|
|
 |
|
|
These pictures were all taken Friday 4/4/8. Ruth is being evaluated for breeding. I did not
take these pictures to show how cute she is as much as to demonstrate physical characteristics for this breeder. Things considered
are boning, size, length of body and lengthy of legs. The picture above was taken to illustrate body
size, boning and overall body shape.
The American Curl should be sortof of rectangular box... that is 1-1/2 times longer that tall. This
is an "ELEGANT" breed. The body should look in proportion at every angle. The
boning should be refined... more like a Turkish Angora... but not and definitely smaller. This cat is not bred to hunt
in the cold winters of the North East like the Main Coons. When you look at an American Curl, we don't want you to think
'strong hunter'. We want you to think "debutant".
The picture above is one of our older kitten pictures. Mike left it because he just likes it.
These 2 pictures are a good example of why breeders won't evaluate an AC until they are a little older.
The younger pictures above shows her face as being "shorter"... and more square. As she has grown, the nose has extended
slightly so her face is less "boxey".
|
Ruth was born January 17, 2008... so far she looks as though she could be a clone of CH Curl Essence Joy Unspeakable.
Joy has that refined boning the American Curl should have. When you put her next to another cat of her relative same
size, and then pick up both cats, Joy will feel like her bones are hollow. That's a result of the more refined boning.
One of the best ways to see the boning difference (other than picking the cat up and comparing weight) is to look at the front
legs and paws. The paws will be smaller and the thickness of the leg bones will be thinner.
|
|
Ears should be well set on the sides of the head. The back of the ears should curl so they could be
pointing to an imaginary point in the center of the back of the head. Both ears should have the same amount of curl.
The curl may be tighter from one cat to another, but they should be the same. (That, by the way, is really really hard
to get.)
|
The other thing a breeder will be looking for on the face is shape and placement of the eyes and ears.
EVERYTHING on the AC should look well placed. ... evenly placed. Nothing that says: "hmmmm... that's a little
too big for the rest of the face" or "ugh, it's a little out of proportion"... after all, what debutant would have ears
that are too big for her head, or a mouth that was too big for her face? Ya, none.
|
|
|
These pictures were taken several weeks apart. You can notice in the younger picture that the nose was shorter
and as she grew, her nose and face were longer. We don't want a cat with a pointed nose, but we don't want one with
a flat nose either.
|
|
Okay, and here's the big plus as pet owners... these cats are a hoot! They love to play! and
that doesn't go away when they get older. They aren't called "the Peter Pan of cat" for no reason.
If you want to make a quick friendship with a Curl, go buy yourself a laser light. Mike gets these
guys going in circles and climbing the walls. A couple of the kids know the sound of him just picking his light up from
his nightstand next to his bed. Now, you tell me how they can distinguish that sound from 2 rooms away? But they
do. He no more than walks into the bedroom and lays his hands on his laser light and at least 3 will show up from...
who knows from where.... but somewhere and they go nuts! (We really should take some videos and send them to Funniest
Home Videos... I'll bet we could make some money.)
|
She just would not hold still long enough for me to get a good shot of her profile. When we are talking
"profile", we are talking about the curvature of the nose from the tip of the nose to the forehead.
Profile is so much easier to determine on short haired Curls. In a LH Curl, the hair can disguise
a bad profile. We are looking for a gentle "S". With LH's the fur on the forehead can frequently make
it look like you have a nice profile. But if you ever go to a show and you see a judge look at the cat from the side
and place a finger on the forehead to hold the fur down, the judge is checking for profile of the bone structure.
We don't want an abrupt change of direction at the nose break or a straight line... again, with the Curl,
you are thinking of "everything flowing and looking proportional" It should make you feel like God came down from Heaven
and painted this little pretty picture of a pretty, sweet little kitty.... His hand not tight and clenched, but loose
and flowing.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
