Who is Karen O'Brien of CeltiCurl Cattery?
As with many of you, my feline interests all started with household pets
(HHP) years ago. In 1986, I got my very first kitten as a companion for
my toy poodle (I grew up with poodles and had never previously owned a
cat). She was a tortie and white domestic shorthair (DSH) named Miss
Ellie after the character on the TV show Dallas. (I may live in California
now, but my heart belongs to Texas! . . . . Ahem! And to my fiancé and
cats, of course!) At the time, I was living in Austin, Texas and working at
an advertising agency/PR firm. For purely entertainment value, I decided
to attend a local cat show – you know, to be a spectator! I saw many
beautiful purebred cats while discovering that a competitive class also
existed for domestic, mixed breed cats. Well, my Miss Ellie was JUST as
cute as those other household pets, so I decided to give her a try at the
next local cat show and I’ve been hooked ever since. You see, I am of
a competitive nature -- in junior and senior high school, I participated in all
sorts of instrumental music competitions and absolutely thrived on it! Cat
shows were just another way to engage my competitive spirit.
Arriving at the American Curl breed, though, is another story in itself.
While showing my solid blue HHP, SGM Archie, at a TICA show in
Waco, Texas in early 1989, I stumbled across my first American Curls.
Two supposedly pet quality longhair Curls were waiting to be adopted for
$25 each. At the time, I lusted for Maine Coons, but could not afford the
hefty price tag, so I opted for this other unusual breed that sure looked a
lot like the Maine Coons. (Come on, we hear it all the time at shows –
"They really resemble the Maine Coons except for their ears!") I brought
home a brown tabby and white male with 1/4 degree curled ears (almost
totally straight but with stiff cartilage – you had to feel his ears to know he
was a Curl!) who I named Gordo. He went on to household pet stardom
(SGM and regional winner) in TICA (sure surprised some of those judges
in the HHP rings when they felt his ears!!) and I went on to study the
unusual, rare American Curl. Gordo was my first experience with
American Curls and he was my closest, most cherished friend for many
years until his untimely passing from F.U.S. in May of this year. I will
always miss him.
Seven months after purchasing Gordo in 1989, I was approached by the
people who had purchased Gordo’s littermate sister at the show in
Waco. They were Maine Coon breeders and had toyed around with the
idea of breeding Curls but decided not to try it and were wondering if I
would like to have Gordo’s sister along with another female Curl related
to them. I had actually been doing some research on the Curls and
decided to give it a go. Gordo’s sister, already named Patches by her
previous owners, went on to become a SGCA and regional winner in
TICA and also holds the distinction of being CFA’s first grand premier
American Curl. Their half-sister, Patenkats Sapphire Charade (a blue
tabby and white female with 1st degree curl), went on to become the
foundation female of my cattery. Sapphire was one of those cats who
didn’t look that great but sure threw better and better kittens each time I
bred her. (Maybe it was because I was learning more about the breed
and what I should breed her to!) I must admit -- it did take me a few years
to get some good, show quality cats. But what can you expect if my
average number of litters per year is one!
Sapphire’s first breeding was to a silver tabby & white domestic longhair
(DLH) owned by some friends. This produced two kittens, a brown tabby
male and a silver tabby female, both with 1st degree curls. I kept the
silver tabby female and named her Katie. After repeating the first
breeding and getting the same results, two kittens with 1st degree curls, I
decided it was time to invest in a real American Curl stud cat – enter SGC
Suncurl’s Knight Magic of CeltiCurl, a solid black longhair male with 3rd
degree curl, from Paula Van Derven in Arizona. Magic was one feisty
dude at those TICA cat shows – he truly had male hormones!
Magic’s first litter with Sapphire produced four kittens with varying
degrees of curl and color. One of them may still be seen at a show now
and then – QGCA CeltiCurl’s Lil Rascal who lives in Kansas. Magic’s next
date was with Katie, my silver tabby female, which produced two kittens
of the same colors as their parents, but in the opposite sex. I kept the
male kitten, a silver tabby longhair with a 2nd degree curl who is my
current stud cat (CeltiCurl’s Knight in Shining Armor, a.k.a. Zach), and
decided to co-own the solid black female (2nd degree curl, CeltiCurl’s
Black Rose, a.k.a. Rosie) with Mary Allsup in Wichita, Kansas. Mary, a
good friend who can be considered a co-breeder, is basically an
extension of my cattery, with all kittens produced by Rosie having my
cattery name.
Now it was time to get a Curl female from a totally different line to
eventually breed with Zach. Enter Earesistable Alantari of CeltiCurl
(a.k.a. Tari, a dilute tortie longhair with 3rd degree curl), who I obtained
from Deb Karasik in New York (Wow! A Yankee kitty in Texas!). Tari
had an outstanding career in CFA as a kitten and is working on her grand
champion title AND future motherhood.
Let’s talk again about Rosie, my solid black female living in Kansas.
Rosie’s first date was with Ragstocurl’s Beau, a red tabby and white
longhair male with 3rd degree curl. As a result of this breeding, I am
proud to say that Rosie has recently produced my first CFA grand
champion, GC CeltiCurl’s Nobility of Wimpl (a.k.a. Nonsense), a black
and white longhair male with 3rd degree curl owned by Carol and Frank
Dickinson in Florida. Nonsense achieved this goal in his first two adult
shows, with 177 points at the first show! (A cat needs 200 points in CFA
to become a grand.) Way to go, Nonsense!
Nonsense’s littermate, CeltiCurl’s Amaretto Rose (tortie longhair female
with 2nd degree curl, a.k.a. Amy), lives with me and is patiently awaiting
her first breeding in the Spring. Other felines currently sharing my
residence (along with my fiancé, Doug, who is NOT a feline but loves
them dearly!) include Patches, Zach, Tari, Archie and Evelyn, all of
which were mentioned in some context above except for Evelyn. Her
story is a special one.
Click here to read about Evelyn, the rescued kitten who has many friends on the Internet!
Now you’ve heard all about my feline history. Here’s a little of my
personal side. I was born in New Jersey, moved to Oklahoma City with
my family in 1969 and then to Dallas, Texas in 1977. I received my
bachelor’s degree in music education from The University of Texas at
Austin and am certified to teach junior and senior high school band and
orchestra. The music career ambitions vanished, however, once I
graduated and they wanted to send me to the barren plains of western
Texas for my first job. I ended up in public relations, with a legal assistant
stint somewhere in the middle of my career, and am now back in public
relations (my true passion) at a computer hardware firm in Silicon Valley.
All of my "exes" live in Texas (!) and I recently moved to Sunnyvale,
California to turn a long distance computer email relationship into a no
distance relationship. I might mention here that a fellow American Curl
breeder and good friend, Deb Karasik, introduced me to my wonderful
significant other!
Part of my original research on American Curls involved discussions with
various breeders around the country, including the founders of our breed,
Joe and Grace Ruga. Throughout my learning experience, I tried to meet
as many Curl breeders as possible (a trait which I still possess today) and
join any clubs associated with the Curls. In 1993, I was asked to help
present the Curls to the CFA Board of Directors for advancement to
championship status and was instrumental in the favorable decision.
Most recently, I coordinated the American Curl presentation for the
judges’ seminar at the CFA Annual in San Diego. All of this grew into my
desire to eventually run for the CFA American Curl Breed Council
Secretary position, a great honor which I currently hold. Speaking of
CFA, the June 1996 issue of the Almanac will feature our breed for the
first time. If you would like to advertise in that issue, contact the CFA
office for an advertising packet. If you have any interesting American
Curl facts, figures or funnies you would like to share with Almanac
readers, please contact me as I will be authoring the article for that issue.
First and foremost, I came to love the personality of this breed, followed
by their looks, heartiness and unique origin. Promoting and preserving our
breed and its wonderful characteristics are of utmost importance to me.
Thank you so much for letting me share my story with you. Hopefully we
will all meet someday at the world’s largest American Curl congress!
Hugs and purrs to everyone!