History Of The Ocicat
When I meet new people talk always turns to hobbies, I love talking about my cats, they are a huge part of my life, and only my partner and my parents come above my cats. Many people that I meet and know when I tell them about my hobby and they ask me what sort or breed of cats I have, when I answer them the first question they always ask is what is an Ocicat?…
The Ocicat is quite a new breed, certainly in Great Britain but also in America where the breed started. The first Ocicat was bred in the 60’s in Michigan USA but Mrs Virginia Daly of Dalai cattery. The first Ocicat was a surprise kitten that resulted from mating a Siamese and Abyssinian, Mrs Daly was trying to make aby-pointed Siamese kittens and in the litter was Tonga, the first spotted Ocicat, so named for the close resemblance of the wild ocelot. It’s a common misconception that Ocicats actually descended from the Ocelot itself but this is entirely untrue. Tonga was sold to a medical student with the understanding he was neutered and the rare line was almost lost, fortunately a repeat mating between Tonga’s mother and father produced more spotted Ocikittens and the line was saved.
The First Ocicats seen in England came over in the 80’s and as of June 2005 the Ocicat achieved Championship status with the GCCF in Britain. It was achieved through tireless hard work from the Ociclub and its members and it means that the Ocicats are here and ready to take over the world! Though they have achieved this status with the GCCF they are still a relatively new breed this side of the pond, but the breeders are slowly growing in numbers each year, and all breeders have more or less the same goal, to breed happy healthy kittens of good type and to carry on the lines and to further the breed by introducing new lines.
There are currently 12 acceptable colours of Ocicats the 6 base colours Chocolate, Tawny, Cinnamon, Blue, Lilac, fawn and the 6 silver variants of the base colours.