Gingerhill
Burmese
Gingerhill &Mahajaya Import History
Gingerhill Sable Burmese was established in 1978, and is registered with CFA and CCA, and is a United Burmese Cat Fancier member. Gingerhill has been dedicated to promoting and breeding traditional Burmese. Our principal breeding line has been the Mahajaya Toffee import line.
My first import Burmese, Pandit Ginger of Gingerhill, born in 1980, was the first of the Mahajaya imports to enter and be registered in Canada with the CCA. A bit of history of Mahajaya Toffee follows. Ardith (Flood) Elmore of Arizona owned Mahajaya Toffee of Bowbell, along with the involvement of two other catteries. Virginia Deal, of Texas, and Carolyn Lees of California, were two of the breeders involved with the import's development, and breeding program; and originally Frank and Barb Smith of California, imported Toffee from Thailand in 1974 from the Mahajaya cattery of the late Mme. Ruen A. Rajamaitri. Acceptance came with registration in ACFA, ACA, and UCF. Daphne Negus was also involved in his importation to the Smiths, and the acceptance by CFA in June 1979; initially they were referred to as "Bangkok Burmese". This was a significant importation of a breeding cat since the introduction of Wong Mau in 1930 from which all North American and British Burmese cats are originally descended. In May of 1979, Daphne Negus wrote an article for Cats Magazine reviewing the history of imports since Wong Mau; noting that there had been imports in 1941, 1946 and 1954; some registered and some not registered. Of them that were registered were Tangyi and Ananda of Forbidden City (1941), and Casa Gatos Bilardi (1946). Almost twenty years later, Toffee's arrival along with his brother Nongchai brought new strength to the bloodlines as well as a return to the traditional, Southeast Asian physical characteristics, which when bred with our North American lines produced good breeder and show cats. In 1976, Ardith also brought in a female, Mahajaya Sai Thong of Pandit born of the same parents as Toffee.
My second Mahajaya import, Pandit Rachel of Gingerhill, born in October 1990, gave birth on July 20, 1992 to three kittens, one male and two females. The kitten's grandsire is Mahajaya's Toffee who sired their mother when he was seventeen years old; and lived to the respectable age of nineteen. The new family was raised with the run of the house as all former litters had been. We named the kittens, which is something that is a hazard if you're planning on selling them, but we did it anyway. As one might guess, Jessica Toffee, Kate Toffee, and Timothy all became permanent residents of our household. In the past, most kittens would leave the cattery between 14 and 16 weeks of age. Occasionally one would have been kept for show and breeding but never a whole litter. This situation gave me the continuing opportunity to observe the family behaviour beyond the usual 14 weeks. We've also had the joy of recording for the first time this litter not only on photographs but also on videotape. It was a joy to watch the interaction of the family who, though they have distinct personalities, participated in many activities as a pack and would sleep together in a pile. As I have observed with other mother cats she would forever be moving the knitted mice as if they were the family luggage, transporting all the mice, making the same sound she made when she carried kittens many years ago. Other times she acted as if the whole lot should have moved out long ago, passing them and uttering the foulest of feline oaths. Jessica took on a role of dominant cat, usurping this role from her brother. At times it seemed that there wasn't an inch of the house they were not in when they are charging about, and at other times one knows there was a conspiracy afoot when no one was to be seen and then the crash is heard. By the time one got to the seen of the crime, no one was there and all had the look of innocence; who me. Their mother Rachel and her son Timothy, and daughters Kate and Jessica, have now passed over to their ancestors. The kittens who stayed together continued to provide us with great joy into their senior years.
