Maine Coon Cats from New York
David Billingsley
845-669-5735
David_Billingsley@condenast.com
Cloistercoon Cattery was established in the summer of 1996 by David Billingsley with the hopes of breeding healthy, personable Maine Coon Cats in uncommon colors: shadeds, smokes, parti-colors and solids. Before moving to Putnam County was located in New York City, at the top of Manhattan, in the neighborhood of the Cloisters Museum (hence the cattery name). In keeping with the monastic theme of the Cloisters, my cats are given names (sometimes irreverently) with religious themes. GC SALEMCOON SABBATH OF CLOISTERCOON (left), a solid black, is the sire of most of the kittens from my cattery. Sabbath is a Grand Champion in both CFA and TICA and was TICA's best black Maine coon in the Northeast region and second best black Maine coon internationally for the 1997/1998 show season.He comes from Cathy Madden's Salemcoon Cattery in Purdys, NY . For a look at some of Sabbath's offspring living in other homes, click here..
CH KITTYUP THE ABBESS OF CLOISTERCOON (left), a cameo tabby, was my first breeder female. Abbie hails from Meryle and Richard Weiss's KittyUp Cattery in Shirley, Long Island. You can check out their Web site by using the link at the bottom of the page. The first kittens in my cattery were born in November 1997 to Sabbath and CH OAKBEAR'S MENORAH OF CLOISTERCOON (right), a blue calico that was co-owned at the time with the Weisses. Three of the four kittens (two torties, a black-and-white, and a black) went to show homes.
I was showing Sabbath in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., when I noticed a litter of kittens bred by Jennifer Sable and Jean Thompson of Broadsway Cattery (845-365-2620). I couldn't take my eyes off of a solid blue female. I was delighted when Jennifer and Jean allowed CH BROADSWAY CHAPEL OF CLOISTERCOON (left) to come and live with me. Chapel has since become the mother of two litters, She and Sabbath produce beautiful solid black kittens. Silver patched tabby CLOISTERCOON'S PEARLY GATES (right)is the daughter of Sabbath and Abbie. Pearly never liked the show ring, but has proved to be an excellent mother.
When I first became interested in Maine coons, I read in the standard that they were accepted in shaded and chinchilla colors. When I tried to purchase a Maine Coon in one of those colors, I found it almost impossible to find a shaded coon, and no one had ever seen a chinchilla. I saw some cats that were being passed off as "shaded cameos," but I could always find pale tabby markings on their bodies. They weren't really shaded genetically and few, if any, of their offspring would inherit their "patternless" pattern.
I did a doubletake when I spotted Grand Champion KittyUp's Texas Ranger in a show cage at Madison Square Garden in March of 1996. Here was a truly shaded cameo--no stripes, no leg barring. (Take a look at Ranger on KittyUp's home page, linked below.) After lengthy discussions with Meryle Weiss, I convinced her that I would be a responsible breeder, and she agreed to sell me two of Ranger's kittens to be my first breeding females: Abby, a cameo tabby (pictured at the top of the page) and Seraphim, a shaded cameo female. It was in pursuit of a suitable shaded male to breed to Seraphim (who decided to take her Cloistercoon vows seriously and remain kittenless) that I found MOUNTAIN PAWS KYRIE OF CLOISTERCOON (above) at Jane Walker's cattery in South Dakota. Kyrie is a shaded silver torbie (a shaded silver with cameo patches) She has a bit of incomplete leg barring which I hoped could be selectively bred out of her offspring in a few generations. She was bred to Ranger last fall and had her first litter in December.
Two of the kittens had faint cameo mackerel markings on them. One was a very pale silver classic torbie. When I picked up the last baby from the birthing box I was holding a male kitten of a color I had only dreamed of producing a few generations down the road. CH CLOISTERCOON'S MY BROTHER'S KEEPER (above) is a red chinchilla (shell cameo)--almost white, with a bit of light red tipping along his back and the top of his tail. There are no tabby markings on his body, no tabby markings on his head (no"M"), and no barring on his legs.
Keeper is now siring kittens, and the shaded pattern is being perpetuated in his offspring. His litter with Pearly had two shaded (maybe shell) cameos, a shaded silver torbie, a silver classic torbie, and a black smoke. Shaded silver kittens are born quite dark, sometimes almost all black, and gradually become much lighter. The silver girl on the left is pictured at six weeks and again, on the right, at twelve weeks
Although this shaded silver male kitten still shows tabby head markings at four months, his body has no tabby markings whatsoever.
Sabbath's first grandchildren have now entered the show ring. CH CLOISTERCOON'S REGINA COELI, a silver patched tabby with white, not only received Best of Breed in her first kitten show, but went on to receive BEST KITTEN in Margot Mellies' Specialty Ring at the Empire Cat Club Show in Staten Island, NY. Regina won a CFA regional color award for the 1999/2000 show season.
Regina's brother, CH CLOISTERCOON'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT is a blue smoke and has inherited the lush coat of his father, GC KittyUp's Texas Ranger. At eight months, he weighs in at more than sixteen pounds!
Menorah and Sabbaths's son,CH CLOISTERCOON'S ST. ELMO'S FIRE is a red classic tabby with high white--almost a van. Elmo's TICA show career got off to a good start by winning a BEST CAT Allbreed in the very first ring of his first show as an adult. He finished the 1999/2000 show season by winning TICA's Red Tabby and White Cat of the Year award.
DGC, RW CLOISTERCOON'S NOVENA (below)is a smoke tortoiseshell, and the daughter of Sabbath and Abbie. Novena was the top scoring female Maine coon at her first TICA show as an adult, in Poughkeepsie, NY, and became a two-show Double Grand Champion at Orangeburg, two weeks later. She finished the season as a Northeast Regional Winner and was the International Smoke Tortie of the year for 1999/2000 show season.
My newest stud cat is solid white male RW, SGC SPITZAECKER POPE OF CLOISTERCOON . Popie came to the United States from Germany in July, 2000, accompanied by his breeder, Angela Schulz, of Spitzaecker Cattery, and Petra Riedell, the breeder of Popie's mother and owner of Witchcats Cattery. He was an instant success in the show hall, winning numerous Best Kitten awards, and was the highest scoring Maine coon kitten at most of his shows. Popie was named Best cat by judge Nancy Parkinson and was the highest scoring Maine coon champion in his adult debut show at TZ Cats in October, 2000, and was a Double Grand Champion by his second show. Popie became a Quadruple Grand Champion (and again was the highest scoring Maine coon) at his third show, in La Plata, MD, in December, and after being named Best Cat by judge Massimo Picardello at the Christmas City show in Allentown, PA, in February, 2001, Popie became a TICA Supreme Grand Champion at the age of eleven months. Popie finished the 2000/2001 season by receiving Northeast regional awards in both the kitten category (eighth best allbreed kitten; eighth best Maine coon kitten internationally) and the championship category (seventeenth best allbreed cat). He was also named TICA's White Maine Coon of the Year. Many thanks to Angela Schulz for allowing Popie to be part of my life.
RW, SGC CLOISTERCOON's GABRIELLA is the solid white daughter of Pope and Novena. "Gabbie" started her show career with a bang, earning a BEST KITTEN at her first outing, at four months. After winning a Northeast Regional Award as a kitten, she quickly earned all her titles in TICA. At the Tickiecats Show in July 2002, at the age of 11 months, she received not just one, but two Best Cat awards, and became a Supreme Grand Champion after only four shows.
Although brown tabbies are quite rare in my cattery, there are often kittens available in a range of unique colors and patterns.
Links to other sites on the Web
Kitty Up Cattery
Spitzäcker Cattery
Mannahatta Maine Coons
Amkat Maine Coons
