AboutRadzacatz

The story of how Radzacatz came to be... (by Amber Radzevich)

Almost 30 years ago, my mother met her first Himalayan, he was a regal flame point male. She had never seen a cat like him in her life. She was mesmerized by his quiet confidence, sparkling blue eyes, and vivid orange point color. It was a moment she never forgot. In the late 80s, my mother took me to our first cat show in Boston, Massachusetts, it was called "Cat's Plain and Fancy." We walked up and down the aisles looking at the magnificent cats in their cages adorned with intricately coordinated curtain sets. I was immediately drawn to the cages with sparkles and boas! We talked to a few people at the show, but didn't make any real contacts in the direction of starting a cattery of our own. So we left, me with a peacock feather and free samples of Fancy Feast in hand, and my mother with a vision in her mind. Over the next few months she made calls around to breeders in the area and expressed her interest in becoming a breeder. We ended up purchasing two Himalayans, a flame point male and a blue cream point female, both not typee enough to see a show hall, but that didn't matter (and we didn't know enough). We had our Himalayans. They were both adorable little balls of fur, my brother Jake and I fell in love with them instantly. We called them Rudy and Gertie. Shortly thereafter, Gertie started to lose weight drastically, it turns out she had a malabsorpotion problem and had to be put on supplements. The vet advised us not to use her as a breeder with her problem, so we had her spayed. Rudy began to spray and we had no female to breed with him, so we had Rudy neutered as well. My mom did not lose heart with this, and decided to call another breeder. This is when we brought Samantha home, a fiesty seal tortie point. We waited and visited more shows and eventually met up with the breeder of Katsoulikats Cattery. She let us use one of her males as a stud with Samantha and we were on the road to having our first litter of kittens. That is, until Samantha aborted her kittens in a risky stunt. She jumped on the back of our Samoyed after my mother scolded him and she was thrown across the room. Samantha, the devil reincarnate, had dashed our dreams again. It wasn't until we met Mildred Tamborelli of Kumate Cattery that everything came together. We purchased our first show/breeder quality female from her, CH Kumate's Sabrina of Radzacatz. She was a princess, with her sparkling royal blue eyes and a constant purr. She demanded we feed her Amore, diced veal and would refuse to touch anything else. We registered our cattery name and bred Sabrina to the stud at Katsoulikats. Samantha bred with one of Mildred's males, Ch Twinshire's Hot Shot of Kumate and we had two litters of kittens on the way!

Samantha's litter was born first through a c-section. She had 5 gorgeous little pet kittens. All with long noses and personalities of angels. Samantha was the most incredible mother we have ever had at Radzacatz. When her kittens were of age to be sold, Samantha would come downstairs and take her kittens out of the hands and laps of their new owners and drag them awkwardly up the stairs. Two of Samantha's kittens are featured in a kitty calendar. They were a stunning group of babies.

Sabrina's first litter was a struggle. She was not a mother by instinct. She thought her children were toys and she would stalk them as they crawled on the carpet. We had to learn how to stomach feed her babies with a tube. The kittens were named Ewok and Athena. Ewok, a flame point male, was very intelligent and would try to "tell" his mother to sit down and nurse him and his sister. Athena, a seal tortie point female, was the weaker of the two kittens and relied on her brother to "tame" their mother. The two kittens survived and Ewok ended up being the first Grand Champion in Radzacatz history! It certainly was an incredible beginning. From there he had two sons, GC Radzacatz Harley, and GC Radzacatz Giorgio Armani of Mountcascade.

Our mission is to produce healthy, happy, and beautiful Himalayans; whether they are pet or show-quality. We've only just begun, so stay tuned, Radzacatz has miles to go! See you in the ring.... >^..^<