Photo Update - Totallycoastal Ride The Waves (aka Rider)

Rider is the only son of Oceana (Totallycoastal Ocean Waves), and was sired by Ollie (Salvarda Mystery Caller).  Oceana was of course the daughter of the fantastic Nebraska and Big Mac.  So this boy was almost a full consolidation of my foundation cats (with one exception, Quintus).

This boy is fast filling out and growing upwards.  He was a pretty small kitten in early life, but he is making up for lost time.  These past 4 weeks he has shot up, and is the same size as an average adult girl.  So it seems that Rider may be a good sized male after all.  This lad is now 6.5 months old, so I expect at least one more growth spurt from him, before his energy is expelled in muscle build only.

At first glance you may think his tail is full length, but he does has a naturally shortened tail (NST) with a kink at its tip.  In fact it's a complete replica of Declans, who we kept as a stud boy here.  Paired to other NST tails this has given us some super tail lengths in his offspring.  We expect that as Rider's brow develops, he will become more of the rounded edge triangular conformation we'd expect as he matures.  As you can see he has a simply amazing coat pattern, colour and the texture is spot on.  Another of his great traits are those whisker pads, gorgeously plump and wide.. making a nice muzzle shape overall.  This boy does sport small ear tips as well.

He is a very loving, but extremely energetic cat.  He is so inquisitive and he never tires of fetch, or chase games. He is staying here as part of Our Breeding Program as we expect those eyes to become perfect over the next 6 months.

Update - Rider's Ready, Steady, Go

Its been a while since I posted any photos of Rider (son of Oceana).  This boy is always up for playing all the time.  He never tires of fetch or batting his favourite toy around the place. 

Despite having a longer tail it has a kink at the tip and is short of foot (i.e. Naturally short).  If you would be interested in Totallycoastal Ride The Waves, please click on our Available Kittens tag and you'll be shown Riders entry.  We are looking for a pet placement in a forever home, for this chap. 

Here are the long overdue pictures of him playing (what else?), with a quick pitstop for a bite to eat before carrying on with bringing me his waggle stick. 

Update - Rider's Ready for a ticket to Ride!

After much thought, we have decided to make Rider available.  He is a very comical soul, and loves rough and tumble games with his toys.  He has a really, really strong trademark Pixiebob face, lynx tips, and excellent wooly coat that sports a super balck spotty pattern against a rich red background. 

Despite having a full tail Rider has been a contender as a stud in our program.   He has so much going for him and it was worth considering him for.  This coat will be absolutely perfect to our breed standard once that ticking fully comes through, and becomes muted, along with an excellent muzzle, chin, profile.... the list goes on.

It was a very tough decision to offer Rider but, we have decided to try Oceana to a completely different lined boy, and it makes more sense to keep something from that pairing than this one, than double up on lines I already have.  So for some lucky soul Totallycoastal Ride the Waves, will be available in June.

Update - Ride The Waves Photoshoot

Rider had an unexpected bath yesterday, after leaping into a bowl of kitten milk.  Not exactly sure why he done that, but he thought it was a great and splashed around in it while lapping up a few mouthfuls as he went.  Maybe he thought it would aid his complextion and beauty "Cleopatra" style.  Your guess is as good as mine...  whatever the reason though, it did not do wonders for his hair, he is looking a bit Sid Vicious spiked and will be needing a proper wash and groom before his next photoshoot.

Update - Photoshoot of Rider @ 5 weeks!

This boy just gets bigger, his face is constant and we dont get disappearing chins, eyes that are odd one minute and correct the next.  He and Pearl are the easiest kittens to watch develop out of the whole bunch I have here at the moment. Rider is now eating warm milk with blended kitten complete and also raw steak mince.  He too loves the raw best of all, and Neptune and him have also become boosom buddies this last couple of days.  The last picture shows them both tucking into dinner.

Update - Totallycoastal Ride The Waves photoshoot

Well, well, well!  I think you will be amazed by Riders progress this week.  I remember saying to all that this boy was very very similar to Linsey in his very first debut face shot.  He has consistently kept that face week in and week out.  Last week he was being a little menace and wouldn't let me take any pictures of him.  This week was a different story, and we got lots. 

Rider decided that his handsome features were worth flaunting, and we made the most of it.  So the roller coaster ride has come to a stand, and the decision is made. Dispite this boy having a non-show length tail, we have decided to keep Rider for our program. Why?  I can only say, look at the picture below, and I simply won't need to explain myself.   While we won't be able to show Rider, we sure hope we'll be able to show off some of his babies.   He does have some kinks and knots in this thick tail of his, so this means a sure sign that he carries the shortening tail gene.  

I already have in mind to pair this lad to  2 female bobtailed second cousins next year.   Rider is just 4 weeks old in these photos.  So there will be a bit of a wiat before these matings can take place :oD, but I am confident that the results when the time comes will be stunning. 

Riders mum Oceana, will be retiring and handing over the helm to her sister Berry for the future here.  Of course now we have this lad to do the same as well.

Update - Lone Rider!

As we were on a roll, we snapped the remaining 2 litters we have.  The next litter consists of just one gorgeous boy, Totallycoastal Ride The Waves (AKA Rider).  He has quite the wild looking face, but is 110% a mummies boy.   This boy is very, very dark toned at the moment..with an extremely red stripe down the centre of his back, and bobcatty red face.  I am very excited about him, as he matures he is going to be a very, very red toned boy indeed... We have the very best bits of Sire and Dam, Ollie and Oceana, that combined look.. it's gonna be a stunning package.

At just 3 weeks of age, he already has a predator look about him, and if you didn't know him... you'd think he'd have your finger off in a blink.  I cant wait for this boy to grow up to a full sized boy.  Wishing Rider's life away, but I am confident that he will will be one of the most wildest looking male cats I've bred to date.   If only we'd got the Show tail too... He carries that shortening gene with the fuse and knot and thickness of his tail... I believe the length will be above the foot, so we are keen for him to be in a program.   Ultimately we'd like to accomodate him here, but we're not sure if that will be feasible or not yet.  Watch this space!

  

Update - Double Take, Two!

It was a very familiar sight when taking pictures of Oceana's boy kitten Totallycoastal Ride The Waves. I don't just mean another photoshoot of kittens, I mean virtually identical faces.  

I thought I'd share these 2 pictures with you of Linsey and Rider, (There is a bit of an age difference with these 2 photos, but I think you can still see the trend.).... and I'm sure, you'll be doing a double take too!

Today, Riders eyes opened and what did I see?  You guessed it, Linsey eyes staring back at me.  I'll be sharing theses photos with you soon over the weekend. Needless to say, I am very pleased that Rider has all those charming and typey looks from his Grandma Nebraska...

This gives us a bit of a dilemma though, as what's the best thing to do from here!  Do we keep Rider to pair to our bobtail girls?  Do we place him?  Do we let Oceana go to a pet home, if Rider Stays?  Well for now I am not making any rash decision.  One things for sure, we will be retaining these strong looks in our program going forward.  Blending them with our other existing and future lines, so we keep faces like this.

Announcement - Totallycoastal Ride The Waves

This announcement was how shall we say, a little unexpected. We thought Oceana's mating at the beginning of the year was unsuccessful, and we tried again a month later to the same male (Salvarda Mystery Caller, aka Ollie).

The February mating appeared to be a success and we were eagerly looking forward to a litter due in April. However she then started acting like maybe she wasn't and was coming into season again... I have never experienced anything quite like it. Whatever was going on with her hormones I shall never know, but we were up and down like a bumpy sea.

You can see why it was such a surprise when Oceana gave birth to 2 babies on Saturday 3rd of March, 4 weeks before we were ever expecting any... and her first mating was unbeknown to us a success after all.

The 2 kittens compared to Annie's babies seemed very small, and I feared they would not make it through the night but they were still 3oz each. The first chap, is gaining weight nicely, he seems healthy and strong so we are crossing fingers. The second unfortunately did not make it, and we lost him on the second night.

So down to another singleton male, which is getting the lions share of fuss and food. He's longer tailed pixiebob with a curl at the tip of his tail. He has a face that reminds me of Linsey and little lighter in tone, but the body colour is a very similar to hers! This lad has a nice pattern which is better than his Cousins, and we are sure he will catch up on the size front as the weeks pass being an only kitten.

We decided to name this sole survivor, Totallycoastal Ride The Waves (aka Rider) After the choppy water pregnancy of his mum, and linked to her pedigree name, Totallycoastal Ocean Waves. Please enjoy these pictures taken at just 6 days old.