Minaxi looked at us with big, deep amber eyes at our first cat show. She had beautiful black, shiny coat, and a round head with a short muzzle, that is associated with the Bombays. It was love at first sight. We had had rescue cats for a number of years, but this was our first experience with the enchantment of pedigreed cats.
We got our first rescue kitten in 1970. Patty's mom was a feral cat that the neighbors fed. This little brown mackerel tabby kitten needed a home, so we gave her one. Over the years we have had a number of other cats come into our lives. For Christmas of 1980 we gave our older daughter Judy a black kitten with green eyes that we got from the pound. What a wonderful, friendly cat he was! Back in those days we did not know better and let the cats outside. Unfortunately one February morning in 1981 I found Midnite dead in our driveway. He had been hit by a car. We were heart broken. That was the beginning of our keeping our cats inside.
Several months later we met Minaxi. We were very impressed with the breed, plus they were black like Midnite. We talked to the breeder about getting a Bombay girl, so we could begin breeding and showing. She suggested we get Patty and our other rescue cat Charlie tested for Feline Leukemia (FeLV) and Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Back then breeders would remove any cat that tested positive for FeLV from the cattery. With thanks to those breeders, FeLV is almost unheard of in catteries now. It was also thought that FIP could be conquered in the same fashion. So, we had Patty and Charlie tested. Unfortunately, Charlie tested high for the coronavirus, which causes FIP. The vet told us to wait a month and have both cats tested again. Charlie's titer was astronomical. We were given the choice of either putting her down or not getting any new cats. With disappointment we called the breeder and told her, that we could not have a Bombay until Charlie was no longer with us. Charlie lived another 2 1/2 years and Patty five. As they passed on, other rescue cats came into our lives.
In April 1996 I was praying for direction. I remembered how we thought about going into breeding Bombays a number of years earlier. At that I told the Lord, that if He wanted us to get into breeding and showing, that He would have to give us two show quality, queens (whole girls) at no cost to us. Judy and I had planned on going to a cat show the next weekend. At the show was a Burmese breeder with kittens for sale. While talking to her, I mentioned that I had dreamed of having a Burmese or Bombay someday. She asked my if I would mind adults. I told her that I did not. She informed me of a widow, who had two Bombay girls. The widow¹s husband had been very involved in the cat fancy, but she was not. She was trying to find homes for all but a few cats. I called her and in less than a week from my prayer, we had Leia and Liza, our foundation queens.
In the following weeks and months we contacted various Bombay breeders and began being mentored. Our younger son thought of the name Night Sky for our cattery, which was registered in CFA in May 1996. Sharon Knight leased us a Burmese stud named Ratatat's Cool Choice, who sired our first two litters. While we had C.C. we began showing cats by taking him to several shows and getting his Champion title and about half the points needed for a Grand Champion. In November 1996 our foundation stud arrived. We chose the name Shadowland's Peter Pan of Night Sky.
From there we have had five generations of Night Sky kittens. We have granded seventeen cats, fifteen of them of our breeding, had one Regional Winner, one Distinguised Merit, and achieved a Second Best of Breed in CFA. In TICA we have had three Supreme Grand Champions and two Supreme Grand Champion Alters, four other grands, five regional winners, and a number of Best, Second, and Third Bests of Breed. There are cats from our catty from California in the southwest, Alaska and British Columbia in the northwest, through New England, and south to Florida and Texas.
