In the spring of 2006 I showed two cats against each other - a lilac point male named Ayuthaya Kashan of Thaifong and a seal point female named Thaifong Star Dancing. Both were nicely refined, balanced cats with slightly different strengths, and the wins went back and forth between them. In the end they finished their grands at the same show, on the same day. It doesn't get much better than that! But what was even more exciting to me was that their bloodlines were different enough that I could breed them together.

The breeding was done in early May, and the much anticipated litter was born in July. Starla delivered three large, healthy kittens and, from birth, the little male stood out. Although I usually find it difficult to predict show type in newborn Siamese kittens, this little guy looked so strikingly different that I took a picture of him when he was just a few hours old. I hoped to capture on film that special something that I thought I could see. As the litter matured, all three kittens had nice type, but the blue point male continued to stand out. I let the friendly lilac girl with the enormous ears and the elegant, but dark, seal girl go to pet homes and registered the baby blue as Thaifong Tiamo (aka Ti).

I continued to take pictures of him as he developed, and as the weeks went by he showed more and more promise. A dear friend was facing cancer surgery and I decided to offer Tiamo to her as get well incentive. I had only a couple of girls I could breed to him and knew that she would cherish him and could use him to his full potential. With her surgery dates uncertain, the decision was made that I would show him for a while and send him to her when she had recovered enough to get out and show.

Tiamo made his showring debut at the Buffalo Cat Fanciers show in November where he was competing against more mature kittens and was mostly overlooked. But the one Siamese breeder judge made him best of breed and gave him his first final. He didn't go out again until the Ramapo show in December and by then he had matured enough to get noticed. He took best of breed and finalled in five of the six rings, including his first best kitten win. We felt we were on the way, and started planning shows. The only problem was that we got shut out of the only other show we could get to in December

So we hit the ground running in January. At the Lockport show on the first weekend, Tiamo made six of the eight finals, including two best kittens, and got rave reviews from the judges. From that point on he was out every other weekend through January and February. At times the weather was "challenging" ... like the trip back from the Columbus show where we had to stop halfway home because of white-out blizzard conditions off Lake Erie. Or another time when we set off for a show in Pennsyvlania only to discover that most of the major highways in the state were closed for emergency snow removal. But the long, difficult trips paid off as Tiamo proved to be competitive against the top running kittens of the time. He scored in the top three kittens at most of his shows and was best kitten 12 times in forty finals.

On Sunday morning of his last show Ti left from Ohio to go and live with Dianne and Bruce Alexy in North Carolina. It was a sad day for me. When you show a cat or kitten week after week, and share those long trips and lonely nights in motel rooms, you can't help but develop a special bond. How do you say good-bye to a little cat who has been such major part of your life, and shared your bed and your heart since he left his mother and learned to think of you as mom? I took consolation in knowing that he was going where he would be treasured and have an opportunity to make a contribution to the Siamese breed.

Tiamo's pedigree is a combination of most the lines I have worked with over the years. I feel he is a tribute to the many fine Siamese behind him and the people who bred them.