How Almost Heavens came about?

I have never been, and would never like to be without pets. As a child I grew up with birds, hamsters and house cats. Later came dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits an aviary with different birds and an qauarium with fish.

At the time I bred beautiful birds, guinea pigs and rabbits as a hpbby and also I had my first experiences of cats and dogs giving birth, and of bringing up their young.

I have a lot of memories to this wonderful time…

We had several household cats, most of which came from farms, but they all came to tragic ends: disappearing or being knocked down by cars. At that time I dreamt of having a cat that only lived indoors and so was safe from the dangers outside.

I read books and magazines about cat breeds and found sacred Birman and Norwgian Forest cats, which I liked at most. I visited cat shows and took a closer look at different breeds. I have to admit that at first, I really disliked oriental cats – I didn’t like the way thy looked or sounded.

I got to know a breeder of sacred Birman and some weeks later one of her kittens moved in with me. As I didn’t want it to be alone I started looking for a Norwegian Forest Cat kitten. But there was no kittens available at this time…. but than I heard from a aunt, that her neighbour is breeding cats… so we droved to him…. but he was breeding Siamese and Oriental cats.

We were invited for coffee, ended up spending the whole afternoon with them and by evening I had signed a contract to buy a Siamese female. At that time she was 10 weeks old, and we had to wait 3 weeks more to pick up her for our home.

Within just a few hours, oriental cats had stolen my heart.

One year later a Norwegian Forest cat joined to our sacred Birman and Siamese… and I was able to compare the different breeds. I loved all my cats – but comparing them,

well…. You can’t compare. Oriental cats are unique!

Now… some years later… I must say… Sphynx – and Rexcats are anymore affectionate!

It was the breeder of my sacred Birman who first took me as an exhibitor to a show.

And that’s how it all began: soon each of my cats would have a litter. The more shows I visited the more I realized that only very few Orientals were exhibited and I thought it a shame that these beautiful cats had such a low profile and were not done justice.

I got to know more about the four oriental breeds and realised that particularly concerning the longhaired cats, there is still a lot to be done to improve their breeding and to make them known.

There’s one thin I can say for sure: Once you have fallen in love with an oriental cat, no matter whether it is Siamese, Balinese, Oriental shorthair or Oriental longhair…..you will never want to be without them again!

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