Our first outcross breeding programs

© Alwyn Hill 2007

We bought our first breeding girl Dubrova Bellaroma from Pam Collins  in 1996 and whilst we waited for her to grow up we began to do research on Birmans behind her pedigree. At the time we had computer software that could calculate inbreeding to just 7 generations.

Bella had an inbreeding of 17.79% in that number of generations. However we were very shocked to find Birmans behind her pedigree with inbreeding in excess of 30% in the same number of generations.

(We calculate to 32 generations now using the  latest computer programs and that is the COI you will see at the side of each picture) 

 It was at this point we made the decision not to breed Birman to Birman. However it took a while to get our plans underway as we soon found out that breeding to moggies, as had been done by Ken Clarke was no longer accepted.

The First Outcross Using a Cream Colourpoint Persian

Our Birman Breed Advisory Council notified us we had the choice of using certain Colourpoints and Persians only and so we had to find breeders who would allow us to use their stud to mate to our Birman girl. We found a cream point Colourpoint male GR CH Kellys Klaintofame and so Dubrova Bellaroma  was taken to him when the time came.

 The result of this mating were 5 pointed kittens some with small amounts of incomplete dominance for the gloving gene.

From the litter we selected the two females on the right. We kept and bred  from Chosenhill Penny Patches and let a friend have Chosenhill Polly Peaches.

 We were lucky enough around this time to be offered a Blue point adult male Ch Dijati Bluebayou

and we mated Penny Patches to Him.

The result of this mating was 6 kittens and we kept a male and a female to continue our program with. These were Chosenhill Hamish a huge red point Male and his sister Chosenhill Fiona.

 Hamish was a well marked male and I believe he would have compared well with Birmans on the show bench.

His sister had all the correct feet markings but they were not so perfect as her brother’s. Flora was eventually mated to Dubrova Sanbucca and gave us a really stunning Blue Point boy Chosenhill Dashing Buck. Sammy as we called him was a massive boy, as all our cats seemed to be. We had the size and feet marking and look of a Birman by this time but although the cats were all fully registered we were not allowed to enter them in a show. It would be further generation before we could think of going to any shows.

The Second Outcross Using A Red Persian

To have another string to our bow we decided to purchase a Red Persian Bluzee Sue Ofchosenhill. She was the most affectionate and gentle cat you could imagine. Her coat was silky soft and very easy to manage.

 We arranged  to take Bluzee Sue to  Carol Pike's  stud Gr CG Caroona Tobitoo. The result of this mating was just two kittens.

 Chosenhill Walistock a cream self male with no white feet and his sister Chosenhill Harlequin a Blue Tortie. Both were a really good size once again.

At this point we were faced with another problem I had no female to mate to Wallistock to and I met with quite a bit of hostility when I tried to purchase one. 

This left me with no alternative but to mate Penny Patches from the Colourpoint line to Wallistock. It had not been my intention to put the two outcrosses together so early but there was little else I could do. The result of the mating was two kittens and I kept Chosenhill Rusty Snowball.

I also mated Harlequin to Ch Dijati Bluebayou. She had 5 kittens all self coloured two blue torties and the rest were Blue males.

This litter proved very interesting as every one had some white on its feet but also we saw white where we didn’t expect to see it on the stomach! We noticed that the better the feet markings were the more white there was elsewhere. Later we got know these were called “bikini patches” white areas between the back legs and between the front legs. Worse still they had lockets of various sizes, so all the kittens were sold as pets.

However one person asked me to allow her to have just one litter. The person carry out a series of tests I asked her to have done so I eventually chose to re-register Chosenhill Bluetanya onto the active register for just one litter and she was mated to Chosenhill Hamish. The resulting kittens all males were one Black kitten with white feet, one Red point Kitten, One Red self with some white toes and one Blue Point who also had an amount of white on his feet. The last two are pictured here.

Interestingly the white lockets had disappeared in the self cats but there was no way to know for sure about the pointed ones. We were hoping Admonlo Denim may have come back to us but the owner chose to keep them all, except the black one which went a a pet. They and their mother were all neutered as  planned after this litter.

  Reverting backTo Chosenhill Polly Peaches:

She had one litter which included Aylpurrtona Kit Willow who was to come back to me. I actually let her go instead to Mrs Collins of Dubrova Birmans in exchange for a mating and a resulting kitten from Dubrova Samssu. Samssu was brought to be mated to Chosenhill Wallistock and eventually the litter was born and Dubrova Parade was to come to me. Unfortunately just before she was due to arrive Chosenhill Hamish picked up ringworm and our cattery was thrown into turmoil. We were treating cats and kittens for weeks. It took us 16 weeks to get the clearance from GCCF and it was the longest, hardest 16 weeks I have ever spent. My mother came to help and it took all day to bath the cats and kittens whilst my husband disinfected washed sprayed everywhere to remove any trace of a spores.

Sadly by the end of it all the breeder had decided that Dubrova Parade was too old to come to us but that she would repeat the mating. The next year Parade had five boys so it took a further year before Dubrova Foreveramber was born and  able to come and live with us. We really needed a female and all the time wasted was a real blow as we were unable to progress with the Persian outcross for such an extended period.

During our two year wait we bred more litters from Penny Patches and Dijati Bluebayou. Including one litter of eight kittens all of which survived and Penny did a really superb job rearing them. This was the largest litter we ever had.

At last a new breeding queen and an Imported Stud

In 1999 we managed to purchase a Seal Point Breeding queen Tuscarora Blue Tuscarora Bluediamond Eyes. For her first litter Sophie was mated to Dijati Bluebayou and produced 6 kittens. We kept a blue point daughter from her, Chosenhill Darling Milly. The following year Sophie was mated to Chosenhill Hamish and we kept Chosenhill Cressida a Seal Tortie. Sophie needed a C section to deliver Cressida so she was neutered at the same time. We only bred on from one of Sophies two daughters, Chosenhill Darling Milly had two litters; one with Chosenhill Dashing Buck and we kept Chosenhill Emma Louise.

The French stud Int Ch Nerval de L’Iris Doree  was only with us a short time but he did produce two lovely kittens for our breeding program Chosenhill Glycine  who’s mother was Chosenhill Emma Louise. and Chosenhill Finn Macool His mother was Dubrova Foreveramber

 Chosenhill Emma Louise mated to Int Ch Nerval d’Liris Doree  produced Chosenhill Glycine who  also needed a C section to deliver her kittens so we neutered her and did not continue with this line as we felt the girls did not deliver kittens well.

Dubrova Foreveramber Mated to Ch Nerval d’Liris Dorree produced Chosenhill Finn Macool and his brother Chosenhill Glenross.

The stud we kept to use was  for the next generation was Chosenhill Guru  his mother is Chosenhill Debby Debutante