Sonja Moon (NFC)

Sonja has been "practicing" good mothering techniques with Olivia's kittens.  Having the advantage of being able to "send them home" is always a help, and makes learning to be a great mommy much less stressful.  She is a terrific girl!!

TICA - Great Lakes Region 2006 - 2007
#2 Best Norwegian Forest Cat

9/24/06 - Sonja has reached her Double Grand Champion (DGC) title!!!

TICA - 7/24/06 - Champion
TICA - 9/23/06 - Grand Champion
TICA - 9/24/06 - Double Grand Champion
 
CFA - 9/10/06 - Champion

At every turn, Sonja has shown herself to be "pure" Norwegian.  Her temperament is fabulous and her desire to have babies is right up there with Olivia's.  The only trouble is, Alexander, her "intended" has either not been to her liking, or has been unable to step up to his responsibilities.  The first time they were together, we had to rescue him from her on a number of occasions.  She would beat the living daylights out of him every time he would get close and eventually we would find him hiding in a corner. 

Recently (several weeks ago), we re-introduced them.  Sonja, typical of all our Norwegian's, has a "long memory" (the elephant of the cat world!), and her first inclination was to, yet again, beat the living daylights out of Alexander.  This time though, we did two things - first, we had a long talk with Sonja and explained that in order for her to have kittens of her own to care for, she would need to allow Alexander to "do his thing".  Second, we had a talk with Alexander and explained that some girls need a bit of "finesse" and that just jumping her may not be the best way to win her over.  A bit of Barry White, some mood lighting (lava lamp) and a soft pillow or two would go a long way.  A bit of wine doesn't hurt either...:-)

Whether the talks had any effect, we do not know... yet.  What we do know is that they spent a week together and though she still beat the living daylights out of him, Alexander did not cower and run to the corner.  Instead, he would take his beating like a man and when she was done, he would chirp at her, roll around on the floor and crawl back towards her... He's become a persistent little guy!!  When we would visit with them, Sonja would come over to us and be very friendly, while Alexander would watch, with a look in his eyes that said - "You're not going to take my girl away!!".  Each time she would come over to us, he would chirp and coo at her and she would run back over to him, head-butt and rub up against him, reassuring him that she was not forgetting "him", and then come back over to us.  All the while, both were talking up a storm.

After a week, she seemed ready to come back over to our bedroom and Alexander went back into the "Bachelor Pad" with the other boys.  We don't know if the time together "took", but we do know that both seem happy and apparently our little talks may have had an effect. :-)  Ok...maybe it is just that Alexander is older, or has had more time to talk with Winston and the other boys about all this and no longer suffers from "performance anxiety", but for whatever the reasons, things seem "better" and we are "hoping". 

Sonja has not gone back into heat again and our fingers are crossed!!

If this mating "takes", we expect to have some truly spectacular kittens...all we can do at this time is keep Sonja happy and comfortable and watch...