Grand Premier Agility Winner iCandy Fireball is home. At eighteen months of age, his suitcases were packed and he made the trip back to iCandy almost two weeks ago. Fireball was born here and somehow, it was meant to be that he returns here to live.
He was born in the month of December, one of a litter of seven. I had been looking forward to this litter enormously. The sire, Hob Nobs, was a Grand Champion with an agility title; this was his first litter. The queen, Cherry, was a descendent from my Russian import of several generations back. The breeding was a combination of several lines I had been working with for years. It also turned into a disaster.
Cherry got very sick after the kittens were born. We took two trips to the emergency hospital. On the second trip, she was hospitalized. I was afraid I was going to lose her to sepsis. She looked awful. Cherry responded to treatment. When I picked her up from the hospital, I took her to a veterinary friend who is a retired breeder. We set up a follow-up treatment plan.
Meanwhile, I was losing kittens one by one at home. They were septic and not responding to treatment. Except one. The red classic tabby never got sick. Ate well and was happy to have mom back when she got home. It was a horrible few days; but he was the bright spot in all of it. But, there was one weird thing about this special kitten that I couldn’t figure out. I couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female.
As time went on, the kitten got bigger and more beautiful. And I still couldn’t be sure what sex he was. Eventually, I was convinced he was a male, but that his urogenital tract was not normal. Meanwhile, I named him Fireball, because that was the perfect fit. The red kitten overflowed with personality.
My plan was to seek out a veterinary surgeon that could evaluate him in addition to finding a show home for him as he was gorgeous. I found the surgeon; the plan was to let him grow up as much as possible and see what happened. Fireball went for follow ups every 4 to 6 weeks. His urogenital tract developed quite a bit. To be clear, he was not born with a penis and around 6 to 7 months, he actually developed one. It still wasn’t normal, but everything functioned well enough. So I made the decision to have him neutered ( assuming he did have male genitalia somewhere). The surgeon was able to find his testicles and he was officially a neutered cat.
Meanwhile, I had found a home for Fireball. My friend Alene was considering going into the CFA judging program. One of the steps required is to show and live with different breeds of cats. Fireball would be perfect. He was very flashy in kitten class. Playing on the judging table, climbing the pole, and having a “look at me” attitude. The down side was his rear end was very sensitive due to his anatomy being abnormal. As he aged, he got more sensitive.
I brought him back to my house after his neuter. He freaked out. I’m not sure what happened in his brain, but he decided he hated me. He returned to Alene’s house and settled down. With the one exception, he tormented Alene’s Turkish Angora cats. Alene was able to continue showing him into adult class. He earned his CFA Grand Premiership title. I was able to help show him when Alene was busy, but he still hated my guts. The situation really sharpened my cat handling skills. Once I got him out of the tent and up to the judge’s cage, he was a perfect gentlemen, enjoying his time with the judges.
Unfortunately, Fireball was unable to tolerate his rear end being groomed. It’s vital that a cat being judged goes to the ring completely clean. His last show finished his show career due to the scream he let out when we attempted to tidy up his soiled rear. It was unbelievably loud. In a case like this, it is not fair to stress either the cat or other cats in the show hall ( who get upset when hearing another cat scream).
Fireball lived with Alene, her husband and other cats, mostly Turkish Angoras. Unfortunately, he played too hard with the Turks and upset them. Time and patience did not seem to make it better. He is twice the size of the other cats.
So, Fireball came home. He still hated me. So, I set up boot camp in my guest room with youtube cat channels, teaser toys, and Churu. I also medicated him, once I could get close enough, to relieve his stress. I spent a lot of time in the room with him. Playing with the teaser toys, feeding him Churu and just dozing in his presence. Eventually, he came around and let me pet him and then wanted more and more attention. He has now moved into the area of the house with the rescues and RagaMuffin males. The transition has been smooth. I think he is happy. He is home.
