Errol was my beloved Havana, born 26th April 2000 and pts in 20th August 2007.
I first noticed a Havana at a cat show in early 2000, and decided I had to have one. I went hunting and found a woman who lived near Doncaster had a boy looking for a new home. I was living in Leeds, which wasn’t that far away, so went visiting.
Errol was absolutely manic! I’d seen plenty of kittens, but at 8 weeks old he ran around for over 2 hours, with just a wee break of 5 minutes or so to recharge his batteries. It was obvious my existing cats wouldn’t intimidate him, and a few weeks later I took him home.
However once I got him home he did sleep, just occasionally!
He fitted in so well, so quickly – Billy and Janice were only a year older so were like large kittens, but he soon got on well with all my other cats and settled himself firmly into my life – and those of my other cats!
He could be a very laid-back cat.
I showed him as a neuter, and he made Premier though that was as far as he could go. He has pulled his ears on top of his head in this photo, taken by Alan Robinson of One-Offs who at the time was thecat photographer at a great many shows. He also helped quite a few people understand the breed better.
To my utter amazement he not only made Premier – indeed he got 5 PCs, from Elizabeth Biggie (10/03/2001), John Hansson (08/09/2001), Joyce Higgins (13/07/2002), Grace Denny (03/04/2004) and finally on 03/07/2004 – he also got a Reserve Grand Premier Certificate from George Gow (05/04/2003). He got withheld on a number of times for various reasons, including coming out in showers of dandruff each spring.
Here are his Show Results.
He was an outdoor cat and quite a few small animals and birds met their end in his paws – once he almost caught a large seagull! He also made a lot of friends with the schoolchildren who passed my house in Leeds on their way to school, and here are two of his adoring fan club holding him. Despite the way they usually held him, he was happy and relaxed with them.
He helped me work! (so did George)
I went away in early August 2007 for a couple of weeks leaving him and Rufus in a cattery, and when I came back I was horrified at how thing he was. I rushed him to my own vets, he rallied at first but was put to sleep on the 20th August 2007. He left an immense hole in my life – the only cat I had left was Rufus. It wasn’t long before I found myself idly looking at Oriental kittens on the Internet, and not that much longer before I found an advert from a breeder in Huddersfield who had a male Oriental black kitten. You can read his story here.