This is Nala. I collected her in December after an epic 7.5-hour journey—a 16-hour round trip including fuel stops. She was listed as a two-year-old adult cat urgently needing rehoming because she was frightened of the previous owners' children and dog.
Though she was taken in by that family a year prior, she never settled into their environment. They were becoming desperate as Nala grew increasingly anxious and unpredictable around the young children. Because she was a half-starving stray when they found her, she has no known history, though a vet estimated she was no more than a year old at the time.
While she initially displayed food aggression, likely due to her time as a stray, this disappeared once she was consistently well-fed. Nala has now had her own room here for over six weeks. It has taken time for her to decompress, but she is starting to tolerate being stroked. She clearly enjoys having a comfortable bed and a space free of children or dogs. While she may not "enjoy" being touched yet, it is still early days; given her unknown history, she may never entirely warm up.
I have not yet introduced her to my other cats, as I believe it is best for her to remain in her own space for now. When she has her next season, I plan to introduce her to Rowan. He is a very gentle boy, and I feel that if anyone can win her over, it will be him.
Aesthetically, they will complement one another well. To me, Nala looks as though she has Pixie-bob (PB) in her background. However, it is statistically unlikely; she is only two years old, and there have been no other active PB breeders in the UK for many years. Since all my kittens leave neutered, she couldn't be an outcross of my lines. The only possibility would be a lineage originating from unaltered kittens placed by a breeder over a decade ago, but I monitor for "backyard" PB adverts and haven't seen any in years.
Nala has a broken mackerel tabby pattern. While her eyes look triangular in her photo because she was half-asleep, they are actually quite round. Since Rowan’s eyes are not his strongest feature, I don't expect the offspring from this first pairing to have a "spot on" Pixie-bob look.
I intend to breed a keeper from this litter to a line with excellent eye conformation, such as Red (if a female is retained) or Amy (if it is a male). This two-generation "stepping stone" approach should help me achieve the look I want. Cementing a PB look in just two generations of foundation breeding would be a great result.
In the meantime, I will continue working on Nala’s anxiety and trust issues. Despite her past, she has shown no signs of aggression or "fight mode," even when uncomfortable. She is simply timid, and I am confident that with quiet, TLC, and a cat-savvy environment, we will make great progress. Watch this space!
Aged 2.5yo
