Late in the late spring of 1977, we were staying out in the country to celebrate my uncle's birthday, and the weather was so mild that everybody, humans and animals alike, wanted to be outdoors. This was also the case of a little black and white kitten named Tussi.
At home we already had two very sweet shorthaired house cats, Prins Lurifaks and Prinsesse Lurven. We were members of an independent cat club at that point, just to go to the meetings and listen to cat talk, and we had been planning to take Lurifaks and Lurven to a show. We had read articles about the Norwegian Forest Cat, and thought it would be nice to have one someday. But for the moment, two cats and three children (Terje, 14 years old, Nina, 12½, and Odd-Andre, 6½ ) were enough, plus some birds and fish.
In the neighborhood a lady with kittens had given a black and white female to a friend on the first floor. With the weather so nice and the birds singing outside in the big world, this kitten refused to stay indoors, and soon she had jumped out the window to play on the grass.
Odd-André was outside too, playing football on the lawn, and suddenly he ‘found' a kitten. He had a habit of 'finding' animals of all sorts, from insects to dogs, but this evening he brought home the sweetest little cat we had ever seen. We realized right away that with her friendly personality, she must surely belong to someone, so we turned her loose. But she stayed on the balcony where we could see her meowing unhappily, and so, hoping she would get along with our other cats, we let her back in for the night. Right from the first, all the cats were the best of friends. We called her Tussi, and decided to put up a note at the supermarket, to see if anyone was looking for her.
The next Sunday Odd-André was outside again, carrying a note about a ‘found' kitten, and teaching Tussi to play football. After awhile a gentleman stopped to speak to Odd-André. 'Is that your kitten?' he asked. 'No,' Odd-André answered tearfully, hugging the kitten to his chest, 'but she loves me.' 'Well, you know,' said the gentleman,' she actually belongs to me. But I can see that she likes you and I think you would take good care of her. So if your parents agree, you may keep her.' Oh yes, Odd-André assured the man, we had lots of food and litter at home because of the other cats, and we were even members of a cat club.
From that moment on Tussi was my little boy's cat, and he was so proud of her! We found out the name of Tussi's breeder, and she told us the kitten's mother had also been black and white, and the father brown mackerel tabby, both Forest Cats, though not recognized. When she said the mother cat had been killed on the highway, we remembered having seen a black and white cat by the side of the road just days before. We never saw the father, but he lived on a farm in the area. Tussi was born the fourth of April, so she was just eight weeks old when Odd-André found her, but she was big for her age.
Now we were eager to sign her up for a show. Hoping to get her recognized, we contacted the Nylund family (Pan's), who explained everything we had to do. In August she was recognized, with a very fine report, and we were told she should have lovely kittens. We took her to shows in Drammen, Oslo, and Gothenburg (Sweden), and she always received her Excellent 1. She developed beautifully, and soon had a long list of male suitors. (Later on, that same autumn, we found Timotei as well, but that is another story.)
Because of the pedigrees, we left the independent club to join FIFé, and chose the name ‘Torvmyra's' for our cattery, which had to be approved by the breed commission. On October 24, 1978, Tussi and Timotei presented us with the first litter of ‘Torvmyra's' 13NF kittens, three females, Cirkeline, Carlina, and Cobea Blue, and two males, Cedrus and Colargol. Cirkeline and Carlina's names figure in pedigrees in Europe and the U.S.A., Cedrus just in Sweden. The whole litter had good show results, but Cirkeline and Cedrus are the best known.
The next year, on October 17, 1979, Tussi produced another family with Charlie av Hanevold, a beautiful brown mackerel tabby. Eviva Solterona was one of these kittens, and she became a real star. Her brother Edvard Eroberen fathered a number of litters in Germany.
October 27 1980, Tussi had a litter with Torvmyra's Demis, a fine silver tabby with white, son of Timotei and Spirella (a blue smoke/white female we took from a family with allergies). Star of the litter was Floruska Fredelina, mother of Torvmyra's Terek, who belonged to Danielle Rocchi (now Lisart) in Belgium, and of Taiga in Holland.
Tussi and Demis' second litter together came on June 2, 1982 The two kittens, Halloween (smoke and white) and Hiawatha (blue), were born in my bed during the night, and we only found them when I was making the beds the next morning. Good mother that she was, Tussi had found the perfect place, warm and comfortable, while we were sound asleep. Halloween was the better known of these two cats. Nicknamed ‘King of the Kitchen', he used to sit between us at the dinner table, and take food right out of our mouths.
On February 12 1982 Tussi had a litter of two with Amigo av Fristad (red tabby) – Naranja, who is well-represented in European pedigrees, and Chat Noir, a black who went to Denmark.
With so many kittens recognized, Tussi was frequently singled out at shows as ‘best breed cat', and Timotei often had the same distinction. We are grateful to Tussi, because she gave us our start with the Forest Cat, and made many friends for us around the world. She always loved the attention she received in the shows, and did a lot of traveling in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Before retiring , she became Grand International Champion, and afterwards she settled down at home to be the best possible grandmother. She liked to ‘steal' the other females' babies and take care of them, and could even make milk for kittens that were not her own.
She was also the ‘Minister of Justice' among our cats. Whenever a fight broke out, it was always Tussi who intervened to make peace.
As I write, it is five years since she left us, but her spirit still reigns over our household, and no other cat has ever taken her place as boss. She was a very great lady indeed.
Text edited by Paula Swepston
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