An Ocicat is an agouti spotted cat of moderate type. Originating from interbreeding of Abyssinian, Siamese and American Shorthair..
Ocicats come in various colors: tawny, chocolate, cinnamon, blue, lavender, fawn, ebony silver, cinnamon silver, blue silver, lavender silver, and fawn silver. Chocolate is the most common color seen in the show ring because judges initially favored it. However, a wide variety of the colors are shown quite successfully.
The categories for showing are kittens (ages four to eight months), opens (adults eight months old or older) striving to get winners’ ribbons to become champions or premiers, champions (whole adult cats that have already received their
winners’ ribbons), premiers (neuters or spays that have received their winners’ ribbons.)The title of Distinguished Merit occurs when a male has sired fifteen grand champions and/or grand premiers. A female earns Distinguished Merit when she produces five offspring that have become grand champions and or grand premiers. Not only has Ocicountry Cattery achieved the stature of grand champion, grand premier, and distinguished merit cats, but also it has made history with some firsts in these categories.
OCICOUNTRY CATTERY became a licensed CFA cattery on January 19, 1987. In the autumn of 1986 we purchased a tawny spotted male Ocicat kitten. Tawny refers to the background color. Tawny is an expression of the black gene. A tawny spotted Ocicat has black or seal brown spots on a ruddy, tawny, or bronze background color. The originator of the Ocicat, Virginia Daly, thought that tawnies have the wildest look of the various Ocicat colors, probably since the wild spotted cats have black spots on a russet to orange background. It was our good fortune to talk with Virginia Daly personally in our initial quest for an Ocicat. She was quite helpful in guiding us to sources for the Ocicat breed. Virginia had been a Siamese and Abyssinian breeder and exhibitor. The Ocicat originated from Siamese and Abyssinian crosses primarily. Later some outcrosses were made to the American Shorthair to pick up the silver gene but also for larger boning and structure. The show standards, however, describe the body length and head more closely related to the Abyssinian. For this reason the Abyssinian has been the only allowable outcross for Ocicats by CFA. In 1987 the Ocicat achieved championship status with both CFA and TICA. We showed our first Ocicat, Pharaoh, as a kitten when the breed was provisional prior to being recognized for championship status. When he was an adult, we showed him in championship as an open, and he received sufficient winners ribbons in one show to become a champion.
Over the years Ocicountry Cattery has achieved significant status with our own grand champions and grand premiers as well as the splendid achievements of other catteries that have shown Ocicats they purchased from us. Ocicountry is one of the oldest existing Ocicat catteries and has made significant strides for the breed. It has also made history as shown in the OCICOUNTRY ACHIVEMENTS section.
Since Ocicountry has been raising Ocicats since the autumn of 1986, the cattery has a number of geriatric cats, some living to be as old as 18 1/2 years. These cats are a pride and joy. Ocicountry doesn't do much breeding any more, only two or three litters a year. If Ocicountry does not currently have what someone is looking for, other catteries could be recommended to someone wanting to find a pet Ocicat.
