We went to our first CFA cat show in Pikesville, MD back in March, 2010 looking to see if we could find a cat that could be a companion for Vito, our Ragamuffin Cat.  We used to breed and show Yorkies for a long time, and Vito was always around them.  We think that he believed he was just another Yorkie, and for that reason, we really wanted for him to have a companion of his own species. In that show, we met Nancy Gossage from Jahaad Birmans in VA, who was showing some of her beautiful Birmans!  She has been breeding and showing Birmans for more than 26 years!  When we saw her cats, it was love at first sight. During and after the show, we engaged in conversations with her about getting a Birman kitten.  Coming from the dog show world, we wanted a kitten that we could show in Premiership.  It was not until May, 2011 that a gorgeous blue point kitten was born in Nancy’s Cattery and we couldn’t wait to have him in our home. We were so excited and so much looking forward about the relationship that the new kitten was going to have with Vito.

 

On June, 2011 our beloved Vito was diagnosed with Cancer.  He went downhill so fast, and at the end of July he left to the Rainbow Bridge.  It was devastating for us.  He was only 8 years old, and such a big, beautiful, and sweet cat.  We will always miss him.  Since we needed to wait until September for the kitten to be able to come to our family, Vito and the kitten never got to meet.  As soon as Nancy knew about our loss, she gifted us with a beautiful 9 months old seal point girl that we named Dora.  She is so special to us.  She has the noblest personality ever!  After that, when the blue point kitten turned 4 months, we went to the National Capital Show in Chantilly, VA to pick him up and he joined Dora at our home. Since we had Dora, we needed Diego, right? 

 

Shortly after being showing Diego, and being newly involved with the Cat Fancy, we met so many people that gave us such a warm welcome to this world.  We loved so much the breed, we were having so much fun, and having had experience with breeding and working to improve and promote a breed, we couldn’t help to want to become Birman breeders.  We will always be thankful to Nancy Gossage for entrusting us with our first breeding girl.  She has become a good friend and mentor.  She also introduced us to great people like Ann Street, Maryann Grumbein, Cathy Robbins, and Kim Wilkerson from which we have got beautiful breeding Birmans.  We are very fortunate and honored to have these knowledgeable and experienced Birman Breeders as our friends and mentors which have entrusted us with beautiful Birmans, first as our beloved pets, and to become part of our breeding program.  Please take a look at our breeding cats’ pages to know more about the breeders from which we got our Birmans.

 

Our Cattery name, Marali, came from the combination of the three first letters of my name, Marisela and my daughter’s name Alison.  We are lucky that Alison absolutely loves animals and she is a big help socializing the kittens.

 

Working with this breed has brought us so much joy and love to our lives, but most important is all the great friends that we have made because of this breed.

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