant to leave us, despite several offers.  He is just too endearing and too much fun.  We call him "The World's Greatest Cat".  We repeated the breeding two more times as we thought it was a super combination of type, pedigree, temperament and health and Madera had  five gorgeous kittens in her second litter.  They live all over the world:  Lascaux in Germany, Pearl of Heartbreakers in Hungary, Malibu in Japan and Kahlua 'n Cream of Sarajen in the USA (Virginia).  Buddy was the only pet in the litter and he is a handsome guy too.  Her last litter included Precious, Spud and Bolero.

Thank you for being part of our lives, Madera and for giving us our funny Coltrane.  We will always love you.  Your legacy lives on in your kittens and grand-kittens.  Bless you sweetie.

Baci is a silver classic tabby.  She was first shown by her breeders - Mio Cremente and Sumiyo Ueda as Wistariantale Guess Who in Europe. This Italian sweetheart  is very lap-oriented and gives kisses all the time, so what better name for such a sweet girl but Baci - after the Perugina chocolate kisses from the Umbria region of Italy?  Baci kisses are even wrapped in silver foil with blue accents - the same color as her parents - Realcoon Best Time (silver tabby) and Coonyham Galaxy of Wistariantale (blue silver tabby).  We could not resist her beautiful face.....  She is beautiful and a joy to have in our family.  We cannot thank Mio and Sumiyo enough for giving us this special angel.  Grazie, Grazie!!!

Baci made two finals at her first adult show; and was best of breed in one ring.  :-)  She then had a lovely litter of kittens by Lone Star and their kittens are really beautiful (Mission Blue of Fog City, Casanova of Wistariantale, Silver Halide). We showed Baci after her coat and figure recovered and she did very well with many finals and a regional win.  Baci was ultrasounded for HCM in December 2000 and December 2001 and passed both times with flying colors.  She has kittens with Rider (his first litter) and they look wonderful.  Valentino (Bravo) lives in Japan.  We've named her daughter Dolce Vita which is Italian for The Sweet Life.  Baci has been spayed and now lives in Park City, Utah where she likes to hang out in the kitchen sink and give kisses.

Gold Dust or "Goldie" as she is called is pictured above as a kitten.  Goldie is the daughter of SGC Coonmora Hot Shot of Pinecoon and QGC Coonyham Mokelumne of Argo (we leased Mokie from Becca Wagemann for one litter last year).  We would like to thank Becca Wagemann for leasing Mokie back to us, and thank Betsy Tinney and Connie Zimmerman for arranging for Mokie to visit Hot Shot and creating such a sweet and lovely litter.  Here is the basic pedigree on Goldie and her littermates (we used Mokie's littermate brother, Buster Brown (a brown w/white) in place of Mokie's name to get the matchup).  ;-)

Goldie is a gentle and loving girl, with very warm (rufused) brown coloring, hence her name.  She has nice type and enjoyed being shown.  She is Navarro's granddaughter but otherwise has lots of outcross in her pedigree.  Goldie is very good natured - she is a joy to have around or to cuddle.  She also talks absolutely nonstop.  She comments on everything and has quite a number of gentle opinions that she expresses contantly.  :-)  Goldie's father, Hot Shot has been hip and heart checked as has her mother, Mokie who has OFA good hips and was ultrasounded by Dr. Kittleson.  Goldie had a normal echocardiogram in January of 2001 and her hips have cleared OFA with a prelim report of Good.  :-)  Goldie was placed in a wonderful new home, training more people on how to fall in love with Maine Coons.

Dipsy Chick (-oops, that is our real nickname for this darlin' girl)  is the sweetest, cutest, funniest girl in the whole world.  We are not biased, are we?  Well, maybe just a little bit. ;-)

Dixie is a brown classic tabby and white out of Mardi Gras and Sundance.  She is a wonderful blend of her parents attributes; lovely head type with strong muzzle and chin definition, a longer muzzle, nice ears, lovely coat and luminescent eyes (our trademark).  Dixie looks like a feminine girl but she plays for keeps.  She talks all the time and has so much to say, but more than anything, this girl has got to have her loving and she has to be admired and touched constantly (and in your lap, trying to bite off any buttons or ribbons on your shirts). She will not stay off the keyboard if you are typing so don't try to ignore her.  :-)

Dixie Chick is just a baby, we don't think she will ever grow up.  When she is be-bopping around, we start humming Faith Hill's song "This Kiss".  The words and rhythmn just seems to suit this Southern sweetie-pie.  Dixie was ultrasounded for HCM on February 4, 2001 and has a normal, healthy heart.  Her hips were checked and rated Preliminary Good by OFA.

Dixie had a lovely litter of kittens with Lone Star.  The best male, Makena is shown as an alter by Sharon Tolby (who has Dylan as well) and Natalie lives with Francesca Gagern of Tuscaloosa Maine Coons in Vienna.  Dixie's last litter featured some beautiful Rider babies - Miss M (or Emmylou, James Dean and Elvis.   Dixie has had problems off and on with Irritable Bowel.  She really has improved since being on a special vet diet using only one source of protein and one carbohydrate.  Accomodating Dixie's special diet with other cats' cuisine can be quite a juggle but Dixie is worth the effort and her new family adores her silly ways.

Prom Queen is the daughter of Sonoma and Lone Star, pictured here at 8 weeks of age.  She is feisty, spunky and thinks she is hot stuff.  She is very dark and her pattern did not emerge much.  Her white markings are beautiful; two long socks in front and white up both back legs ... all the way.  Very flashy.  She has a beauty mark on the back of one hock.  We love her strong muzzle, big chin, great profile, huge and lovely eyes, nice ears and lively personality.  Her expression is reminiscent of some of our favorite cats - Navarro, Sonoma, Rising Sun and Sierra Nevada.  She has very dramatic eye liner and mascara.  :-)

We also call her PQ for short.  She answers to the sound of diet Snapple plastic cap covers - she comes running and bats them out of our hands.  She is soooo cute.  :-)  PQ has three lovely silver tabby male kittens and a black smoke girl.  We named them after characters in Pride and Prejeudice (which was playing while she delivered).  Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley are handsome (true to life).  Mr. Bennett and Eliza are suitably handsome and pretty.  Now Prom Queen has been spayed so that we could reduce the number of breeding females we have and she lives with Genoa Shepley and Doug Nickel.

This special girl was born to Navarro's very last litter.  We waited a long time for a black female of this quality and temperament and she was definitely worth the wait.  Cassis is a solid black with her father's beautiful, lush coat and temperament.  She has a great profile, nice ears and incredibly long and thick lynx tips.  She is a very balanced girl who gets better and better every day.  She had a nice kitten career and enjoyed being shown.  While it was still cooler, she was dripping in coat, thanks to Navarro's genes.  :-)  Cassis finished her grand title and enjoyed motherhood twice.  Cassis is happy to return to her kittenish ways and plays nonstop.  She is especially obsessed with diet snapple bottle wrappers.  :-)  Cassis is about to be spayed and may join a very special family.

Mandy is an adorable girl.  She takes after her dad, Coltrane in giving head bumps spontaneously and wanting constant attention.  Yes, she is the cutest girl in the world.  How could she not be?  Her mother, Nola is a sweetie and her dad is a big mush.  She has had a fabulous show career - even was highest scoring Maine Coon at the TICA Annual in Virginia (pictured above).  Mandy loves being shown and shows off her pretty look and coat.  She's a bit wiggly and isn't thrilled to have her head examined but she loves to play and she feels great.

Her brother - Starry Night over Rhone (aka Suess) lives near Houston and is already doing well at shows (stretching like Coltrane used to do for judges too!).  Her other brother - Merlin lives in Alabama and thinks cat shows are pretty cool too.  A sister lives in Massachusetts - Coonyham Malibu Girl of Degacoon.

It was a special and one-time-only litter.  We are lucky to have Mandy with us and she reminds us of her grandmother, Madera - in very nice ways.   Mandy developed cysts on her ovaries and we worked with a fertility specialist veterinarian to see if we could overcome her difficulties with fertility but we have been unsuccessful so we will spay Mandy.

DGC Pinecoon Caliente of Coonyham

Callie is a beautiful and flashy brown classic torbie and white female. Callie has the most loving and endearing personality imaginable. She is a lovely tribute to David and Betsy Tinney who raised her and her six siblings so wonderfully well. Her brothers include SGCA Pinecoon Lord Alexander and her sisters include GC Pinecoon Moxie, Pinecoon Material Girl of Luvpaws and some other cuties seen on the Pinecoon homepage.  Callie's baby name was "Sundae".  She has been living up to that sweet start ever since.  :-)

Callie has vibrant coloring, excellent pattern, good body length, a lovely profile, good chin, expressive eyes and very large, high set ears with one red lynx tip and one black lynx tip!  Callie was born in May of 1998.  We checked her hips at 13 months and they looked good to our vet.  Callie had a cardiac ultrasound with Dr. Kittleson on July 30, 2000 and at 2 years of age, was perfect with no signs of HCM.  She was rechecked December 9, 2001 and passed again. Callie's parents have both been hip and heart checked.  Her parents are SGC Pinecoon Hot Patootie (aka Hoppy) and QGC Pinecoon's Lumberjack (aka Frosty) and you can find their pedigrees on their respective pages.

Callie's pedigree is here (not yet finished, but a start). Callie is surprisingly "alpha" for being one of the younger girls. She thinks nothing of trying to boss Santana and Sonoma around - when she can get away with it. :-)  She was a great mother and her kittens with Navarro are both sweet and beautiful; like their parents. Coonyham Cisco of Coonpulsive, Coonyham Fiesta of Smokeycoons and Coonyham Quincy are all off to a great start on their show careers and Cisco in particular is demonstrating superb show temperament.

Update:  We lost Caliente - she developed a duodenol ulcer from prednisone, which started bleeding, causing peritonitus, shock and death within hours.  It was such a horrible shock to say goodnight with kisses and then find her the next morning.   Please do NOT put your cats on prednisone unless it's a last resort and imperative for quality of life.  The risks are too high when they can take a wonderful cat like Callie from us - too soon. 

Coonyham NOLA

NOLA is named for our favorite restaurant in New Orleans, L A (NOLA) - smack dab in the heart of the French Quarter.  We've eaten there several times and the last time we were there, Emeril Lagasse was eating at the next table (it's HIS restaurant), while he was on a break from shooting a local commercial.  :-)

Nola is just like her namesake - fun, sweet, eclectic and spicy.  She is a brown classic tabby with lots of white and she is adorable.  Look at these cute baby photos...  :-)  Her mother is Mardi Gras (hence the 'Nawlins name) and her father is SGC, IW Sarajen Dewars.  Our thanks to Teri Matzkin for taking such great care of Mardi Gras for her retirement litter.  Nola is a chunky girl who loves to give kisses.  She is very endearing and we enjoy her tremendously.  She has a very strong profile and chin.   Here is a photo of Nola with Sierra when they were very young.  Nola's pedigree is "tres cool" and we can breed her to any of the boys.  She had a hot date with Coltrane and they had six babies in November.  We kept one girl, Mandalay - partly out of our adoration for this wonderful litter and partly out of grief for Madera who died of cancer - Madera is the grandmother of these babies.  Her second litter was a singleton - but Turbo is a cutie.  Nola’s third litter had three cute kittens – all brown tabbies with white (Todd, Teddy and Cuddles).    She appears to be homozygous for the piebald gene as all of her kittens have been tabbies WITH white - just like Nola is herself.  Nola came to our rescue when Calistoga needed help caring for her kittens - Nola took over fostering them.  She's such an angel!  Nola now lives with Chris and Helen in Berkeley.

Velvetjewels Valkyrie of Coonyham 

This sweet and lovely girl is from dear friends - Roxann and Van Rokicki of Velvetjewels Maine Coons in Wisc onsin.  Kyrie's parents are SGC, RW Coonyham Gold Rush of Velvetjewels and Sarafina Tamaya of Velvetjewels.

Kyrie is a finger-licking, water-obsessed, whirlwind of a girl who courts danger. She already had a little of tail hair singed off by "exploring" the stove.  She and Mandalay wrestled and played all day long.  She has a gorgeous head with a wowza muzzle and chin and big ears, a wonderfully intelligent expression, a silky coat and a long, elegant body.  She loves to give kisses, nuzzle faces, and explore your dinner.  If she would only learn to wash dishes, her curiousity with the kitchen sink would be more useful. :-)  She got two finals at her first show and two more at her second show (Santa Rosa).  Thanks again, Van and Roxann - this girl is darling.  We LUV her.  :-)  She produced a lovely first litter of kittens with Lone Star - seven babies!  Her second litter (with Rough Rider) had four really lovely kittens and two of the boys from the 2nd litter (Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer) are being shown by the Finn family.  :-) 

Valkyrie finally has developed some coat (and a big tummy - she was pregnant with her third litter!) so here are some newer photos of her showing off that gorgeous head and expression.  :-) 

Coonyham Catalina

 

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QGC Nascat's Fire It Up And Burn Out (Tori)

Tori is a gorgeous girl.  This photo of her was taken when we picked her up at a show in New Orleans in December of 2000.  She is long, relaxed, sweet and has such a great expression.  Laura saw her at a show in November and fell hard for this special girl.  It's easy to see why.  Our sincere thanks to Donna Hinton for letting us have this very, very special girl.  :-) We've enjoyed showing her at cat shows all over the USA.  She did well from the age of 9 months onwards including receiving a Best Longhair Cat final which finished her grand title.  Here is Tori, pictured at the age of 11 months; just lounging around the house.   :-)  Isn't she lovely??  On December 9, 2001, Tori  had her heart ultrasounded by Dr. Kittleson and she passed with flying colors.  Subsequent ultrasounds have always shown a perfectly normal heart. 

Tori is homozygous for silver so all of her kittens have been silver tabbies (black silver, red silver, torbies) or smokes (black smoke, red smoke, smoke torties).  They are always colorful and beautiful kittens.   Tori has been spayed and in a very special and loving home.

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DGC Coonyham Jamaica

Jamaica!  Ja-maka-me-silly, Ja-Make-A-mistake, Jamaica-me-crazy.  Jamaica went from being the world's cutest kitten to everyone's little sweetie.  She is so gorgeous and she has that silly, goofy, impish way about her that endears all Maine Coons to their people.  She loves snapple bottle wrappers.  She loves to be touched, hugged, petted and cuddled.  She loves balls and furry mice toys.  She fetches nonstop - especially glitter balls and pipe cleaner toys. 

 

Jamaica has her own look yet she is so reminiscent of Coonyham Rising Sun (Sunny) and Coonyham Bobbie Sox.  I see a little bit of Calistoga in her but also a little like her dad - Tuscaloosa Comanche of Tasahara (seen here at 14 weeks of age).  Jamaica has had several litters and while she was a great mother and very loving and attentitve, we have retired her from our breeding program.

 

She hates having her picture taken and  is seen here with a look of disgust.  J  She is in the outdoor run that all of our cats have in-out access to for fresh air and toys.

We would like to thank Arthur Stern for creating a magnificent work of art for us; a large stained glass light panel by our front door.  The work picks up the lines of the Shoji screens in our living room and the colors in the Asian art Joe and Sharon collected while living overseas (Navy family, y'know!).  Arthur's work is incredibly beautiful; please visit his web site at www.arthurstern.com.  Arthur has three "Coonyboys" and a Coonygirl named Baxter (Tenaya's son), Rascal (Marina's son), Barkley (Tori's son) and Maggie (Mardi Gras' daughter).   You can see Arthur's panel here - with Coltrane in front of it.  :-)  At night, when it is backlit, it is just breathtaking.  We'll add some more photos of the panel backlit soon.  Thank you Arthur!!!!!

We will be adding more photos to put faces to these names (pets and show kittens and retired breeding adults). This page always being updated and we think it will be a never-ending-work-in-progress!  Hope you enjoyed it!