Although Curly was born in 1982 it was not until the early 1990s that steps were taken to establish the unique cats as a pedigree breed. Interest grew quickly and wherever the cats were seen they received a hugely positive response. Very soon a group of breeders and judges were working together.

The breed is still rare and although the majority of breeders are in the USA and Canada there are now breeders in New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Holland, Germany, Russia and the UK.

The LaPerm has been making good progress in the UK and it is hopeful that the breed will achieve full championship status and take its rightful place as a new and enriching presence in the GCCF.

The LaPerm looks and feels like no other cat. They have delicate looking but strong and muscular foreign type bodies. Their heads are shaped like a modified wedge with rounded contours and length and width in the muzzle. Their amazing coats feel soft and textured and often fall in ringlets especially round their necks and on their plumed tails. Shorthaired LaPerms with wavy coats and bottle-brush tails also exist within the breed. As with other rex breeds all colours are accepted and some beautiful coats have been bred.

She is a lilac and white tortie with the sweetest of temperaments. Her sire is Merinda Seysiana Zafrano a lilac shaded boy owned by Linsey Thomas. Her dam is the beautiful Quincunx Siouxsie Banshee a cream tabby and white girl owned and bred by Anthony. Siouxsie was the first LaPerm to be born on British soil.

At long last Mia has arrived! She strolled in after a long journey from London to Evesham and quickly made friends with everybody. Enya my 8 month old Burmese is delighted to have somebody young to play with. She is a superb personality, constantly purring and wanting to be fussed but also very interested in the other cats.

Mia has well and truly settled in. Lillie-Bel, my fawn point siamese, has become surrogate mum and even lets Mia suckle from her. They seem to match each other well in this photo. She is also totally laid back as seen in the 2nd photo. Enya is getting ready to pounce while Mia is totally oblivious!

10/08/04

Mia is sat here alert and ready for action. The other cats love her and she is truly part of the family. I think LaPerms have the sweetest temperaments and readily adapt to new situations. They seem to love everybody, humans and cats.

Mia has made good friends with Enya, my blue tortie Burmese. This is a rare quiet moment. Especially as I am planning to introduce my tonk litter of kittens to the main household. These two are extremely playful and will think I have provided them with some new toys to play with :-))

Mia is growing into a stunning girl. She has been to two shows, at Chester and the Wyvern, and received merits at both. She received glowing reports from her judges which pleased me immensely as she is very shy at shows and doesn't show her true personality!

Mia attended the Colourpoint, Rex coated and AOV show at Wednesbury. She received her 3rd merit and had her first official photo taken by Mario Mage. Doesn't she look grown up! She was a lot more relaxed at this show and it was lovely to see her litter sister Quincunx Loopylocks Lulu in the next pen. They looked really striking together.

A friend of mine had bought a panic mouse for her cat but he hadn't taken to it. He is an outdoors cat and prefers to catch the real thing. Needless to say, my lot thought it was wonderful! Mia caught it quickly and tried to drag it off with her. I will put it away now and bring it out at different times, when they are bored and wrecking the house!!

This is Mia being judged at the Supreme Cat Show at the NEC. The Supreme is one of the biggest shows in the calendar and cats have to qualify to be shown there. I was as overawed as Mia, as I have been for years as a spectator, but never imagined I would ever show any cats there. The judge is Gill Cornish who awarded Mia her 4th merit and also wrote some lovely things about her. I won't be taking Mia to any more shows now until she is 9 months old. LaPerms are such a new breed that they can only be shown in assessment classes at shows to earn merits. The breed need 15 cats to achieve 4 merits from different judges to progress to the next stage. Only 2 kitten merits count so Mia needs to earn 2 more merits as an adult!

Mia was worn out after her success at the Supreme and doesn't appear at all impressed by her rosette. Enya, however, is most impressed and is just about to steal it from her :-)

http://www.laperm.co.uk/