Champion Siykat Stella Dushenka 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(If you have your sound switched on...

yes that really is the sound of Stella purring - no special effects, no editing, that's just the way she is!)

 

Stella's story

Suffice to say that I consider myself very fortunate that Sue was willing to let me have Stella - I doubt I would have parted with her if she had been my kitten!  Stella has certainly lived up to her name, and has been a real star from the first time I met her.

Stella was one of a wonderful litter of five kittens, three boys and two girls, with one brother becoming a Grand Champion.  When I first went down to meet the kittens Sue was happy to let me choose between the two girls.  I was having great fun playing with five tumbling babies, but realised that every time I bent over to pick up a kitten the same one always managed to get to me first.  I had been chosen! 

Stella's mum Pushka, age 11

Bringing her home was a bit of a challenge.  I managed to combine collecting Stella with a business trip on the Friday, and Sue very kindly offered to let me stay with her overnight, so I could catch a train home on Saturday morning.  Sad to say, a friend suffered a bereavement, and I needed to be home for the Saturday for the funeral.  Quick change of plan, and I was booked on the sleeper train home.  Then I came down with a bad cold.   Friday morning I got out of bed to go down south - and fainted.  Picked myself up, got to the bathroom - and passed out cold again.  I told myself firmly I just had a bit of a cold (ignoring all the bruises from my falls!), and anyway I had a business meeting to get to, and a kitten to pick up.  That thought brought me round and I picked myself up and staggered on with my day....

Of course, when we got to the train that night the conductor was less than happy to see a cat, and made it clear that it would not be acceptable for her to lay so much as a paw on the bed linen (never mind that she is probably more fastidious in her habits than many humans).  Well, I was hardly going to leave her shut in a carrier all night, now was I?  Stella lived up to her name and was a total star, draping herself over my neck and chest and staying there for the whole journey, not even shifting during my dreadful coughing fits, and she certainly didn't touch the bed linen.

I never showed Stella that much, although she was still very successful, being made up to Champion with relative ease, winning Best of Breed on quite a few occasions (even beating the boys) and winning one Grand Challenge certificate and Best in Show Foreign Exhibit as a young adult.  However, with age and wisdom she decided that she would prefer to stay at home and leave this showing nonsense to her daughter Bella.  There's no point in arguing with Stella - she is the only cat I have ever known who can quite recognisably tell you to 'naff off'!  She also has a huge purr (as you can hear), and is the quintessential lap-cat, having the most lady-like 'debates' with her daughter Bella about who gets which part of my knee.  She was also a champion kitten-sitter, happily taking over from their mums when they needed a break.  Stella is an old lady now, but as Shakespeare put it, 'Age cannot wither her' - she will always be my special star.  «