Dellavale Scottish Cats

24/07/2024

😻 Pamela is such a ball of fun and positive energy and it was so great to meet her finally

Part of the fun of having something as amazing as my New Cat Breeders Club is meeting some of members. This is Hayley. She was at the Cat Gala Show in Tasmania.
She is making amazing progress with her breeding and has also been a member of the month. So proud of her.
Want non-judgmental help with your breeding hobby? I have members from around the world, all different breeds, all at different stages in their breeding hobby.
Let me help you too. Link in the comments ⤵️

23/07/2024

Clara Bow aka Lola was such a good girl this weekend at the International Cat Gala Show in Hobart.

On day one she was judged by celebrity judge Steven Meserve. Steven judges each cat by breed and then chooses his top 10 favourite cats for a beauty pageant at the end of the day. Lola made it to the pageant and was awarded 6th best in show (out of 90 - 100 exhibits) 🥰. Pamela Lanegan (who has provided me so much support and mentorship over the past two years) got first place with her British Shorthair Herbert (check out his winning moment on the Cuddleton British Shorthairs page, he’s such an incredible cat 🥰).

Day two of the Gala was a more traditional format whereby the cats are judged by class in rings (kittens, entires, desexed and domestics). Lola was judged in the kitten class and received reserve (second place) by judges Erin Brown (QLD) and Vickie shields (USA). To my absolute surprise, at the very end of the event, Lola was called back up on stage where Vickie Shields awarded Lola as her overall third best in show 😭.

19/07/2024

Loly bol and I have arrived safely and soundly to our adorable little cottage in Hobart 🏡😻. Follow our stories mostly on my cat page as we document all the fun (and mishaps😅) from the International Cat Gala show over the weekend.

18/07/2024

Tomorrow my kitten & I travel from Brisbane to Hobart to attend our first big international show. It’s taken alot of stressful preparation to pull this off. In saying that, I wanted to share this cute little passage from an autobiographical book I’ve been reading called “Let sleeping vets lie” by Dr. James Harriott. In one chapter he talks about his experience as a show judge; and a particular story, to the dismay of every other exhibitor, where he awards the first prize to a little boy and his goldfish, based on the boys impressive knowledge about the goldfish and the tanks presentation. I think it’s a wholesome little story and a good reminder when attending these shows to not take the results too personally, especially if it’s far from what you were hoping for. I’m not hoping to win anything, but learn something new and having fun 🧡

12/07/2024

Captain Patches is going for a trial at a new home this evening. I’m actually feeling really sad about it now 😪. Patches is my most affectionate cat. He’s been glued to my lap all day, almost like he knows. If I wasn’t breeding and I could only keep 1-2 cats as pets, he would be one of them. Rehoming retirees is by far the sh*ttiest thing about this hobby.

I know I’ve said this before - but I promised myself before I started, as part of my breeding ethos, that I would not find myself in a situation where i’m hoarding cats. The cats deserve so much better than that.

Positively, his new mum Lynette seems absolutely beautiful and so devoted to him already. I’m really thankful to have found her and I really hope that it goes well. 🩵

Pictures: patches at four weeks verse 15 months.

12/07/2024

Cookie is my beautiful (only) stud at the moment. He’s a pedigree British Shorthair - chocolate bicolour carrying cinnamon. I was really lucky to have another breeder entrust me with him last year 🥺. For those that don’t know - breeding male cats are very prone to Urinary spraying (and the smell is very powerful) and are housed appropriately in areas we call stud quarters.

Cookie lives in a little A-frame house which attaches to his own balcony and then an outdoor catio. Having single walls his house didn’t have any proper insulation. We put an “Eglu Cube” by .au in his there so he can stay cosy and warm as it’s been getting down to almost 0 at night in Jimboomba. We got the middle sized cube which has two rooms and we put woollen blankets in the smaller room. The eglu is expensive but it’s fully insulated for both winter and summer (in summer you can add frozen bedding) and the best part is it’s plastic and has a removable sliding drawer bottom, so super easy to hose and clean out. This is in no way a sponsored post, but just a product I really recommend for stud owners as it took me a really long time to find the most practical way to house my stud comfortably all year round.

09/07/2024

Less than two weeks until my kitten & I head to Hobart to see & attend the National Gala show. Being our very first show, the lovely Cosette from the Tasmanian Feline Association, made me some beautiful velvet curtains in baby pink, with a minky cuddle soft donut (as it’s going to be cold) with a diamanté to finish it off 🥺. We’ve had the best experience with TFA so far, and are so excited to be going to meet them. Oh and we get to meet Pamela from too (who has helped me out tremendously with mentorship over the last two years) ✈️ 💗🐱

07/07/2024

My darling Captain Fitzpatrick aka “Patches” is a still looking for his forever home. I had kept him back for my breeding program but decided he deserves to live a life as a spoilt pet. He is the most affectionate cat you will ever meet: loves to be cradled like a baby, will follow you everywhere, will sleep on your lap, smooch your face (to the point it’s borderline annoying 😹). He’s gentle and never hisses at cats unknown to him. He would be a joy to leash train as his father and siblings have been. He would be fantastic with kids (the more attention the better). My veterinarian refers to him as a friendly little puppy dog. He has an anatomically small left tearduct which is common in his breed. It doesn’t cause him any pain it just means his eye needs wiping with a damp cloth daily. He is a 16-month-old Pedigree Scottish Longhair (non-fold gene carrier). His mother Ivy was imported from Russia and his father Indigo was imported from Belarus. I would ideally like to find him a home in Brisbane or surrounds but open to travel if it’s the right family. He is extremely dear to me but deserves more one-on-one attention than I can give 🥺.

He comes:
- with a pedigree certificate.
- desexing certificate.
- recent flea & worming.
- up to date vaccination certificate.
- microchipped.
- with two easy to use grooming tools.
- recently professionally groomed.

*I’ll add some videos to the comments as they can’t be added to a photo post.

03/07/2024

We had the sweetest delivery today. Home made ceramic Scottish fold dishes made by the lovely Nicky from Rubenesque Scottish folds. Nicky is also new to the cat fancy, passionate about Scottish cats and has some brilliant starter cats ready for her first season later this year 🥰. She will have some beautiful chocolate Scottish and British longhair litters coming up. I am so excited for her program. Make sure you give her Rubenesque page a follow. Thankyou so much Nicky 🤎🤎🤎

03/07/2024

Loly boly had her first bath today - thanks again Julie at 💗

30/06/2024

“Dellavale Butterscotch” aka Toffee.
A follower recommended Butterscotch as his pedigree name and I thought it was a cute play on words as he’s a Scottish Shorthair.
Longhair carrier.
Colour: Lilac mackerel tabby. Very high chance he’s a cinnamon carrier due to his warm fawn appearance (his father carries cinnamon).
I think he would be beautiful for someone’s breeding program or to a show home.
Perfect bicolour marking on face and four white socks.
Sweetest expression, small ears, large breadth of chest, floppy personality.
Still finding it really hard to desex him as he’s officially Ivy’s last child (precious Kindlycat line). 🥺 he’s got her baby-face too.
If I had his pedigree back in time he would have been coming with Lola and I to Tasmania as well 🥺🥰.

27/06/2024

We are so excited 🐾🩵

12/06/2024

The Pedigree Certificate’s arrived today for:
- Maple
- Meeka
- Basil
- Argenti
- Maisey
I will laminate them and post them to you all on Monday. I’m excited for you to see their family tree’s 🌳 😊

11/06/2024

My darling gentle boy Captain Fitzpatrick aka Patches had his first professional groom today by Julie at You Had Me At Meow- Bald Hills in Brisbane (highly recommend). He’s soft as a bunny and smells like a dream 🥹💗. I’ve been told he was a very good boy for his first time.

10/06/2024

The current plan is to keep Toffee back for breeding. Although, I would consider selling him to a really good home. I am torn over this every time I want to keep back a male. Last litter it was Smokey (now Argenti 💗). Whether they would bring something really valuable to the program - male cats live better lives when they are desexed pets 😪. Do any other breeders struggle with this?

31/05/2024

“Coffee”, 9 weeks, For Salby ☕️🐾

So unless you’re a genes 🧬 nerd like me, you’re going to find this update incredibly boring. Well today I went to a cat breeders group with a “silly” question as I was finding it tricky to pedigree Coffee’s tabby pattern correctly. Well it turns out my question wasn’t so silly after-all, as several experienced breeders were quite bamboozled by it too. His shoulders, back and part of his sides are of a Classic Tabby (half bullseye shape) and the rest of his body and belly are both spotted and mackerel tabby (or “broken mackerel”). His belly is covered in spots too. His mum is registered as Spotted tabby and his dad is solid so we don’t know what tabby he is (as solid is just a masking gene).

Despite many people suggesting a young spotted, I’ve been told an Eqyption Mau or Spangled breeder would have a conniption if I labelled this boy a spotted tabby due to dorsal/back stripes 😹 So that one is off the table.

The overall conclusion is that he is genetically a Mackerel tabby (dominant) but he carries classic tabby (recessive). Both patterns have shown through in the observable phenotype which is really really unusual. One breeder who specialises in Classic Tabbies says he has seen it happen before.

Regardless, I always love learning new things and I think Coffee is a very special boy with a very cool wildcat pattern.

30/05/2024

Let’s chat about breeding and self-vaccination 🙂.

Did you know that people can vaccinate their cats themselves in most Australian states? This is because people in rural areas or animal shelters don’t always have access to veterinarians. In this situation I am 100% for it.

Interestingly though - I’ve noted a trend where breeders are buying vaccines from wholesalers and doing it themselves (you will notice the BSVc missing at the end of the signature on the kittens vaccination record). This means the breeder pays about $20 per vaccine instead of $90-$130 by a veterinarian (which includes a health check).

Now, I am a huge advocate for being as economical as possible when it comes to breeding and owning cats. But self-vaccinating, in my opinion, is cutting corners and not okay by me. When buyers are paying $2000 for a kitten I believe they deserve for it to be health checked by a veterinarian at least twice beforehand.

In this video (in comments) you’ll see how my Veterinarian Dr. Brook Curran completes a health check before administering the kittens vaccination. He does quite a few little checks such as gum health (for ulcers/calici), ear health and inguinal hernias. But most importantly, he checks for heart murmurs by auscultation with a stethoscope and kidney size by palpation with his hands. These are skills that us breeders are simply not qualified to do.

These two checks are extremely important in Scottish and British breeds as both are vulnerable to developing heart valve disease and polycystic kidney disease. While we can never eliminate the risk, we can certainly reduce it or act early by getting our cats health checked by veterinarians at both their initial and yearly vaccination time. 😊

TLDR: value our vets and don’t self vaccinate 🐾💗

29/05/2024

Update on Shiny Toes the Macaw ✨ 🦜

We wanted to provide everyone with an update regarding the beautiful blue and gold Macaw. After 7 days of having him in our care, we have finally discovered who his owner is. The microchip was implanted back in 2011 - the year that he was born. His registered name on the microchip is “Shiny Toes”. “Shiny Toes” was bred in a bird sanctuary that was based in Childers which has since closed down. We traced down the original breeders and then discovered a line of people that he had been rehomed to. In the past few years, “Shiny Toes” has changed owners three times, so it made it very difficult to work out who his current owner was as the microchip details were never updated. We have absolutely adored having “Shiny Toes” at the surgery over the past week and everyone has grown very attached to him. We have made him a makeshift bird stand out of our drip stand and he has enjoyed meeting lots of our lovely clients. He enjoys sitting on your shoulder, eating fruit and nut mix, having a shower under the tap and is very people orientated which has brought us all a lot of joy. His current owner has only owned him for 2 weeks and in the last few days he has received some unexpected health news which may impact his ability to care for “Shiny Toes” long term. As such, we will find out on Saturday whether “Shiny Toes” will remain with us or go back home with his current owner. We wanted to thank everyone for sharing his post far and wide. We will keep you updated with what happens next with this gorgeous boy. In the meantime, “Shiny Toes” is being very well looked after and cared for by Dr Allen and the EH team 🦜❤️

19/05/2024

Owner update: Meeka & Willow are the best of friends 🐾🐕🐈🤎

18/05/2024

I just wanted to put the feelers out there that Captain Patches is potentially available for adoption to a really good pet home. Patches is a 15 month old Pedigree Scottish Highland and is son to Ivy (our Russian import) and Indigo (our Belarusian import). He has a gentle, confident and loving character. Our veterinarian often refers to him as a friendly little puppy dog. He would sleep on the bed, follow you around the house and would be fun to leash train (as his father and siblings have been).

Patches fathered two of my favourite recent litters. I intentionally mated and desexed him as young as possible (10 months) while his testosterone levels were still super low to give him the best chance of transitioning into a loving pet home (as older entire males can be tricky).

Patches is very, very dear to me. Friends, family and previous buyers would be considered first. Otherwise I can only take enquiries from Brisbane (or surrounds) as the only condition would be that he returns to me if the placement was to ever hypothetically fall through. There is a small fee on him which is important for his safety.

17/05/2024

Cats and dogs? 🐕 🐈

A lot of people ask me whether cats can get along with dogs. The short answer is sometimes.

One thing I’m really proud of about my line of cats is that they are extremely adaptable to children and other animals. Although I’ve only had two seasons i’ve let several of my kittens go to homes with dogs. My advice is always the same. Know your dog. Obviously we have to use common sense and I would never send a kitten to a home with a breed of dog that has a pray drive towards small to medium sized animals. Otherwise as long as the introduction is slow and play is supervised while the kitten is small - they can honestly form the most beautiful of friendships 💗.

* All photos shared with permission from my buyers.

15/05/2024

Update.

12/05/2024

Happy belated Mother’s Day to the mothers of Dellavale.

❥ To Ivy, my baby-faced sweetheart. Ivy was imported from Kindlycats in Russia, a very precious and unique line developed by Inna Persianova over many years. Ivy has given us 7 children: Captain Patches, Dimitri, Moppy, Maisy, Daisy, Coffee & Toffee.

❥ To Glafira, my striking snow leopard and gentle soul. Glafira was imported from Safinland folds in Estonia. Her breeders Jana and Diana are extremely knowledgeable and have taught me so much about breeding healthy folds. I also consider them dear friends. Glafira has given us 9 children: Alaska, Marcus, Oliver, Maxibon, Coconut, Argenti, Maisey, Basil & Lola.

❥ Alaska (aka Daphne). Daphne is my little needy snuggle-bug and only homebred queen. After a traumatic and complicated birth she gave us four beautiful children: Maple and Meeka, as well as Mallory and Minnie sadly no longer with us. A fifth (deceased) kitten was also retrieved from the cesarean but I never got to meet them.

❥ To Talvi (Roland’s mum), who selflessly kept Ivy and Glafira in her home in Estonia for almost one year while we dealt with the lengthy, bureaucratic and expensive import process of getting the girls into Australia. Without Talvi, my dream of bringing genuine Scottish Highlands to Australia would not have been possible.

❥ And of course, to my own mum Peta, who has helped me so much with the care of the cats over the past few years. Last week due to personal reasons I thought the program was over. But mum surprised me by turning an old chicken coup into a beautiful stud quarter on her property in Jimboomba, and is willing to co-own the program to make another season possible 🥺. I love you mum.

09/05/2024

I’m so sorry for the late replies to people enquiring about Toffee and Coffee. I’m a nurse and on 12.5 hour shifts till Tuesday. Ivy has also developed bad mastitis which has been keeping me up as I need to warm compress her. I will get back to you as soon as I can 🤎. Hayley

07/05/2024

💗 Toffee: Scottish shorthair, male, lilac tabby with white (update: staying with me)

🤎 Coffee: Scottish fold, shorthair, male, black tabby with white (last kitten till December - Feb 2025 , available for reservation for a really good home)

Toffee & Coffee come from two very precious parents. The Dam is our baby-faced Ivy (who I imported from Kindlycats in Russia) and the Sire is our stunning British Shorthair Cookie (cinnamon carrier from an imported Belgium line).

07/05/2024

29 years ago (when I was four) I got my first cat. He was a little tabby moggie and I named him Tiger. In 2005 Tiger developed cancer and sadly needed to be put to sleep. The veterinarian was so sincere he even provided a handmade wooden tombstone for Tiger. Well here’s a little fact. The veterinarian that cared for Tiger all those years ago is actually the same veterinarian that helps me with my breeding cats today. Thankyou Dr. Brook Curran of Eatons Hill for everything you do for us. Having a supportive, kind and knowledgeable veterinarian makes this challenging hobby just that little bit easier.

We would like to introduce you all to our amazing new Veterinarian, Dr Brook! Brook started with us at the end of February and has over 20 years experience as a Vet. Can you believe he used to work for us back in the day as a kennel hand when he was studying to become a Vet! It’s a full circle moment to have him back at the clinic working alongside Dr Allen and Dr Kristie. Brook has a keen interest in orthopaedic surgeries (which he’s had specialist training for) and he can’t wait to provide the best care to your furry family members. You’ll find Brook at the surgery Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday, so make sure you give him a warm welcome when you pop in! 👨‍⚕️🩺🐾

28/04/2024

Glafira and her lucky rainbow 🌈

18/04/2024

💗 I was lucky enough to join this group when it first started and it’s been so helpful. It’s for new breeders or people wanting to get started. They don’t have openings very often because admin needs to keep it small so they can help everyone. Breeding is a beautiful hobby but it’s also really hard. Without support the challenges are overwhelming.

17/04/2024

This little possum “Lily”, now Maisey (sweetest name ever🥹), is another one leaving the nest this weekend to go live a beautiful life in Melbourne with new mum Imogen and rescue cat Archie. Imogen tells me she just built an outdoor catio for Maisey and Archie which they are absolutely going to love. Maisey is a playful, friendly and vibrant kitten that i’m really proud of.

15/04/2024

Update: reserved, for Shayteika 🐾
“Sylvester” is the last kitten I have available for the season. For no fault of his own, I just haven’t really been showing him to many people as he was born with a slight off-bite and I wanted to see what the Veterinarian had to say at his desexing appointment (as the bite can often change). He’s a silver tabby with white and his eyes will develop to green. He’s a really sweet cat with the cutest expression and i’m hoping to find him a really good home. He’s a great opportunity for anyone wanting a quality pedigree animal at a smaller price. Interstate delivery possible for the right family ✈️ 💙 🐾