Our new Grand Champion!

Yesterday at the CFA show in Tulsa Samwise became a Grand Champion Turkish Van. He is now "GC Caravanserai's Samwise." Quite a mouthful, but we suspect that he will be just plain "Sam."

We are so excited! Now he can come to his new home with us on the beach. Jim will pick him up in San Antonio a week from today.

All the very best to our dear cat-friends,

Ann, with Miss Kitty, Samwise, and Jim, on a Texas beach

Wonderful news! I'll be looking forward to seeing some new pictures of Miss Kitty and Samwise once he gets settled into his new home!

Congratulations, "GC Caravanserai's Samwise." What a fine feline you are. And congratulations, too, to your new family. All your friends here at TCS will be looking forward to meeting you, and seeing pictures of you enjoying family life.

Thank you, Lorie. Just took a peek at Snowball's web page. A lovely cat. Our favorite dearly departed kitty of all time, and Jim and I have had so many, was a lilac point Siamese. Snowball reminds us so much of her. "La Petite Souris Blanc," or "Little White Rat," which was exactly what she looked like as a newborn. She was a comfort and a joy for many years until that tragic day finally came, as it always must.

All the best to you and Snowball,

Ann

Congratulations to you both - I know you've been waiting for what must seem like ages. His cat page isn't "up" yet, but I'll definitely check it out. I wonder if he likes water? The Turkish Vans supposedly actually swim. There's a family near where I work with 6 Vans, and I often make a detour to watch them in their "paradise". The people have a big yard, which is completely enclosed (a "roof", too), with all sorts of perches, catwalks and a "cat swimming pool". It is accessible through cat flaps on both floors of the house. I once saw it pictured in a magazine here. They don't breed - they bought two siblings, and then took in four siblings as rescues when a cattery was closed by the authorities because of the miserable conditions there.

So when they make Grand Champion you have to add to their name? Just curious? And Congrats to Sam for his achievement!!

Congratulations Sam & Ann!! Way to go!

Originally posted by hissy
So when they make Grand Champion you have to add to their name? Just curious? And Congrats to Sam for his achievement!!

Click to expand...

Hissy, I think they just add the "GC" part for Grand Champion. The rest is probably Sam's CFA registered name. For example, Hallie's name is "Petmar Hallie Madame Le Petite" but if she were to win a show and become a Grand Champion she would officially be "GC Petmar Hallie Madame Le Petite.

Ann, please correct me if I'm wrong!

Samwise does appreciate all the good words. He is having a few typical mutual accommodation issues with Miss Kitty at present, but patience will prevail. Won't it?

My congarts to you , Samwise and the breeder

This is Ann again. Sorry. The little finger on my left hand hit something, and ZAP, my incomplete note was posted.

mzjazz2u is quite correct, Hissy. Samwise's cattery was the Caravanserai Cattery, in San Antonio. So his name at birth was Caravanserai's Samwise. After he had won his 200 points in CFA shows the GC, for "Grand Champion," was added to precede his name, hence, "GC Caravanserai's Samwise." All very fancy, but the truth is he has become "Sam."

If you have read JRR Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," or seen the movies, you might recognize the name "Samwise." He was the hobbit who was Frodo's best friend, and who protected him during Frodo's many dangerous adventures. Samwise's dad is named "Lord of the Rings," and his kittens are named after characters in Tolkien's mystical tale.

The Turkish Van is a really interesting breed, rather new to the U.S., and, yes, they are known as "The Swimming Cat." They are noted for their love of the water, and they have actually been observed in lakes and rivers in Turkey going after fish. Samwise will join us in the shower.

If you would like to learn more about this beautiful and exciting breed, click

here. This is the Cat Fanciers Association web page on the Turkish Van.

We love Samwise. Jim and I have been keepers of oodles of cats during our nearly 50 years of marriage, and he is probably the most affectionate of the lot.

Samwise's new TCS web page is awaiting approval. It should be up and running soon.

All the very best to all our TCS friends,

Ann, on a Texas beach with Jim, Miss Kitty and Samwise

Yep! They'll work it out. Their language may not be fit to print in the meantime, but...

Samwise's cattery was the Caravanserai Cattery

Click to expand...

Yes! Hallie came from Petmar cattery originally(that's the breeder). Even though I got her from Dragonpass cattery, the original cattery name is always there and Dragonpass was dropped. I got Jake from Dragonpass too & his name is "Steeplechase Jake Da Man." Steeplechase cattery is where he was born.

Samwise's new TCS web page is awaiting approval. It should be up and running soon.

Click to expand...

I can't wait to see it! I hope it gets approved very soon!

Originally posted by mzjazz2u
Hallie came from Petmar cattery originally

Click to expand...

Persians are such lovely little creatures. Samwise is a very good-natured fellow, but we are not sure that he cares all that much for Persians. Turkish Vans are still a relatively rare breed, and often in a show he would be the only Turkish Van competing. Being a longhair, he therefore had to compete against Persians as a matter of fairness, which he accepted with dignified grace.

In contrast, as you know Persians are a very popular breed, so when the judges came around Samwise had a bunch of tough competition. He became a Champion in October of last year, at his very first show, but it took him five months to earn his Grand Championship. But, being the tough little boy that he is he said "Bring 'em on!" and he struggled gamely on in probably the most difficult category in any show.

Meanwhile, he could not join us on the beach until he earned his GC, and he has this lingering feeling about Persians having delayed his arrival at his new happy home.

Much fun, these little critters!

All the best,

Ann, along with Jim, Miss Kitty and Samwise, on a Texas beach

Somehow I managed to post a new photo of Samwise on the Furry Photos page, here.With my photo editing program I seem to have a great deal of difficulty getting the disk size of photos reduced, but <with a smile> I may have figured it out.

Originally posted by James Brown
Persians are such lovely little creatures. Samwise is a very good-natured fellow, but we are not sure that he cares all that much for Persians. Turkish Vans are still a relatively rare breed, and often in a show he would be the only Turkish Van competing. Being a longhair, he therefore had to compete against Persians as a matter of fairness, which he accepted with dignified grace.

Click to expand...

I'm sure he did have some stiff competition! Glad he finally did it! I'm a BIG persian fan myself but I like all breeds and mixes! I was told by Mary of Petmar cattery that Hallie is a show quality cat. But unfortunately she has PKD which complicates things. She loves to be pet and get scritches but she is very tender and doesn't like to be picked up. I think it may be painful for her. And it's difficult to groom her properly also, because she doesn't like to be handled too much. Turkish Vans are very pretty cats too. I'm going to go check out Sam's picture right now!

Congratulations to all of you!