Pontaby Luciana
(Mina)

Little Mina, my second potential breeding queen, came to me, from Maureen and Lorraine Pontello, of Pontaby Abyssinians. She, like Zoe, is a Usual and since she was born on 20 February 2008, is still very much the baby of the family.

She is, however, a long-awaited addition and fulfils a personal wish of mine to link the two lines of my neuter family, since her father, like Jasper's, is the wonderful IGrCh One Shot from A'far and her mother, Ch Abyglen Anyla, is a full sister (in parentage terms) of all my Abyglens.

The Pontellos have been trying hard to achieve my ambition to do this for quite some time but the disadvantage of trying to plan something specific where live creatures are concerned is that things often don't work out as one hopes on the first - or, in our case, even the third attempt. A big thank you to them for sticking with me (in spite of the disappointments along the way) and for allowing me to have such a very outstanding baby in the end!

Since she is One Shot's child, Mina has had no trouble charming her companion Zoe and by the end of her first week here was already on reasonably civil terms with the Abyglens. Her brother, of course, is a harder nut to crack and is still fairly outraged that yet another small female has come into his house to interrupt his sleep patterns. Since this girl is his half-sister, however, I suspect his efforts to subdue her may have less long-term success than he currently believes!