Grand Champion Dushenka Sophia Bella

	Pet name:	Sophie aka Sophie-pops, Precious Sophie, Schmorkul, Princess Twinkletoes, Popsie-bird
	Major awards:	● 11 Challenge Certificates, 3 Grand Challenge certificates & 3 reserve Grands ● Kitten wins included 5 times Best of Breed, a total of 20 x 1st prizes and Best Foreign Kitten, Edinburgh 2005 ● Top Russian Blue female adolescent of 2005
	Notable offspring:	● Grand Champion & Imperial Grand Premier Dushenka Tashabella, 1 UKGPC, 2 res Olympians, Best Foreign Neuter and Best in Show Foreign exhibit, Durham 2014 ● Champion Dushenka Ysabella, 1 GCC, 1 reserve GCC - Best Foreign Kitten, Chester 2009 ● Premier Dushenka Technetium Star ● Grand Champion & Premier Dushenka Gabriel - five breed class wins and two Best of Breed wins as a kitten ● Champion Dushenka Klarabella - eight breed class wins, twice Best of Breed and one best in show nomination
	Kitten pages:	2012  2008  2007  2006

Sophie was just known as Precious Girl for quite some time, having had a particularly dramatic entry to the world, being born by emergency Caesarean.    At the vets I was rubbing the two boy kittens dry, trying not to fret about their mum too much as my then-vet, the marvellous George King, handed Lorraine (vet nurse) the third and last kitten and she commented that it looked like a girl.  'Be careful' said I, 'that kitten is really precious - she represents the result of over 20 years careful breeding'. (Well, I was just a little bit overwrought!)  Not surprisingly, Lorraine handed the tiny little bundle over to me straight away! - my precious girl Sophie. 

Sophie did amazingly well at shows, winning the title of Champion before she was even a year old.  One week later she went off to visit the very handsome Horace, and was pregnant just before her birthday as well.  I am happy to say there was no drama attached to the birth of any of her litters of kittens, beautiful babies in each litter, all a good size at birth, and who all had a textbook upbringing.  Sophie is very precise, neat and organised in everything she does, including raising kittens! Sophie is now a mature lady and retired from breeding, rather against her own wishes, but has decided that her role is to teach all the kittens in the house good manners, in between looking after her human and feline mums.

Sophie is a Grand Champion, like her mum Bella: she also takes after her mum in nature being so sweet and gentle, with the prettiest little paws and ankles to go along with her pretty ways. I am just so proud of her. {

My sweet, precious Sophie left us in August 2018, with the same quiet dignity she brought to every area of her life. She decided the day, and allowed me to give her the gift of a peaceful, and pain-free, passing. The pain is all mine.