Blondbella Daybreak "PRINCE"

or HRH King Daybreak, as he is also known

shown as PRINCE DAYBREAK (Pedigree pet)

And so it was time for another cat to take over as King of all cats.

Vanilla died on the 6th of June 2008, and exactly like it had happened when Blondie died and Caspian took over, and when Caspian died and Vanilla took over, Prince had been chosen as Vanilla's successor by Vanilla himself.

It never ceases to amaze me how this works in cats -I'm not making these stories up, they are all true.

Vanilla died, and Prince took over his habits. Just like I had known would happen.

For years, we had speculated on who would be the next cat in charge. Vanilla didn't make it clear to start with.

Maybe it would be Candy, his half sister that he was so close to, or IceCream, his daughter who looks so much like her dad. Perhaps even Ringo the Maine Coon? No. A week or two before Vanilla died, the changeover started to take place.

Where Vanilla used to sit on the bottom shelf in my computer cupboard as I used the computer, Prince would now appear. When I sat down on the couch to watch TV or read a book, instead of Vanilla instantly appearing, Prince would be there.

PRINCE'S STORY:

The line with Vanilla in almost died out, and I was desperate for it to continue.

I had two female cats directly descended from Vanilla; IceCream, his daughter; and Dawn, his grand daughter.

IceCream

Dawn

It has to be said, Dawn did not seem a good choice as a breeding queen.

Where do I start? IceCream had a litter of two kittens to Dusky, just before Dusky was neutered.

Dusky

I sold the BlueCream kitten as a pet, and kept the LilacCream whom I called Dawn.

(As her father's pedigree name was Blondbella Dusk, naming her Blondbella Dawn seemed obvious.)

When Dawn was just a few months old, she fell through the bannisters and down the stairs in our old house. She broke her shoulder.

It didn't heal right and she ended up with one front leg that is fused in position. She cannot bend it or extend it, and hence walks very low to the ground.

Her confidence was ruined and Dawn became a very nervous cat. On top of that, she is small, is undershot, and quite frankly is a pretty ugly cat -at least as far as pedigree Persians go ! Yes, I was desperate to continue this line, but I'm aiming for show cats here, and temperament also counts for a lot of course. They MUST be good pets as well -being a pet should be every cat's main job.

Needless to say, it did not seem a good idea to breed from Dawn !

But IceCream refused to get mated again. Dawn is now almost 5 years old (2008), yet IceCream has never mated again. She has been in call a lot, and we have tried her with every single stud I've had. No joy. IceCream STILL only has eyes for Dusky, and he is of course neutered. (But he still mates her!) Even when we moved IceCream in with Caspar (away from Dusky !) for a full 6 months, nothing happened.

Eventually we had to give up on IceCream. There would be no more kittens from her.

So that left Dawn. We had to try having a litter from her after all.

But it seemed that Dawn did not want kittens EITHER. For over a year, she was moved from stud to stud each time she came into call. Yet she didn't get pregnant.

Until one day in 2006 when she suddenly was pregnant, to Caspar.

Caspar

What would we have done without Caspar?!

The problem was, we didn't know the exact date that Dawn had been mated, so didn't know when to start expecting the kittens.

When she looked close, I put Dawn in a kittening pen next to my bed, so I could keep an eye on her all the time. One evening she seemed restless. I woke up every hour that night. Switched the light on and looked inside the pen. Saw nothing. The soft bed was empty.

At 8 am I got up and when I looked inside the pen, I saw a lump inside the litter tray. Looked closer, and it was a kitten, a dead kitten.

It was still covered by all the membranes. Dawn had not washed it so it did not have a chance to survive. I had not looked inside the litter tray during the night. Panic rising, I moved the litter tray aside. Behind it, there was a second kitten, also dead. I moved the bed, and behind that, a third dead kitten.

The kittens had been born, I had not seen them, and they were all dead.

Crying, I lifted Dawn up and felt her stomach. It felt like there still was something inside it, but Dawn wasn't doing anything at all. No contractions, nothing.

We rushed her to the vet as soon as they opened, and Mr Hammill took one look at me and remarked that I looked very upset. I explained why. He felt Dawn, and agreed that yes, there was still a kitten left inside her. However, he very much doubted that it would still be alive. He told me to not get my hopes up.

Dawn was given an oxytocin injection to start the contractions off again, and we were sent home with her. Nothing happened. A couple of hours later we were back again, and this time Dawn was kept in for a caesarian. Again Mr Hammill told me to not expect a live kitten.

A short while later Mr Hammill phoned me to say he had got a kitten out of Dawn -and it was alive. He wanted me to come and collect it immediately so that I could try to bottlefeed it.

When we arrived back at Beechwood again, I was handed a tiny Blue Mackerel Tabby male kitten. Mr Hammill explained that the kitten was very weak, and indeed had already stopped breathing three times. He said that he still did not hold out any hope for it surviving, but he knew I would want to try. He said Dawn did not want to know the kitten, so his best chance was if I took him home and tried to feed him. It would not be the first time I had bottlefed a kitten (nor the last).

We travelled home in the car with the kitten in a small cardboard box, and I had to keep rubbing him to keep his circulation going and keep him breathing.

I knew it would be tempting fate to name him, but I had already started calling the kitten Prince. He was a Prince after all, the only male heir to Vanilla, the King.

Dawn came home later. At first, she had no milk at all and was too weak to care for her kitten, but she let him sleep with her and kept him warm.

Prince aged 8 days

Prince turned out to be easy to bottlefeed, he took to it naturally.

8 days old

23 days old

At 9 weeks of age, I put Prince in front of Mr Hammill and requested his first vaccination. I will never forget that day, as I don't think I have ever been praised so much in my life before. Mr Hammill could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Prince.

I'd done it -Prince was alive and healthy and he would save Vanilla's line. He would be a great stud cat when he grew up.

Prince 4 months old

But as Prince grew older, a problem appeared. He had only one testicle. The second never appeared, and eventually Prince had to be neutered.

This time however, luck was with us. Dawn was mated to Caspar again, and gave birth to two kittens. One male -with TWO testicles- and one female. Both were cared for expertly from day one by Dawn. Of course, both stayed with us.

Prince is very close to his little sister -Princess. (Blondbella Daylight.)

Princess

Twilight -Prince's little brother, who in fact isn't so little but a very big cat

Dawn might not be the best looking of cats, but she gave birth to kittens that grew up to be twice her own size and much better looking!

Princess and Twilight will carry on the line. And Prince will be busy being Prince -or rather King Daybreak. He is one of the friendliest cats imaginable.

Vanilla made a wise choice.

Prince at 15 months of age

Vanilla and Prince, October 2007

Prince a few days after Vanilla died

Is that a bird out there?

With granddad Dusky to his right -Dusky being a much smaller cat

It's a hard job being the King of all cats. You need to keep clean.

And relax in a sunny window.

-You're upside down!

Rebecca's views on Prince.

Prince 9th of June 2008.

Is this what you call a Persian rug?

(Except there are 4 Exotics on it as well!)

Prince with some of his friends May 2009. Prince is front right.

TOLD you I was the King of all cats!!!

As you are now allowed to show pedigree cats in the household pet classes at shows, Prinec entered his first show in August 2009 (Bingley) where he won BEST IN SHOW household pet. 7 trophies!

He may not be good enough to be shown as a pedigree Persian, but he certainly is good enough as a pet!

After the success at Bingley, we entered Prince as a pedigree pet at the Yorkshire CCC championship show 2009. Prince won his open class, won two side classes and was second in the third (again!), was awarded his first ever Master Cat Certificate and then beat an existing Master Cat to take Best of Colour.