A few very special cats in my life...

This striking lad is Nunu or Semoa Gem's Bachus. He's an American Curl. Eurica Teichman bred him and offered him to me - when I learnt we shared the same birthday, I had to have him. And this impulse really paid off. He finalled in our Cat of the Year line-up and was Neuter of the Year 2002 - which totally bowled me over!

Bongane was bred by Norma Biagi. He was an extremely special boy and absolutely adored being shown. Even when he was way past his 'sell-by' date, show folks asked to see him at the shows. His litter brother, Ngasha was one of the foundations Somalis in SA.

Momma Fold was SA's first Scottish Fold and first Supreme Champ of the breed. She is officially called Karnaki Ilka d'Larche de Noe - and she comes all the way from Belgium.

Karnaki Isle o'Skye is Momma Folds most famous daughter. Skye also loves shows and has the sometimes not so charming habbit of wanting to nip you when you put her back in the cage. She'd rather continue prancing about on the judges table. The picture here is her featuring in an article in Animaltalk magazine.

While we're on the subject of magazine features, this is New York as an eight week old kitten on the cover. He has the typical dramatic looks of a Somali baby.

Here's New York featuring on the cover of the Swiss magazine, Katzen. The beautiful cover photographs and the Scottish feature photo was taken by Johann Theron of Animaltalk magazine.

And most unforgettable is the already mentioned Lurkel doing his Turk thing. I took this picture in a hotel room where he refused to get out of the basin.